Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Precarious Lives: Job Insecurity and Well-Being in Rich Democracies

F rom the doyen of precarious work research comes this comprehensive volume comparing the prevalence and consequences of job insecurity in six affluent democracies. More than 20 years ago, Kalleberg, already a noted work scholar, turned his attention to nonstandard work in the United States and beyond, a seam he has mined prodigiously ever since; in this effort, he tackles the task of tracing and accounting for its broader, nonwork impacts. Kalleberg argues that labor market institutions and social welfare protection policies shape not just the incidence of precarious work, but also its effects on families and well-being. The book begins with two questions: why has there been an increase in precarious work in rich democracies, with their high standards of living and relatively privileged economic position? And how does the experience and impact of precarious work vary in these countries, which diverge in their cultures and institutions? Both of these are good questions, but other than seven pages in which he elaborates upon the factors ushering in “the new age of precarious work” (increased international competition, weakening worker power, corporate restructuring, and financialization), Kalleberg does not spend much time answering the first. Instead, he devotes the bulk of this work to analyzing the consequential differences in shaping what precarious work feels like—such as labor relations, social policies, demography, and culture—among six nations: Denmark, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These six were chosen as representatives of four diverse types of modern capitalism: social democratic nations (Denmark), coordinated market economies (Germany and Japan), “southern Mediterranean” nations (Spain), and liberal market economies (UK and United States). Mostly drawing from existing published work (much of it authored or coauthored by him), Kalleberg documents how precarious work affects economic insecurity, youth transitions to adulthood, family formation and subjective wellbeing in each of these countries. He concludes with a chapter that reviews how
FARMERS’ PREFERENCES FOR ENHANCING SUSTAINABILITY IN ARABLE LANDS: EVIDENCE FROM A CHOICE EXPERIMENT IN SICILY

We used discrete-choice experiments (DCE) to elicit farmers’ preferences among alternative agrienvironmental schemes (AES) designed to reduce soil risk of erosion, maintain soil fertility, enhance countryside landscape, and preserve agrobiodiversity in arable lands of Sicily (Italy). Using appropriate models, we also investigated farmers’ preference heterogeneity and spatial correlation. The results demonstrated a general positive and highly heterogeneous attitude in farmers toward the adoption of environmentally friendly practices and suggested the need of modulate AES according to preferences’ heterogeneity respect to sustainable agricultural practices and local contexts. * Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Italy. Corresponding author: mdesalvo@unict.it.
General anaesthesia does not improve outcome in opioid antagonist detoxification treatment: a randomized controlled trial.

AIM Opioid detoxification by administering opioid-antagonists under general anaesthesia has caused considerable controversy. This study is conducted to determine whether rapid detoxification under general anaesthesia results in higher levels of opioid abstinence than rapid detoxification without anaesthesia. DESIGN Randomized controlled open clinical trial from September 1999 to August 2001. SETTING Four addiction centres in collaboration with three general hospitals in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS A total of 272 opioid-dependent patients whose previous attempts to abstain were unsuccessful. INTERVENTION Patients received rapid detoxification with general anaesthesia (RD-GA) or without general anaesthesia (RD). MEASUREMENTS Urine screens and an interview (EuropASI) to assess opioid abstinence; two questionnaires (SOOS, OOWS) to measure withdrawal symptoms and one to measure craving (VAS). FINDINGS One month after the intervention 62.8% of the patients in the RD-GA group and 60.0% in the RD group were abstinent for opioids (P = 0.71). No adverse events or complications occurred during RD; however, in the RD-GA group, five adverse events necessitated admission to a general hospital. The average 1-month cost for RD was Euros 2517 versus Euros 4439 for RD-GA. CONCLUSIONS Rapid detoxification under general anaesthesia did not result in higher levels of opioid abstinence than rapid detoxification without anaesthesia. The cost of the former intervention was much higher.
Multiple Myeloma: a Retrospective Analysis of 61 Patients from a Tertiary Care Center.

BACKGROUND Multiple myeloma (MM) is an acquired clonal B-cell malignancy which primarily affects elderly individuals with an annual incidence of approximately 1% of all malignancies. Our aim is to study demographic and clinicopathological features of adult Pakistani MM patients at presentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS This single centre retrospective study extended from January 2010 to December 2014. Data were retrieved from the patients' maintained records on predetermined performa. RESULTS Overall, 61 patients were diagnosed at our institution with MM during the study period. There were 43 males and 18 females. Age ranged between 34 and 81 years with a mean of 56.1±12.8 and a median of 57 years. The male to female ratio was ~2:1. Common presenting complaints included fatigue (81.9%), backache (80.3%) and bone pain (67.2%). Physical findings revealed pallor (44.2%) as a presenting clinical feature. The mean hemoglobin value was 8.9±1.7g/dl with a mean MCV of 85.3±11.0 fl. Severe anemia with hemoglobin <8.5 gm/dl was seen in 40.9%. The mean total leukocyte count was 8.9±8.2x109/l, the ANC was 5.0±3.1x109/l and the mean platelet count was 188.4±150.6x109/l. CONCLUSIONS MM in Pakistani patients is seen in a relatively young population with male preponderance. The majority of patients present with symptomatic anemia and backache to seek medical attention. However, clinico-pathological features appear comparable to the published literature.
Waiting and Not Knowing: The Diagnosis of Cancer in a Child

A subset of data from a longitudinal grounded theory study was analyzed to describe the experience families have during the period immediately surrounding the time of diagnosis of cancer in a child. A convenience sample consisted of 40 members of seven families with a child who was recently diagnosed with cancer with a favorable prognosis. All family members 5 years of age and older participated. Data collection consisted of three tape-recorded, semistructured interviews with family members in the home. It was found that the ''waiting and not knowing" of this period was most distressing for family members. This period is further described and implications for nursing practice are discussed. Factors limiting generalizability of the findings include the small sample size, single site, and the short length of time families were followed.
Risers and Extreme‐Dippers of Nocturnal Blood Pressure in Hypertension: Antihypertensive Strategy for Nocturnal Blood Pressure

There is increasing evidence that disruption of diurnal blood pressure (BP) variation is a risk factor for hypertensive target organ damage and cardiovascular events. Especially, the risers (extreme non‐dippers), who exhibit a nocturnal BP increase compared with daytime BP, have the worst cardiovascular prognosis, both for stroke and cardiac events. On the other hand, extreme‐dippers (with marked nocturnal BP falls) are at risk for non‐fatal ischemic stroke and silent myocardial ischemia, particularly extreme‐dippers complicated with atherosclerotic arterial stenosis and excessive BP reduction due to antihypertensive medication. Extreme‐dipping status of nocturnal BP is closely associated with excessive morning BP surge and orthostatic hypertension. Hypertensive patients who have these conditions and exhibit marked BP variations are likely to have silent cerebral infarct and to be at high‐risk with regard to future stroke. Individualized antihypertensive medication targeting disrupted diurnal BP variation might thus be beneficial for such high‐risk hypertensive patients.
Comparative 3D micro‐CT and 2D histomorphometry analysis of dental implant osseointegration in the maxilla of minipigs

AIM The bone implant contact (BIC) has traditionally been evaluated with histological methods. Thereupon, strong correlations of two-dimensional (2D) BIC have been detected between μCT and destructive histology. However, due to the high intra-sample variability in BIC values, one histological slice is not sufficient to represent 3D BIC. Therefore, our aim has been to correlate the averaged values of 3-4 histological sections to 3D μCT. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty-four implants inserted into the maxilla of 14 minipigs were evaluated. Two different time points were selected to assess the 3D BIC (distance to implant: 2-5 voxels), an inner ring (6-30 voxels) and an outer ring (55-100 voxels) using μCT (voxel size: 10 μm) and to correlate the values to histomorphometry. RESULTS Strong correlations (p < 0.0001; 28 days, 56 days, total) were seen between μCT and histomorphometry concerning BIC (r = 0.84, r = 0.85, r = 0.83), the inner ring (r = 0.87, r = 0.87, r = 0.88) and the outer ring (r = 0.85, r = 0.85, r = 0.88). Closer to the implant, μCT values were higher compared with histomorphometry. CONCLUSION Although 3-4 histological slices per implant seem to predict the 3D BIC, μCT might be advantageous because of its non-destructive 3D character. The healing time may not impact on the comparability.
Spatial Heterogeneity Regulates Plant-Pollinator Networks across Multiple Landscape Scales

Mutualistic plant-pollinator interactions play a key role in biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning. In a community, the combination of these interactions can generate emergent properties, e.g., robustness and resilience to disturbances such as fluctuations in populations and extinctions. Given that these systems are hierarchical and complex, environmental changes must have multiple levels of influence. In addition, changes in habitat quality and in the landscape structure are important threats to plants, pollinators and their interactions. However, despite the importance of these phenomena for the understanding of biological systems, as well as for conservation and management strategies, few studies have empirically evaluated these effects at the network level. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the influence of local conditions and landscape structure at multiple scales on the characteristics of plant-pollinator networks. This study was conducted in agri-natural lands in Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil. Pollinators were collected in 27 sampling units distributed orthogonally along a gradient of proportion of agriculture and landscape diversity. The Akaike information criterion was used to select models that best fit the metrics for network characteristics, comparing four hypotheses represented by a set of a priori candidate models with specific combinations of the proportion of agriculture, the average shape of the landscape elements, the diversity of the landscape and the structure of local vegetation. The results indicate that a reduction of habitat quality and landscape heterogeneity can cause species loss and decrease of networks nestedness. These structural changes can reduce robustness and resilience of plant-pollinator networks what compromises the reproductive success of plants, the maintenance of biodiversity and the pollination service stability. We also discuss the possible explanations for these relationships and the implications for landscape planning in agricultural areas.
THE STRUCTURE OF ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANES STUDIED BY FREEZE-ETCHING

The distribution of specific glycoprotein receptors on the external surfaces of red cells was mapped, by the freeze-etching technique, to determine if the receptors coincided with the underlying 75-A intramembranous particles. Phytohemagglutinin, ferritin-conjugated phytohemagglutinin, and influenza virus were used as labeling agents since they can be seen by freeze-etching techniques and each reacts with a different site on the same glycoprotein molecule. The distribution of these labels was studied on intact human red cells, isolated ghost membranes, and trypsin-treated ghost membranes. The results show that the receptors for these labels are distributed uniformly over the surfaces of normal red cell membranes in the same apparent distribution as that of the 75-A particles within the membrane. The association between the external receptors and the underlying particles is especially evident when trypsin-treated ghost membranes are labeled: the labeled receptor sites and the intramembranous particles both form sharply defined, reticulated networks, which overlap. These results provide further support for the idea that membrane-bound glycoproteins are oriented so that their carbohydrate-rich segments, which bear the antigenic sites and receptors, are exposed to the external medium, while hydrophobic segments of the same molecules interact with lipids, and possibly other proteins, to form the intramembranous particles.
High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Left Ventricular Mass Index in Peritoneal Dialysis

Objective The prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) reaches 75% in patients with end-stage renal disease. In patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD), some factors, such as hypertension, volume overload, serum albumin, and residual renal function, have been reported to be related to LVH. Dyslipidemia often occurs in PD but it remains unclear whether dyslipidemia is related to LVH. We investigated the relationship between clinical parameters, including lipid profile, and left ventricular mass index (LVMI). Methods In this cross-sectional study, 34 patients undergoing PD for more than 1 year without combined therapy with hemodialysis were included. We recorded the patients’ clinical data and related those parameters with LVMI as evaluated by echocardiography. Results The patients included 23 males and 11 females (age 62.2 ± 12.1 years, duration on PD 31.6 ± 15.6 months). Mean LVMI was 142 ± 37 g/m2. In univariate analysis, urine volume (r = -0.493, p = 0.003), total cholesterol (r = -0.418, p = 0.01), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; r = -0.374, p = 0.02), and human atrial natriuretic peptide (hANP; r = 0.600, p < 0.001) significantly correlated with LVMI. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that hANP (β= 0.524, p = 0.001) and HDL-C (β= -0.422, p = 0.007) were independently associated with LVMI (r2 = 0.32). Conclusion Strict volume control and salt restriction is essential for prevention of LVH. The role of HDL-C in the development of LVH in PD patients remains to be determined.
Risky alcohol use, age at onset of drinking, and adverse childhood experiences in young men entering the US Marine Corps.

OBJECTIVE To examine how childhood experiences relate to risky underage drinking. DESIGN A survey study of men starting military training between June 11, 2002, and April 5, 2006. Multivariate logistic regression models compared risky drinkers with "all others" or with nonrisky drinkers; excluding nondrinkers. SETTING Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, Calif. PARTICIPANTS Forty-one thousand four hundred eighty-two men aged 18 to 20 years. Main Exposures Age at drinking onset; childhood emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; childhood emotional and physical neglect; and household alcohol abuse, mental illness, domestic violence, or divorce. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Risky drinking identified by scoring responses to 3 questions about alcohol consumption. RESULTS Of 41,482 young men, 6128 (14.8%) were identified as risky drinkers, 18,693 (45.1%) as nonrisky drinkers, and 16 661 (40.2%) as nondrinkers. Among drinkers, early initiation of alcohol use was strongly associated with risky drinking, with a 5.5-fold risk if age at onset of drinking was 13 years or younger. Other associated factors included tobacco use, rural or small hometown, higher education, motivation to join the military for travel or adventure or to leave problems at home, numerous close friends and relatives, household alcohol abuse or mental illness, and childhood sexual or emotional abuse. When the comparison group included nondrinkers, additional associated factors included childhood physical abuse and domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS These analyses confirm previous findings on risks for alcohol misuse in young adults and quantify these risks in new, large, multivariable models, adding unique perspective from a population of young Marines. Public health efforts to decrease alcohol misuse may be effectively targeted by prevention of underage alcohol use, tobacco use, and childhood abuse.
Diagnosis and treatment of renal trauma in 298 patients.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the diagnosis and treatment of renal trauma. METHODS Retrospective analysis of 298 patients with renal trauma was carried out. Among them, 272 (91.3%) had blunt renal injuries and 26 (8.7%) had penetrating injuries; 123 (41.3%) had multiple complicated intraabdominal injuries and 56 (18.8%) had concomitant shock. Normal-dose-IVU examination was used in 39 patients and double-dose-IVU in 44 patients, ultrasonography in 109 patients, and CT in 45 patients. Conservative and supportive therapy was done in 193 patients (64.8%) and operation in 105 patients (35.2%). RESULTS The positive rate was 48.7% by the normal-dose-I VU examination and 90.9% by double-dose-IVU, 78.8% by ultrasonography, and 95.6% by CT. One hundred and eighty-three patients were cured by conservative therapy and 101 by operation. Fourteen patients died. CONCLUSIONS B-ultrasound can be conveniently used for primary assessment of renal injuries, while CT shows rapid, accurate and proper condition of a renal trauma patient. The treatment depends on the severity of the injury. The conservative therapy is employed in most cases which present slight or moderate injury and no evident massive bleeding. Severe injury requires surgical exploration. The operative approach is by using a transabdominal incision, which makes it relatively easy to explore intraabdominal organs and control the injured kidney. It is also very important to control shock and prevent other severe complications in the early stage of the treatment.
Threshold effect in the relationship between environmental taxes and CO2 emissions: A PSTR specification

This paper examines the relationship between environmental taxes and CO2 emissions for the OECD countries over the period 1994-2014, within the framework of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). By performing Panel Smooth Threshold Regression (PSTR) model, we found that the nexus between environmental taxes and CO2 emissions is non-linear. Besides, results show that there exists a statistically positive relationship between environmental taxes and CO2 emissions above the threshold level of 2.67\%, above which environmental taxes starts increasing CO2 emissions in OECD countries. Findings indicate also that there is a quadratic relationship between CO2 emissions and economic growth, confirming the existence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for OECD countries. This paper supports the view that a properly-implemented environmental taxes would result in the reduction of CO2 emissions in OECD countries.
Time Diversification Redux

Conventional risk measures may not accurately describe the volatility investors actually experience, especially for portfolios servicing their retirement spending needs. Return volatility rises as its calculated holding period nears 1 year and falls as it lengthens to 10 years. Lower volatility at longer holding periods implies that longer-term mean reversion exists. A portfolio achieves the greatest extra-return benefit by rebalancing over the holding period of highest volatility. Time diversification is helpful, up until long-term uncertainty about the value of reinvested cash flows from dividends leads to rising volatility.
Runx2/Cbfa1 stimulation by retinoic acid is potentiated by BMP2 signaling through interaction with Smad1 on the collagen X promoter in chondrocytes

Chondrocyte differentiation is a fundamental process during endochondral ossification. Several factors regulate maturation via the activity of downstream signaling pathways that target specific transcription factors and regulate chondrocyte‐specific genes. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms involved in the regulation of chick lower sternal chondrocyte maturation upon stimulation by retinoic acid (RA) and the bone morphogenetic protein BMP2. RA‐induced Runx2 in lower sternal chondrocyte cultures and over‐expression of wild‐type (WT) Runx2 enhanced colX and alkaline phosphatase activity, while over‐expression of dominant negative Runx2 was inhibitory. Furthermore, WT Runx2 enhanced the effects of both BMP2 and RA on colX expression, while the effects of both growth factors were completely blocked in cultures over‐expressing dominant negative Runx2. Similarly, WT Runx2 enhanced the induction of colX by Smad1. Smad1 and Runx2 were found to act cooperatively at the chicken type X collagen promoter and elimination of either the putative Smad binding site or Runx2 binding site eliminated responsiveness to BMP2, RA, or either of the transcription factors. Altogether the results show cross talk between the BMP‐associated Smads and Runx2 during chondrocyte differentiation and dependence upon both signals for induction of the type X collagen promoter. Factors or signals that alter either of these transcription factors regulate the rate of chondrocyte differentiation. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Une intelligence économique et stratégique pour les PME, PMI et ETI en France

Suite a la mise en place du Service d’Information Strategique et de Securite Economique (SISSE) en Janvier 2016, et la volonte de l’Etat de mettre en place une autre approche concernant l’Intelligence Economique, nous proposons un modele simple et pratique pour que les PME, PMI, ETI comprennent mieux le message lie a l’Intelligence Economique et a ses fins competitives. Ce nouveau modele de developpement d’Intelligence Economique et Strategique (IES) est un Systeme Strategique de Signaux Precoces ®. Ce dernier se base sur le renforcement de l’analyse durant la veille technologique et strategique, la modelisation de l’environnement strategique de l’entreprise qui sert a la creation de scenarios dynamiques. Les scenarios les plus importants pour l’entreprise sont ensuite joues, pour simuler les actions des acteurs majeurs du marche. L’efficacite de ce modele est illustree ici pour l’entreprise Altix, PME de haute technologie francaise, leader mondiale de l’imagerie dans le circuit imprime.