Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peritoneal Dialysis in Asia

Background: There is a growing demand of dialysis in Asia for end-stage renal failure patients. Diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of end-stage renal failure in many countries in Asia. Summary: The growth of peritoneal dialysis (PD) in Asia is significant and seeing a good trend. With the enhanced practices of PD, the quality of care in PD in Asia is also improved. Overall, PD and hemodialysis (HD) are comparable in clinical outcome. There is a global trend in the reduction of peritonitis rates and Asian countries also witness such improvement. The socio-economic benefits of PD for end-stage renal failure patients in both urban and rural areas in the developed and developing regions of Asia are an important consideration. This can help to reduce the financial burden of renal failure in addressing the growing demand of patients on dialysis. Initiatives should be considered to further drive down the cost of PD in Asia. Key Messages: Growing demand for dialysis by an increasing number of end-stage renal failure patients requires the use of a cost-effective quality dialysis modality. PD is found to be comparable to HD in outcome and quality. In most countries in Asia, PD should be more cost-effective than HD. A ‘PD-first' or a ‘PD as first considered therapy' policy can be an overall strategy in many countries in Asia in managing renal failure patients, taking the examples of Hong Kong and Thailand. Facts from East and West: (1) PD is cheaper than HD and provides a better quality of life worldwide, but its prevalence is significantly lower than that of HD in all countries, with the exception of Hong Kong. Allowing reimbursement of PD but not HD has permitted to increase the use of PD over HD in many Asian countries like Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, as well as in New Zealand and Australia over the last years. In the Western world, however, HD is still promoted, and the proportion of patients treated with PD decreases. Japan remains an exception in Asia where PD penetration is very low. Lack of adequate education of practitioners and information of patients might as well be reasons for the low penetration of PD in both the East and West. (2) Patient survival of PD varies between and within countries but is globally similar to HD. (3) Peritonitis remains the main cause of morbidity in PD patients. South Asian countries face specific issues such as high tuberculosis and mycobacterial infections, which are rare in developed Asian and Western countries. The infection rate is affected by climatic and socio-economic factors and is higher in hot, humid and rural areas. (4) Nevertheless, the promotion of a PD-first policy might be beneficial particularly for remote populations in emerging countries where the end-stage renal disease rate is increasing dramatically.
Dynamic linkages and propagation mechanisms among Asian stock markets: an analysis of the pre- and post-1997–98 financial crisis

This thesis analyses dynamic interdependence, volatility transmission and market integration across eight selected Asian stock markets from 1992 to 2007. Various methodologies are applied to test such relationships. In particular, the focus is given to the impact of the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis on the dynamic linkages and propagation mechanisms among these selected Asian equity markets. The techniques of unit root testing, cointegration, vector error correction modelling (VECM) and forecast error variance decomposition (VDC) analysis are initially performed in both whole sample period and four sub-sample periods (namely pre-crisis, crisis, post-crisis and recovery periods). The results suggest that Asian stock markets are highly integrated and the crash has brought a greater interaction amongst markets. Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore appear to play the relative leading role over other markets. Furthermore, the characteristics of stock volatility are then examined using univariate TAR-GARCH model. The results show that volatility is time-varying and bad news will generate more volatility than good news. Additionally, the empirical findings show the existence of day of week effects in returns and volatility in emerging markets before but not after the crisis. This suggests improved post-crash market efficiency in Asian emerging markets. [Continues. ]
The diversification benefits within Islamic investments: the case of Malaysia-based Islamic equity investors

This article aims to assist Malaysia-based Islamic equity investors in identifying possible diversification benefits by diversifying their portfolio in the Southeast Asian market and the top 10 world’s largest equity markets (China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and Switzerland). The multivariate GARCH-dynamic conditional correlation is applied to estimate the time-varying linkages of the selected Asian and international Islamic stock index returns with the Malaysian Islamic stock index returns, covering approximately eight years daily starting from 29 June, 2007 to 30 June, 2016. At the regional level, the results indicate that Malaysia-based Islamic equity investors would benefit most if they include the Japanese Islamic stock indices in their portfolio. Meanwhile, at the international level, the results imply that the US Islamic stock indices provide the most diversification benefit for the Malaysia-based Islamic equity investors.
Discontinuing treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in sustained clinical remission: exploratory analyses from the BeSt study

Objectives To determine the relapse rate after discontinuing treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in sustained clinical remission, to identify predictors of a relapse and to evaluate treatment response after restarting treatment. Methods Five-year data from the BeSt study were used, in which 508 patients with recent-onset RA were randomised into four dynamic treatment strategies, aiming at a disease activity score (DAS) ≤2.4. When DAS was <1.6 for ≥6 months, the last disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) was tapered and discontinued. If DAS increased to ≥1.6, the last DMARD was immediately reintroduced. Results During a 5-year period, 115/508 patients (23%) achieved drug-free remission. Of these, 53 patients (46%) restarted treatment because the DAS was ≥1.6 after a median of 5 months, 59 patients (51%) remained in drug-free remission for a median duration of 23 months and 3 (3%) were lost to follow-up. In those who restarted treatment, mean (SD) DAS increased from 1.13 (0.73) at remission before tapering to 2.18 (0.65) at restart, reflecting an increase in all four components of DAS. Multivariable predictors for restarting treatment were anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP), last DMARD sulfasalazine, low baseline Health Assessment Questionnaire score and high mean DAS until remission. Of the 53 patients who restarted treatment, 39 (74%) again achieved remission 3–6 months after the restart. The median (IQR) damage progression in those who restarted treatment during the year of DAS increase was 0 (0–1) Sharp-van der Heijde units. Conclusion During 5 years DAS steered treatment, nearly 25% of patients with RA achieved drug-free remission; 46% restarted DMARD monotherapy because of a relapse, the majority of whom again achieved clinical remission within 3–6 months without showing radiological progression during the relapse.
Serum Anti-CCP Antibody and its Correlation with Disease Activity in Local Pakistani Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Aims: To investigate the correlation of anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide (anti-CCP) with clinical manifestations and disease activity in a cohort of patients with established diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: A total of 58 patients attending the Rheumatology outpatient department of Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore were recruited in the study. Data of disease related parameters such as disease duration, medications, degree of pain (visual analog scale, VAS), disease activity score 28 (DAS 28), and health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) were recorded. Laboratory workup included erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR>20mm/hr considered positive), rheumatoid factor (determined by ELISA technique) and anti-CCP antibody (ELISA Immco Diagnostics, USA). Results: The anti-CCP antibody levels did not correlate with the number of tender joints (p=0.282), swollen joints (p=0.705), VAS (p=0.487), ESR (p=0.128), HAQ scores (p=0.317) or DAS28 scores (p=0.348). However, anti-CCP levels correlated significantly (p=0.000) with the rheumatoid factor titers. Conclusion: No correlation existed between the serum anti-CCP antibody titers and DAS-28 and other disease activity parameters besides RF titers.
The Tolerance Benefits of Multicultural Experiences Depend on the Perception of Available Mental Resources

Multicultural experience has been shown to lead to greater intergroup tolerance via reduced need for cognitive closure (NFCC). However, the requisite metacognitive conditions that facilitate this effect have yet to be examined. In 6 studies, we systematically demonstrated that the ameliorative effects of multicultural experience on intergroup bias are achieved only when individuals perceived that they had sufficient mental resources. Mental resources were either (a) measured during the Hong Kong “Umbrella Revolution” (Study 1), (b) experimentally manipulated in the lab through a classic depletion task (Study 2), or (c) subjectively recalled (Studies 3, 4, 5, and 6). We further showed that the moderating effects of perceived resource availability on the tolerance benefits of multicultural experience were mediated by reduced levels of NFCC (Studies 1, 5, and 6). This effect was consistent across a variety of targeted outgroups (Mainland Chinese, Arabs, Russians, Blacks, Asian Americans, and homosexuals), regardless of whether multicultural experience was measured or manipulated, and across samples (Hong Kongers, Jewish Israelis, and U.S.-born Americans). Overall, by integrating the literature on multicultural experiences with that on perceived resource depletion, we demonstrate the state-dependent nature of the advantages of multicultural experiences as well as afford a more nuanced view of the downstream influence of perceived mental depletion.
Informatization–Dramatization: Communicating Health in East Asian Television Dramas

This article samples several television serials from Hong Kong and Japan to examine trends in East Asian television dramas’ portrayal of discourses on health, illness, and disability. Such portrayals are a response to an increasingly literate publics’ demands for less explicitly instructional health narratives and for dramatic demonstration of knowledge through para-performances in television serials. Accompanying these health messages are exhibitions of positive psycho-behavioral mechanisms for coping with disability or disease that typify the ideal sociocultural traits of the individual. East Asian dramas have defined many trends of modern living for transnational and regional viewers, and the health discourses in these productions are similarly likely to significantly shape notions of modernity and urbanity in regional contexts. Using an “informatization–dramatization” analytical framework, this article seeks to conceptualize the narrative structures behind the presentation of these health-related messages.
A study of apparel consumer behaviour in China and Taiwan

ABSTRACT To better understand consumer behaviour and preferences for apparel shopping in Asia, we collected data through questionnaire surveys in China and Taiwan on three topics: online and offline shopping behaviours; product evaluative criteria; and fashion information sources. The study showed that women in both China and Taiwan shopped more frequently than men. Chinese consumers shopped more frequently online than did their Taiwanese counterparts. Both Chinese and Taiwanese consumers cited ‘fit’ and ‘comfort’ as the two most important evaluative criteria for clothing, while ‘brand name’ and ‘country of origin’ were the least important cues. Both Chinese and Taiwanese participants cited ‘friends’ as their most important fashion information source, with ‘siblings’ and ‘parents’ being the two least important sources.
Property Rights and Financial Development: The Legacy of Japanese Colonial Institutions

Several studies link modern economic performance to institutions transplanted by European colonizers and here we extend this line of research to Asia. Japan imposed its system of well-defined property rights in land on some of its Asian colonies, including Korea, Taiwan and Palau. In 1939 Japan began to survey and register private land in its island colonies, an effort that was completed in Palau but interrupted elsewhere by World War II. Within Micronesia robust economic development followed only in Palau where individual property rights were well defined. Second, we show that well-defined property rights in Korea and Taiwan secured land taxation and enabled farmers to obtain bank loans for capital improvements, principally irrigation systems. Our analytical model predicts that high costs of creating an ownership updating system and a citizen identity system discourage a short-sighted government from implementing these crucial components, the absence of which gradually makes land registration obsolete. Third, considering all of Japan's colonies, we use the presence or absence of a land survey as an instrument to identify the causal impact of new institutions. Our estimates show that property-defining institutions were important for economic development, results that are confirmed when using a similar approach with British Colonies in Asia.
Consumer Ethnocentrism, Self-Image Congruence and Local Brand Preference: A Cross-National Examination

This study examines the direct effect of consumer ethnocentrism and the mediation effect of self-image congruity on local brand preference among three countries that are typically classified as more collectivistic - Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. A total of 716 usable questionnaires were collected from consumers in these three countries for three different product categories (beer, cosmetics and personal computer). To examine the proposed hypotheses in this study, we conducted ANOVA and hierarchical regression. The main finding in this study was that the direct effect of consumer ethnocentrism as well as the mediation effect of self-image congruency on local brand preference is contingent upon both the product category of the brand and the nationality of the consumer. Our study also found that strong ethnocentric tendencies within a country may not automatically translate into a negative bias toward foreign brands that enter the country. Global practitioners should invest resources in the social/emotional dimensions of their brands that connect with the self-image of local consumers to effectively win brand preference.
Sensory and Proximate Analysis of Value Added Bakery Products Using Bael (Aegle marmelos) and Stevia Powder

In the present scenario, great interest has been shown by the health professionals and public for use of traditional and indigenous medicinal plants in the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Many plants of the Rutaceae family are used since ancient times for a wide variety of ethnomedical properties possessed by this family. One of the member with immense medicinal properties is Aegle marmelose (L) found in India. It is also popular as bael or koovalam growing wild throughout deciduous forest of India, climbing to a height of 1,200 m in Western Himalayas. The plant contains a number of phytoconstituents like aegeline, agelinine, rutin, sterol sitosterol, -Dglucoside, marmesinine (1), lupeol, tannins, phlobatannins, flavonoids, umbelliferone, quercetin and volatile oils (Eugenol) and methyl eugenol) (2). The excessive sugar intakes have become a major health concern all over the world. Stevia is one such natural which is about 300 times sweeter than sucrose. It is a non-caloric or zero calorie natural sweetener isolated from the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana. It is quite popular as a sugar substitute in a wide range of foods and is used as a food supplement in China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. It does not only possess sweetening properties, but also have International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 12 (2017) pp. 3749-3760 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
A Plan for Igniting Nigeria’s Industrial Revolution

The Industrialization of countries is in every way influenced by forerunner nations. This is exemplified in Western Europe’s copying of Britain’s technology and manufacturing systems. This work presents a study of the industrialization of nations such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and several other industrializing countries and the lessons learned revealed that the industrialization of these nations was based on initial imitative-reverse-engineering of products of forerunner nations which then leads to endogenous growth and the onset of innovation under certain constraints. This is a strategic form of import substitution and is in fact the model around which a plan for Nigeria’s Industrialization has been built
A Study on Technology Acceptance Model with the Service of the E-Gate: A Case of Mini Three Links in Kinmen

This study analyzes the 300 surveys in 2012 from Kinmen E-Gate customs clearnece system based on Technology Acceptance Model (Davis 1989) to provide suggestions on ways to promote using E-Gate system. Kinmen is an island between Taiwan and mainland China, and it is a frequently used transit hub between the two because direct commute was not allowed before. Since it is the first step in gradual easing of restriction of direct travel between Taiwan and China, it is called Xiao San Tong. Due to the increased traffic following Xiao San Tong, Kinmen was the first site in Taiwan chosen to launch the E-Gate customs clearnece system. The analysis based on Technology Acceptance Model covers external variables, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attudute toward using, and behavioral intention to use. According to my analysis, E-Gate became popular due to the high perceived usefulness leads to widespread adoption.
Evaluation of diet status among children aged 3-13 of Dongxiang nationality in Gansu

Objective To investigate the diet status and relative disease of the children from Dongxiang nationality and to provide evidence for nutritional intervention among the minority children of our country.Methods By the random cluster sampling,230 children aged 3 to 13 were selected from Dongxiang county of Linxia in Gansu Province.Dietary survey was performed by the 3-day continuous 24 hour recalled and weighed methods.Results Dietary pattern of the subjects was mainly consisted of grains,vegetables and fruits.The intakes of meat was deficient(70g);The intakes of energy and all kinds of nutrients were deficient,the ratio of the children who met the recommend nutrition intakes(RNI) and estimated average requirement(EAR)of vitamin A and vitamin B1,calcium and zinc was less than 10%. The ratio of energy that supplied by protein,fat and carbohydrate was unreasonable;The protein,fat,iron were mainly from plant foods.Conclusion It' s necessary to pay attention to the diet of the children of Dongxiang nationality and increase their intakes of meat,egg,liver,etc to achieve the balanced diet.
Negative Sentiment and the Lunar Moon Festival Effect

We propose a new seasonal anomaly associated with the Lunar Moon Festival (LMF) and caused by negative sentiment. This effect not only reduces share turnover but also lowers return volatility and stock returns. It is stronges t for China, Taiwan and South Korea where the LMF is a public or cultural holiday. Our result s show that this effect is separated from the Gone Fishin’ effect and cannot be explained by the Moon Phases effect. Moreover, it affects stock markets where overseas Chinese investors poss ess significant resources and persists in the subperiod ‐ from January 1998 to June 2006.
A historiographic analysis of fuel-cell research in Asia : China racing ahead

Fuel-cell research in China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, over the years 1983-2007 is analysed and compared with that in USA for number of papers, document type, journals used and international collaboration. For India and China we have also identified the key researchers and institutions. Using HistCite, the visualization technique developed by Garfield and colleagues, we have constructed the historiographs for India and China based on both local citation scores (LCS) and global citation scores, and identified key papers. We find that the knowledge flow among different Asian countries is rather limited and that China has something to offer to India. The thrust in China is in developing noble metal nanoparticle catalysts supported on carbon nanotubes and the thrust in India is in the area of direct methanol fuel cells. In India, A. K. Shukla is the single most significant contributor to fuel cell research. He is the author of 14 of the 50 nodes in the India LCS historiograph.
Segment Stock Market, Foreign Investors, and Cross-Correlation: Evidence from MF-DCCA and Spillover Index

Employing the tools of multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DCCA) and Diebold–Yilmaz spillover index (D.Y. spillover index), we examine the effect that the foreign investors have on the cross-correlations between the two-segment stock markets, that are the accessible and the inaccessible stock markets, and the other ten respective stock markets. The shares cross-listed by the same corporates on both the A-share and H-share stock markets of China serve as the best sample to compile the two stock indices, which stands for the inaccessible stock market (AHA) and the accessible stock market (AHH), respectively. Empirical results show that the cross-correlations between the two-segment stock markets and the other ten pairs are multifractal, the multifractal strength of cross-correlations is stronger in AHH than AHA, and the intensified growth of the multifractal cross-correlations in AHA can be seen as the increasing of the openness in the inaccessible market. The empirical result of D.Y. spillover index is consistent with the multifractal analysis above, and another interesting finding is that among the selected markets, the three markets with the strongest spillover effects with AHA and AHH are Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore, respectively, and the weakest one is Australia during the sample scenarios.