Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Escitalopram (10–20 mg/day) is effective and well tolerated in a placebo‐controlled study in depression in primary care

&NA; Escitalopram was compared to placebo in moderately to severely depressed patients in primary care with citalopram as the active reference. Patients were randomized to receive flexible doses of 10–20 mg/day escitalopram (n=155), 20–40 mg/day citalopram (n=160), or placebo (n=154) over an 8‐week double‐blind period. The primary efficacy parameter was the change from baseline to last assessment in the Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scale total score. Escitalopram produced a statistically significant therapeutic difference of 2.9 points (P=0.002) compared to placebo, and escitalopram was consistently and statistically significantly more efficacious than placebo from week 1 onwards. Analysis of Clinical Global Impression–Severity and Clinical Global Impression–Improvement confirmed the primary efficacy results. By week 8, significantly more patients had responded to treatment with escitalopram than with citalopram (P=0.021) or placebo (P=0.009). Escitalopram was as well tolerated as citalopram and had a similar adverse event profile. Both escitalopram‐ and citalopram‐treated patients had placebo‐level adverse event withdrawal rates (3% and 4%, respectively). This study demonstrates the consistent antidepressant efficacy and excellent tolerability of escitalopram 10–20 mg/day in primary care patients with major depressive disorder.
Government Credit, a Double-Edged Sword: Evidence from the China Development Bank

Using proprietary data from the China Development Bank (CDB), this paper examines the effects of government credit on firm activities. Tracing the effects of government credit across different levels of the supply chain, I find that CDB industrial loans to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) crowd out private firms in the same industry but crowd in private firms in downstream industries. Overall, a $1 increase in CDB SOE loans leads to a $0.20 decrease in private firm assets. Moreover, CDB infrastructure loans crowd in private firms. I use the exogenous timing of predicted municipal politicians' turnover as instruments for CDB credit flows.
The Impact of Audit Committee Characteristics on Earnings Management in the Pre- and Post- Bahraini Corporate Governance Code 2011

Aims: This study tends to measure the effectiveness of the Bahraini corporate governance code (BCGC) 2011 on curbing earnings management practices by using audit committee (AC) characteristics in the preand postBCGC 2011. Study Design: The AC characteristics examined are AC independence, AC meetings and AC experts. To present evidence on whether the BCGC 2011 decreases the level of earnings management, this study investigated this issue by comparing the regression results in the preand postBCGC 2011. Place and Duration of Study: The initial study sample includes all Bahraini companies listed on the Bahrain Bourse (BB) for the year 2010 and for the year 2012, one year data before and one year data after implementing the BCGC 2011. Methodology: Ordinary least-squares regression is used to examine the association between AC characteristics and earnings management practices preand postBCGC 2011. The regression model is implemented separately for the year 2010 and for the year 2012. Results: The results of the regression model show that earnings management does not significantly associated with any of the AC characteristics even preor postthe BCGC 2011. Conclusion: The results may suggest that ACs doesn’t provide incremental monitoring in curbing Original Research Article Juhmani; AJEBA, 4(3): 1-12, 2017; Article no.AJEBA. 36234 2 earnings management in the postBCGC period. The results of this study called for future research to examine the impact of BCGC 2011 on earnings management by using the board functions in addition to the AC functions in the regression model, and by using more years data preand postBCGC 2011. This study contributes geographically to the effectiveness of ACs and earnings management literatures by analyzing data from an emerging market, and it has potential implication for regulators and policy-makers in Bahrain to increase the effectiveness of ACs.
Carotid Endarterectomy: Current Status, and Effects of Clinical Trials

With the interim results of the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET) and the European Carotid Surgery Trial (ECST) now reported, it has been shown that carotid endarterectomy is superior to conventional medical therapy for the treatment of symptomatic patients with >70% diameter-reducing stenosis. The Veterans' Administration trial in asymptomatic patients with a >50% diameter-reducing stenosis has shown that endarterectomy is superior to conventional non-operative treatment for the prevention of transient ischemic attacks and strokes when these events are combined. The design, impact and potential shortcomings of these trials are reviewed.
Crowdsourcing voice editing and quality assessment of data collected from the largest mobile phone-based research study of Parkinson disease

Mobile phones provide a new way of collecting behavioral medical research data at a scale never before possible – Sage Bionetworks’ mPower Parkinson research app, launched at Apple’s March 9, 2015 ResearchKit announcement, is currently collecting data related to Parkinson symptoms, such as voice recordings, from thousands of registered study participants. Before making such voice data available to any qualified researcher in the world, they need to undergo quality control and editing, which is currently something only a human can do well. To achieve this goal and the required scale, we will crowdsource these tasks through Amazon's Mechanical Turk.
What Factors Matter for Choice of Livelihood among the Older Workers in Sri Lanka?

Having a stable livelihood not only gives a financial safeguard for ageing but also works as a policy solution for rapid ageing. Like many other countries, Sri Lanka is also confronting a rapid ‘population ageing’ phenomenon. Population ageing not only affects structural changes in the population but also impacts a country’s macroeconomic and social conditions. Enforcing human resource policy solutions to retain older workers in the labour force longer is one of the measures which can prevent the economy, as well as individual households, from the excess burden of old age dependents. This study aims to investigate the factors which explain the choice of livelihood of persons aged over 50 years. Two multinomial logit models were used to determine the factors affecting labour force participation and sector participation (public, private and self-employed). Varme’s occupation choice model (2000) was employed as the theoretical model. Entering to different job opportunities is mostly concentrated in the urbanized cities and job opportunities in less-developed districts are limited only to the public sector. In addition, lower educated people have less chance to engage in employment, and a majority of them are unemployed. Higher educated people mostly work in public sector, than in the private sector. Accordingly, effective policy decision needs to be taken to redistribute the benefits of economic development equitably.
Scale‐up of Escherichia coli growth and recombinant protein expression conditions from microwell to laboratory and pilot scale based on matched kLa

Fermentation optimization experiments are ideally performed at small scale to reduce time, cost and resource requirements. Currently microwell plates (MWPs) are under investigation for this purpose as the format is ideally suited to automated high‐throughput experimentation. In order to translate an optimized small‐scale fermentation process to laboratory and pilot scale stirred‐tank reactors (STRs) it is necessary to characterize key engineering parameters at both scales given the differences in geometry and the mechanisms of aeration and agitation. In this study oxygen mass transfer coefficients are determined in three MWP formats and in 7.5 L and 75 L STRs. kLa values were determined in cell‐free media using the dynamic gassing‐out technique over a range of agitation conditions. Previously optimized culture conditions at the MWP scale were then scaled up to the larger STR scales on the basis of matched kLa values. The accurate reproduction of MWP (3 mL) E. coli BL21 (DE3) culture kinetics at the two larger scales was shown in terms of cell growth, protein expression, and substrate utilization for kLa values that provided effective mixing and gas–liquid distribution at each scale. This work suggests that kLa provides a useful initial scale‐up criterion for MWP culture conditions which enabled a 15,000‐fold scale translation in this particular case. This work complements our earlier studies on the application of DoE techniques to MWP fermentation optimization and in so doing provides a generic framework for the generation of large quantities of soluble protein in a rapid and cost‐effective manner. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2008;99: 1128–1139. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Cytokine-mediated downregulation of vasopressin V 1 A-receptors during acute endotoxemia in rats Running head : V 1 A-expression during sepsis

The reduced pressure response to vasopressin during acute sepsis has directed our interest onto the regulation of vasopressin V1A-receptors. Rats were injected with lipopolysaccharide for induction of experimental Gram-negative sepsis. V1A-receptor gene expression was downregulated in the liver, lung, kidney and heart during endotoxemia. As the concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL1β, TNF-α and IFN-γ were highly increased during sepsis the influence of these cytokines on V1A-receptor expression was investigated in primary cultures of hepatocytes and in the aortic vascular smooth muscle cell line A7r5. It turned out that V1A-receptor expression was downregulated by the cytokines in a nitric oxideindependent manner. Blood pressure dose-response studies after injection of endotoxin showed a diminished responsiveness to the selective V1-receptor agonist Phe,Ile,Orn-vasopressin. Our data show that sepsis causes a downregulation of V1A-receptors, and suggest that this effect is likely mediated by proinflammatory cytokines. We propose that this downregulation of V1A-receptors contributes to the attenuated responsiveness of blood pressure in response to vasopressin, and therefore contributes to the circulatory failure in septic shock.
Inhibition of Cytochrome P450 3A: Relevant Drug Interactions in Gastroenterology

Cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) is involved in biotransformation of more than half of all drugs currently available. Drug interactions by inhibition of CYP3A are of major interest in patients receiving combinations of drugs. Some interactions with CYP3A inhibitors also involve inhibition of the multidrug export pump, P-glycoprotein. An increasing number of adverse drug reactions might be avoided on the basis of knowledge about CYP3A substrates and inhibitors. This article summarizes some examples of such interactions relevant to gastroenterologists. Serious cases by coadministration of CYP3A inhibitors resulting in acute hepatitis, hypotension, rhabdomyolyis, torsade de pointes, sedation, or ergotism are presented: interactions with azole antifungals (ketoconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole), HIV protease inhibitors (ritonavir, indinavir, saquinavir, nelfinavir), macrolide antibiotics (clarithromycin, erythromycin), and grapefruit juice. In addition, 1 case is reported who presented the highest trough levels of the CYP3A substrate budesonide in serum ever measured. Practitioners have to be aware of the high potential of metabolic drug interactions when they prescribe a CYP3A inhibitor. It is wise to check carefully comedication in patients complaining of side effects with substrates of CYP3A.
SET switching effects on PCM endurance

In this paper we report results on PCM endurance failure characterization. We show that endurance failure is related to SET pulse features and we analyze and model SET operation to obtain a better understanding and improve endurance performance. Results give interesting insights on the crystallization process of GST material. SET obeys to a constant energy law. Fast SET pulses require high power; slow SET pulses can be implemented in low power applications. Results may be used for optimized SET/RESET operation to achieve better endurance.
VSS type self-tuning control

Discrete variable-structure control and its application to self-tuning control are considered. The proposed variable structure control does not use state variables but uses present and past output or input-output signals. Variable-structure control for the deterministic discrete-time system based on the minimum variance and generalized minimum variance control is proposed. The method is then extended so that self-tuning control is realized for the plants with uncertain parameters by identifying the control law online. A simulation study shows the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. >
Safety performance of subcontractors in the Palestinian construction industry

Subcontractors perform most of the construction works and their effect on industry are apparent in different activities of construction. Therefore, subcontractors need more attention from government and contractors union. The aim of this paper is to identify, evaluate, and rank factors that influence safety performance of subcontractors in the Gaza Strip (Palestine) according to their relative importance. The study concluded that reported accident rates will decrease among subcontractors and their workers if new workers are trained well in the work site and they are informed about dangerous places, and if a workable safety plan is well preplanned. The results also showed that reported accident rates increased among subcontractors when using old, unsafe equipment and due to the complexity or difficulty in the construction sites features. Owners and general contractors need to stipulate strict clauses for safety in the contract for improving safety record of subcontractors. Construction workers must receive proper job related safety and health training with a safety logbook. It is recommended that the subcontractors and workers should attend continuing safety programs on regular basis as part of their perquisite to work in construction sites.
Nocturnal Frontal Lobe Epilepsy and the Acetylcholine Receptor

Background:Nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE) is an idiopathic partial epilepsy characterized by a wide spectrum of stereotyped motor manifestations, mostly occurring during non rapid eye movements sleep. NFLE is underdiagnosed since semiological similarities make it difficult to distinguish NFLE from parasomnias. In 1994, authors reported families with NFLE inherited as an autosomal dominant trait and they introduced the term of autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (ADNFLE). A family history of possible NFLE is found in about 25% of cases. The genetic bases of the disease have been detected in a minority of cases. Mutations causing a gain of function of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors were reported in 3 different subunits. Review Summary:This review discusses the clinical aspects of NFLE and the diagnostic procedures. Furthermore, the genetic aspects are outlined. The main differentiating features characterizing NFLE are: (a) several attacks per night at any time during the night; (b) brief duration of the attacks; (c) stereotyped motor pattern. Nocturnal video-polysomnography is crucial for the diagnosis. Neurological examination in NFLE/ADNFLE is normal. About 30% of NFLE cases are resistant to antiepileptic drugs. Concerning the genetics, putative susceptibility nucleotide variations affecting the promoter of the CRH gene and altering the corticotrophin-releasing hormone levels have been reported in some NFLE patients. Conclusions:Distinguishing NFLE seizures from paroxysmal nonepileptic sleep disorders is often difficult and sometimes impossible on clinical grounds alone. Nocturnal video-polysomnography is mandatory. Further genetic studies could help the diagnosis and treatment in NFLE patients.
Shelf based out-of-stocks in the context of employee density

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of employee density on shelf based out-of-stocks, i.e. situations when products are physically present at stores, but not on the marked points of sale. In addition, for the first time, these relations were analyzed among different retail formats. By using POS estimation method, shelf based out-of-stock rates were measured for 80 different FMCG products in 97 retail stores. For analyzing the impact of employee density on the average shelf based OOS rate in modern and traditional retail formats, curvilinear hierarchical regression and moderation analyses were used. The results showed that the relation between employee density and shelf based out-of-sock varied among different formats. While it was not significant in convenience stores, in modern formats it was quadratic (stores with too many or too few employees per square meter were related to higher levels of shelf based OOS). The obtained results suggest that store managers should be aware of the effects of employee organization on product availability. The attention was also dedicated to potential problems and managerial implications concerning the employees’ number in retail stores, regarding traditional and modern trading formats. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.ee. 28.4. 16194
Effect of Childlessness on Nursing Home and Home Health Care Use

Abstract This study examines the likelihood of nursing home and home health care use for childless older Americans. Four research questions are addressed: (1) Are the childless elderly at a greater risk of nursing home and home health care use? (2) Is it childlessness per se or not having children with particular characteristics that affects the likelihood of using these formal long-term care services? (3) Does having additional children beyond the first one have a significant effect on the use of these services? (4) Are the effects of childlessness different on the likelihood of nursing home and home health care use? Longitudinal data from the first (1993) and second (1995) waves of the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old Survey (AHEAD) and multinomial logistic regression models are used for the analyses. Separate models are developed for women and men, each controlling for a variety of demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related characteristics of sample persons. Findings indicate childlessness as an important risk factor, especially for older women's use of nursing home services. Implications of findings for planning for long-term care needs of the baby boom generation are discussed.
Supporting Similarity Queries in Apache AsterixDB

Many applications require similarity query processing. Most existing work took an algorithmic approach, developing indexing structures, algorithms, and/or various optimizations. In this work, we choose to take a different, systems-oriented approach. We describe the support for similarity queries in Apache AsterixDB, a parallel, open-source Big Data management system for NoSQL data. We describe the lifecycle of a similarity query in the system, including the support provided at the query language level, indexing, execution plans (with and without indexes), plan rewrites to optimize query execution, and so on. Our approach leverages the existing infrastructure of AsterixDB, including its operators, parallel query engine, and rule-based query optimizer. We have conducted an experimental study using several large, real data sets on a parallel computing cluster to evaluate AsterixDB’s support for similarity queries, and we share the efficacy and performance results here.
The Factors Influencing Strategy Implementation In Family Owned Businesses In Kenya: A Case Study of Nairobi Place Ltd

Strategy implementation is a set of decisions and actions that result in the translation of the strategic thought into organizational action where an organization moves from planning its work to working its plan in order to achieve the set objectives. This study sought to investigate the factors influencing strategy implementation in family owned enterprises in Kenya with specific reference to Nairobi Place Limited. The specific objectives of this study were: The specific objectives of the study were: To establish the influence of decision making on strategy implementation of family owned business at Nairobi Place Limited, to examine the influence of culture on strategy implementation of family owned business at Nairobi Place Limited, to determine the influence of culture on strategy implementation of family owned business at Nairobi Place Ltd, to determine the influence of succession planning on strategy implementation of family owned business at Nairobi Place Ltd and to examine the influence of finance allocation on strategy implementation of family owned businesses at Nairobi Place Ltd.The study adopted case study research design and targeted all the 56 employees of Nairobi Place Limited. This was a census study and the researcher managed to get responses from 48 respondents representing 86% response rate. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain information from the respondents. The questionnaires were administered through drop and pick method. The research findings revealed that decision making, succession planning, culture and finance allocation respectively influenced strategy implementation at family owned businesses in Kenya. With regards to decision making, the research findings revealed that there were hierarchical difficulties when making decisions aimed at implementing organizational strategies. The findings further revealed that majority of the respondents understood and subscribed to the organizationâ€Ÿs mission and vision statements content to a great extent. With regards to succession planning, the findings revealed that the future of Nairobi Place Limited is bright. However, the future of the business did not match those of the family. The organization had efficient collecting revenues mechanisms from the services it offered to a great extent despite the insufficient budgetary allocation to reinforce strategy implementation. Based on the study findings the following specific recommendations are given: Management to adequately consult before making major strategy implementation decisions; prepare family members to take up management positions and efficiently run this business; increase budgetary allocation to implement various strategies and instill sound financial controls to help protect organizational ambitions.
Design of stable minimax IIR digital filters using semidefinite programming

Semidefinite programming (SDP) has recently been found useful in designing various types of FIR digital filters. This paper describes a SDP-based method for the design of stable minimax IIR filters. A single linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraint assures the filter's stability and fits nicely into the SDP-based design setting. Design efficiency and performance of the proposed method an illustrated by simulations and comparisons to a well-known design by Deczky (1972).