Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
WORKING IN RETIREMENT

This study uses a continuity theory of aging to understand when individuals will pursue bridge employment and the role which bridge employment plays in adjustment to retirement. Results suggest that employees with better health, greater organizational tenure, working spouses, and dependent children were more likely to take bridge employment, while age and salary at time of retirement were inversely related to extent of bridge employment. Moreover, bridge employment is strongly related to both retirem ent satisfaction and overall life satisfaction. In addition, volunteer work and leisure activity complement bridge employment in facilitating adjustment to retirement. Implications of the results for future theory development, methodological improvement, and management practice are discussed as well.
A lightweight traceability assessment method for medical device software

Traceability is central to medical device software development and essential for regulatory approval. For compliance to be achieved, an effective traceability process needs to be in place. This process must ensure the need for clear linkages and traceability from software requirements – including risks – through the different stages of the software development and maintenance lifecycles. This is difficult to achieve because of the lack of specific guidance within the medical device standards and documentation. This has resulted in many medical device companies employing inefficient software traceability processes. In this paper, we outline the development and implementation of Med‐Trace, a lightweight software traceability process assessment and improvement method developed specifically for the medical device industry. We also present and discuss findings from two industry‐based Med‐Trace assessments. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Quality of Financial Policies and Financial System Stress

In this paper, we develop multi-country indices of financial system stress and quality of financial policies and use them in regression analysis of the determinants of financial stress. We find that countries with higher quality of financial policies are better able to contain the effects of macroeconomic pressures on the overall level of stress in the financial system. They are also in a better position to ensure sustainable development of the financial system.
Differential DNA Binding of Transcriptional Regulator PcaU from Acinetobacter sp. Strain ADP1

ABSTRACT Transcriptional regulator PcaU from Acinetobacter sp. strain ADP1 governs expression of genes for protocatechuate degradation (pca genes) as a repressor or an activator depending on the levels of the inducer protocatechuate and of its own gene. PcaU is a member of the IclR protein family. Here the DNA binding properties of the purified protein are described in terms of the location of the binding sites and the affinity to these sites. Native PcaU was purified after overexpression of the pcaU gene in Escherichia coli. It is a dimer in solution. The binding site in the pcaU-pcaI intergenic region is located between the two divergent promoters covering 45 bp, which includes three perfect 10-bp repetitions. A PcaU binding site downstream of pcaU is covered by PcaU across two palindromic sequence repetitions. The affinity of PcaU for the intergenic binding sites is 50-fold higher (dissociation constant [Kd], 0.16 nM) than the affinity for the site downstream of pcaU (Kd, 8 nM). The binding of PcaU was tested after modifications of the intergenic binding site. Removal of any external sequence repetition still allowed for specific binding of PcaU, but the affinity was significantly reduced, suggesting an important role for all three sequence repetitions in gene expression. The involvement of DNA bending in the regulatory process is suggested by the observed strong intrinsic curvature displayed by the pcaU-pcaI intergenic DNA.
[Diet therapy in chronic inflammatory bowel disease: results from meta-analysis and randomized controlled trials].

BACKGROUND Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic inflammatory bowel diseases of unknown etiology. Unspecific immunosuppressive therapy represents current standard treatment and is often associated with severe side effects. Several treatment regimens have been evaluated to identify alternative therapeutic options. Among these different diet therapies were investigated. Objective of this paper is to review the results of diet therapy in chronic inflammatory bowel disease on the basis of randomised controlled trials and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. METHODS Medline and Cochrane Library were searched for meta-analysis and randomised controlled trials investigating this question. Additionally reference lists of identified articles and text books were checked for further trials. RESULTS Four meta-analyses investigated the treatment of acute Crohn's disease with elemental-, semi-elemental-, and polymeric diets in comparison to corticosteroids or to another form of enteral diet. All meta-analyses show a superiority of corticosteroids and no difference in the effect of the compared enteral diets. Randomised controlled trials investigating diet therapy in ulcerative colitis have not been summarised in a meta-analysis yet. Eleven randomised trials were identified which evaluated diets in ulcerative colitis patients: Dietary supplementation with n-3-fatty acids (6 trials), elemental diet [2], dietary supplementation with dietary fiber [1], elimination diet [1], and dietary supplementation with olestra [1]. Only for the elimination diet a significant positive effect on the course of disease was found in one trial which investigated only 18 patients. CONCLUSIONS Enteral nutritional therapy of acute Crohn's disease is less effective than treatment with corticosteroids. In case of severe steroid induced side effects diet treatment can present a promising alternative. Superiority of one of the investigated different formulations was not found. Meta-analyses of randomised trials provide a clear and easy to understand presentation of the effect of this intervention. Eleven published trials investigating the effect of diets in ulcerative colitis show only for elimination diet a positive treatment effect. The trials do find a positive effect of one of the other interventions but the trials are very small and cannot exclude a treatment effect. Meta-analysis of these trials would be helpful for a better presentation and understanding of these results.
MicroRNA‐15a promotes neuroblastoma migration by targeting reversion‐inducing cysteine‐rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) and regulating matrix metalloproteinase‐9 expression

In this study, we found that the expression of miR‐15a was positively correlated with neuroblastoma (NB) clinical pathological stage and was negatively correlated with reversion‐inducing cysteine‐rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) expression. Using the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) reporter construct carrying the 3′‐UTR of RECK, we identified RECK as a direct target of miR‐15a. Suppression of miR‐15a significantly decreased the migration ability of GI‐LA‐N and SK‐N‐SH cell lines, whereas overexpression of miR‐15a increased the migration ability; these effects could be partly reversed by RECK inhibition or ectopic expression. Moreover, inhibition of miR‐15a significantly increased secreted matrix metalloproteinase‐9 expression in culture medium through regulating the expression of RECK. These findings provide new insights into the characteristics of the miR‐15a–RECK–matrix metalloproteinase‐9 axis in NB progression, especially in NB migration and invasion.
Opportunism, knowledge, and the performance of franchise chains

An important feature of most franchise chains is that they simultaneously use franchised and company-owned outlets. In this study, I show that the relationship between the resources provided to outlet managers and the financial performance of franchise chains is contingent on their governance structure. Specifically, opportunism and knowledge considerations seem to prevent chains with a large proportion of franchised outlets from fully leveraging resources such as a valuable brand name and tacit business practices. On the other hand, brand name value and business practices tacitness are not directly related to the proportion of franchised outlets in chains. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Do racial/ethnic differences exist in post-injury outcomes after TBI? A comprehensive review of the literature

Primary objectives: (1) To describe demographic and injury characteristics that are prominent among African Americans and Hispanics with TBI; (2) To determine if racial differences exist in regard to post-injury outcomes; (3) To highlight potential causes of racial/ethnic disparities in TBI rehabilitation and post-acute services; (4) To suggest recommendations to equalize outcomes; and stimulate future TBI research. Methods and procedures: Using MEDLINE, PyschINFO, CINAHL and InfoTrac databases, 39 peer-reviewed journal articles were found that met the following inclusion criteria: research studies that reported data for African Americans and Hispanics with TBI, outcomes from both primary and secondary analyses including paediatric patients with TBI and caregivers. Main outcome and results: African Americans and Hispanics have worse functional outcomes and community integration and are less likely to receive treatment and be employed than Whites post-TBI. Emerging research detects racial and ethnic differences in marital stability, emotional/neurobehavioural complications and QOL outcomes; however, more research is needed to corroborate significant findings. African American and Hispanic caregivers express more burden, spend more time in caregiving role, have fewer needs met and use different types of coping strategies than White counterparts. Conclusion: The racial and ethnic differences noted in this literature review are an indicator that minorities are at disproportionate risk for poorer outcomes. Post-acute interventions should specifically target minorities to diminish inequities that exist.
Otitis Media in Children With Cochlear Implants

Fifty children who received a cochlear implant between 1991 and 1995 were evaluated for incidence of acute otitis media (AOM). Thirty‐seven (74%) children had AOM before implantation and 8 (16%) after implantation. All children who had AOM after implantation had a history of AOM. A subgroup of 14 children required ventilating tubes for recurrent AOM before implantation. Five(35.7%) in this group had AOM after implantation. The incidence and severity of AOM decreased after implantation. All episodes of postimplant AOM were successfully treated with routine oral antibiotics, and no infectious complications occurred. A history of recurrent AOM should not inordinately delay cochlear implantation.
Cost of Borrowing, Institutional Quality, and Capital Openness

Does improving institutional quality lower borrowing costs or raise them? Better institutions the marginal productivity of capital, the demand for funds and the interest rate. They may also lending risks, raising the supply of funds and lowering the cost of capital. Using data from 100 this paper shows that the impact of institutional quality on borrowing costs depends on whether country has favored improving financial institutions, which is proxied by its openness to capital flows, controlling for a host of factors. These results are robust to changes in definitions and specification.
Cardiac titin: an adjustable multi‐functional spring

The giant elastic protein titin contains a molecular spring segment that underlies the majority of myocardial passive stiffness. The mechanical characteristics of this spring may be tuned to match changing mechanical demands placed on muscle, using mechanisms that operate on different time scales and that include post‐transcriptional and post‐translational processes. Recent work also suggests that titin performs roles that go beyond passive stiffness generation. In contracting myocardium, titin may modulate actomyosin interaction by a titin‐based alteration of the distance between myosin heads and actin. Furthermore, novel ligands have been identified that link titin to membrane channels, protein turnover and gene expression. This review highlights that titin is a versatile and adjustable spring with a range of important functions in passive and contracting myocardium.
The advent of cardiac resynchronization therapy has created a confusing terminology of heart failure.

Three recent trials (Resynchronization reVErses Remodeling in Systolic Left vEntricular Dysfunction [REVERSE], MADIT-CRT, and Resynchronization-Defibrillation for Ambulatory Heart Failure [RAFT]) [1–3] have demonstrated the benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in a relatively large number of New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II heart failure (HF) patients with a wide QRS complex, and a much smaller NYHA class I group of asymptomatic patients with severe left ventricular (LV) dysfunction also with a wide QRS complex. These trials generated a large number of substudies, meta-analyses and review articles about CRT in NYHA asymptomatic class I patients and class II HF patients and fostered the expansion of indications for CRT. The large number of publications about CRT has created or reactivated problems with the terminology of HF a situation compounded by the common misinterpretation of the NYHA classification [4]. The following descriptions from recent publications illustrate how confusing the terminology of HF has become. Descriptions such as “severe”, “chronic” and “refractory” used alone are excluded. 1. HF with mild symptoms. Also “…mildly symptomatic patients with heart failure”. This terminology is acceptable but the definition of mild symptoms is missing. Presumably it refers to functional class II NYHA, but not class I [4–6].
Connexin 43 Channels Are Essential for Normal Bone Structure and Osteocyte Viability

Connexin (Cx) 43 serves important roles in bone function and development. Targeted deletion of Cx43 in osteoblasts or osteocytes leads to increased osteocyte apoptosis, osteoclast recruitment, and reduced biomechanical properties. Cx43 forms both gap junction channels and hemichannels, which mediate the communication between adjacent cells or between cell and extracellular environments, respectively. Two transgenic mouse models driven by a DMP1 promoter with the overexpression of dominant negative Cx43 mutants were generated to dissect the functional contribution of Cx43 gap junction channels and hemichannels in osteocytes. The R76W mutant blocks the gap junction channel, but not the hemichannel function, and the Δ130‐136 mutant inhibits activity of both types of channels. Δ130‐136 mice showed a significant increase in bone mineral density compared to wild‐type (WT) and R76W mice. Micro–computed tomography (µCT) analyses revealed a significant increase in total tissue and bone area in midshaft cortical bone of Δ130‐136 mice. The bone marrow cavity was expanded, whereas the cortical thickness was increased and associated with increased bone formation along the periosteal area. However, there is no significant alteration in the structure of trabecular bone. Histologic sections of the midshaft showed increased apoptotic osteocytes in Δ130‐136, but not in WT and R76W, mice which correlated with altered biomechanical and estimated bone material properties. Osteoclasts were increased along the endocortical surface in both transgenic mice with a greater effect in Δ130‐136 mice that likely contributed to the increased marrow cavity. Interestingly, the overall expression of serum bone formation and resorption markers were higher in R76W mice. These findings suggest that osteocytic Cx43 channels play distinctive roles in the bone; hemichannels play a dominant role in regulating osteocyte survival, endocortical bone resorption, and periosteal apposition, and gap junction communication is involved in the process of bone remodeling. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Repeated dosing of botulinum toxin type A for upper limb spasticity following stroke

The authors evaluated the long-term efficacy and safety of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) in poststroke spasticity patients who completed a 12-week placebo-controlled study and received multiple open-label treatments with 200 to 240 U BTX-A for 42 weeks. Significant and sustained improvements were observed for Disability Assessment and Ashworth scores. Adverse events were generally mild. This extension of a double-blind study demonstrates that repeated treatments of BTX-A significantly improve function and tone in spasticity.
Prevalence of herpesvirus, human T‐lymphotropic virus type 1, and treponemal infections in Southeast Asian refugees

Sera obtained for treponemal serology (VDRL) from 193 Southeast Asian refugees representing five ethnic groups seen in a primary care clinic were examined for antibodies t o human T‐lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV‐1), human herpesvirus‐6 (HHV‐6), Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV). The seroprevalence was highest for EBV (99%), followed in decreasing order by CMV (95%), HHV‐6 (26%), and HTLV‐1 (0.6%). The VDRL was positive in 15% of patients. The highest seroprevalence to HHV‐6 was noted in the Chinese (33%) and the lowest in the Laotian hilltribes, the Mien and Hmong (14%). Antibody to HHV‐6 was most prevalent among patients under 20 and those between 60 and 69 years of age. Differences were not found among ethnic groups in the seroprevalence of HTLV‐1, EBV, or CMV. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Epidemiology of tobacco use and dependence.

Knowledge of the epidemiology of tobacco use and dependence can be used to guide research initiatives, intervention programs, and policy decisions. Both the reduction in the prevalence of smoking among US adults and black adolescents and the decline in per capita consumption are encouraging. These changes have probably been influenced by factors operating at the individual (e.g., school-based prevention programs and cessation programs) and environmental (e.g., mass media educational strategies, the presence of smoke-free laws and policies, and the price of tobacco products) levels (for a discussion of these factors, see, e.g., refs. 2, 48, 52, 183, and 184). The lack of progress among adolescents, especially whites and males, and the high risk for experimenters of developing tobacco dependence present cause for great concern (48, 183-186). In addition to those discussed above, several areas of research can be recommended. 1. Better understanding of the clustering of tobacco use with the use of other drugs, other risk behaviors, and other psychiatric disorders could better illuminate the causal processes involved, as well as the special features of the interventions needed to prevent and treat tobacco dependence. 2. To better understand population needs, trend analyses of prevalence, initiation, and cessation should, whenever possible, incorporate standardized measures of these other risk factors. Future research should compare the effect of socioeconomic status variables on measures of smoking behavior among racial/ethnic groups in the United States. 3. For reasons that may be genetic, environmental, or both, some persons do not progress beyond initial experimentation with tobacco use (2, 48, 183, 187-192), but about one-third to one-half of those who experiment with cigarettes become regular users (48, 193, 194). Factors, both individual and environmental, that can influence the susceptibility of individuals to tobacco dependence need further attention. 4. To estimate their sensitivity and specificity, comparisons of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse indicators of dependence with DSM-based criteria are needed. Public health action continues to be warranted to reduce the substantial morbidity and mortality caused by tobacco use (195). A paradigm for such action has been recommended and involves preventing the onset of use, treating tobacco dependence, protecting non-smokers from exposure to secondhand smoke, promoting nonsmoking messages while limiting the effect of tobacco advertising and promotion on young people, increasing the real (inflation-adjusted) price of tobacco products, and regulating tobacco products (186).
Semen characteristics of two breeds of turkeys.

at Giza, Egypt (lat. 30\s=deg\N). Four collections were tested each month throughout 1 year. The collections of alternate weeks were used for studying the physical and chemical characteristics respectively. The largest volumes of semen were produced between March and October, and the smallest between November and February. The best semen quality was recorded between November and April, and the poorest between May and August. A sharp decline in all semen characteristics occurred during May. If the causes of this decline can be avoided, the time of obtaining best semen qualities is prolonged. The semen production of Beltsville Small White turkeys was better than that of the Bronze breed. Wide seasonal variations in types of sperm abnormality were observed. Seminal fructose and vitamin C were high between November and April, and low from May to August. Semen quality was directly related to levels of seminal fructose and vitamin C. Slight seasonal and monthly variations were observed in inorganic phosphate levels. The rate of fructose metabolism by the spermatozoa was high during the first hour and decreased consistently thereafter. The large quantity of carbon dioxide produced during the first hour depressed sperm viability.
Multifactorial Etiology of Recurrent Miscarriage and Its Scientific and Clinical Implications

A considerable proportion of recurrent miscarriage (RM) cases are caused by recurrent chromosomally abnormal conceptions. However, in younger patients and patients with multiple miscarriages, maternal causes seem to dominate. No single biomarker with a high predictive value of maternally caused RM has been identified. Non-genetic biomarkers in RM may not reflect conditions in the pregnant uterus and we rarely know whether they are causes or consequences of miscarriage. Studies of genetic biomarkers are probably the best way to reveal the pathophysiological mechanisms behind RM. Epidemiological and genetic studies suggest that RM due to maternal causes has a multifactorial background. The risk of RM in each patient is probably determined by the interaction of many genetic variants and environmental factors but only few of these have so far been identified. The genetic biomarkers for RM can probably be classified into three groups: (1) variants associated with excessive inflammatory responses and autoimmunity; (2) variants of importance for insulin and androgen sensitivity and turn-over, and (3) variants associated with thrombophilia. Identification of these markers will require whole genome association studies comprising thousands of individuals. Acknowledgement of the multifactorial background for RM has important implications for the management of patients in clinical practice.
Determinants of Ownership Structure in Joint Ventures: A Study on Korean Multinational Firms *

This paper builds a theoretical model that shows that a joint venture is an important organizational form for a multinational firm (MNF), although the MNF cannot make ex ante complete contracts with an intermediate-input supplier. The paper shows that if the intermediate input of a supplier is important, then the MNF holds a smaller share of the supplier firm’s equity to give the supplier an incentive to produce more intermediate input. To test the predictions in the theory, the paper uses a data set of South Korean MNFs. The empirical evidence shows that if an affiliate has the higher ratio of intangible assets to sales, then the parent firm is inclined to hold a smaller equity share of the supplier’s firm.