bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Financial Development, Default Rates and Credit Spreads
Authors: Peri Alessandro , Rachedi Omar 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
US corporate default rates increased dramatically from an annual average of 0.32% between 1950 and 1984 up to 1.65% since 1985. Meanwhile, credit spreads rose by just 6 basis points. We argue that financial development—intended as an exogenous reduction in the fixed cost of borrowing—accounts for this evidence. In a heterogeneous firm model financial development boosts both default rates and firms’ expected recovery rates. These two effects offset each other, muting the change in the credit spreads. The model explains 63% of the rise in default rates and predicts a 6 basis point drop in the credit spreads.
A Systematic Literature Review of Reviews on the Effectiveness of Chlamydia Testing
Authors: Wong William Chi Wai , Lau Stephanie Tsz Hei , Choi Edmond Pui Hang , Tucker Joseph D , Fairley Christopher K , Saunders John M 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection, causing significant morbidity and economic burden. Strategies like national screening programs or home-testing kits were introduced in some developed countries, yet their effectiveness remains controversial. In this systematic review, we examined reviews of chlamydia screening interventions to assess their effectiveness and the elements that contribute to their success to guide public policy and future research. We assessed English material published after 2000 in PubMed, the Cochrane Library, the British Nursing Index, Medical Database, and Sociological Abstracts, in addition to World Health Organization Global Health Sector Strategies, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control guidelines, and the Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews. Systematic reviews that focused on chlamydia screening interventions were included. Using the socioecological model, we examined the levels of interventions that may affect the uptake of chlamydia screening. A total of 19 systematic reviews were included. Self-collection in home-testing kits significantly increased screening among girls and women 14–50 years of age. At the organizational level, using electronic health records and not creating additional costs facilitated testing. At the community level, outreach interventions in community and parent centers and homeless shelters achieved high screening rates. At the policy level, interventions with educational and advisory elements could result in significant improvements in screening rates.
Access to medicines through health systems in low- and middle-income countries
Authors: Ozawa Sachiko , Shankar Raja , Leopold Christine , Orubu Samuel 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Nearly 2 billion people globally have no access to essential medicines. This means essential medicines are unavailable, unaffordable, inaccessible, unacceptable or of low quality for more than a quarter of the population worldwide. This supplement demonstrates the implications of poor medicine access and highlights recent innovations to improve access to essential medicines by presenting new research findings from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These studies answer key questions such as: Can performance-based financing improve availability of essential medicines? How affordable are cardiovascular treatments for children? Which countries’ legal frameworks promote universal access to medicines? How appropriately are people using medicines? Do poor-quality medicines impact equity? Answers to these questions are important as essential medicines are vital to the Sustainable Development Goals and are central to the goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage. Access to affordable, quality-assured essential medicines is crucial to reducing the financial burden of care, preventing greater pain and suffering, shortening the duration of illness, and averting needless disabilities and deaths worldwide. This supplement was organized by the Medicines in Health Systems Thematic Working Group of Health Systems Global, a membership organization dedicated to promoting health systems research and knowledge translation. The five studies in the supplement further our understanding by showcasing recent successes and challenges of improving access to quality-assured medicines through health systems in LMICs.
Progress in the genetic analysis of Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Singleton Andrew , Hardy John 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The pace of genetic discovery in complex disease has accelerated exponentially over the last decade. Our fund of knowledge of the foundational genetics in disease has never been as great. There is a clear path forward to the resolution of the genetic architecture toward a point at which we will saturate the biological understanding of disease through genetics. This understanding continues to provide fundamental insights into disease biology and, with the advent of new data and methodologies, the path from gene to function is becoming clearer and cleaner. In this opinion piece, we discuss progress in the genetics of Parkinson disease. We explore what genetics has revealed thus far in the context of disease biology. We highlight mitophagy/autophagy, dopamine metabolism and the adaptive immune system. We try and link these findings together to give a holistic view of pathogenesis with the underlying theme that disease pathogenesis relates to a failure of damage response pathways. In the 1990s, Parkinson’s disease was regarded a non-genetic disorder. Since that time, however, a huge number of Mendelian loci and risk loci have been identified by positional cloning and by genome-wide association studies. In this review, it is not our intent to list each gene and locus and review their identification [Hernandez, D.G., Reed, X. and Singleton, A.B. (2016) Genetics in Parkinson disease: Mendelian versus non-Mendelian inheritance. J. Neurochem., 139 Suppl 1, 59–74] but rather to outline the pathogenetic mechanisms that these analyses are revealing and then, given the large number of loci already identified, to lay out what we hope future analyses may help us understand, both in terms of disease mechanisms and for risk prediction for the syndrome.
Using human Pompe disease-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural cells to identify compounds with therapeutic potential
Authors: Huang Hsiang-Po , Chiang Wei , Stone Lee , Kang Chun-Kai , Chuang Ching-Yu , Kuo Hung-Chih 
Published: September 2019

AbstractPompe disease (OMIM # 232300) is a glycogen storage disease caused by autosomal recessive mutations of the gene encoding alpha-1,4-glucosidase (GAA; EC 3.2.1.20). Despite the relatively effective employment of enzyme replacement therapy, some critical medical issues still exist in patients with this disease, including the persistence of abnormalities in the central nervous system (CNS), probably because of the inability of the recombinant GAA to pass through the blood–brain barrier. To address this issue, identification of more therapeutic agents that target the CNS of patients with Pompe disease may be required. In this study, we derived neuronal cells from Pompe disease-induced pluripotent stem cells (Pom-iPSCs) and proved that they are able to recapitulate the hallmark cellular and biochemical phenotypes of Pompe disease. Using the Pom-iPSC-derived neurons as an in vitro drug-testing model, we then identified three compounds, ebselen, wortmannin and PX-866, with therapeutic potential to alleviate Pompe disease-associated pathological phenotypes in the neurons derived from Pom-iPSCs. We confirmed that all three compounds were able to enhance the GAA activity in the Pom-iPSC-derived neurons. Moreover, they were able to enhance the GAA activity in several important internal organs of GAA-deficient mice when co-injected with recombinant human GAA, and we found that intraperitoneal injection of ebselen was able to promote the GAA activity of the GAA-heterozygous mouse brain. Our results prove the usefulness of Pom-iPSC-derived neuronal populations for identifying new compounds with therapeutic potential.
Petro-RMB? The oil trade and the internationalization of the renminbi
Authors: Kamel Maha , Wang Hongying 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
In this article, we examine China's promotion of the renminbi (RMB) in international oil trade and explore its implications for the international currency system in the short and the long term. The article traces the rise of the RMB in international oil trade in recent years and provides an analysis of its impact on the internationalization of the Chinese currency. We argue that despite the increasing use of the yuan in oil trade in recent years, in the short term it is highly unlikely that a petro-RMB system will emerge to rival the petrodollar system. Unlike the petrodollar, which combines the qualities of a master currency, a top currency and a negotiated currency, China lacks the economic leadership and the political and geopolitical leverages to make the RMB a major petrocurrency. Although the emergence of the RMB-denominated Shanghai oil futures is an important development, the absence of highly developed financial markets and a strong legal system in China hinders its potential. In the long run, the RMB may take on a more prominent role in the international oil trade as China's weight as an oil importer rises. More importantly, the overuse of financial sanctions by the US government has begun to undermine the role of the dollar within and beyond the oil trade. In addition, the rise of alternative energy sources will diminish the centrality of oil in the world economy, thus reducing the significance of petrocurrencies—whether the dollar or the RMB—in shaping the international currency system.
Reconsidering African Refugee Law
Authors: Cantor David James , Chikwanha Farai 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Fifty years have now passed since the 1969 Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa was adopted by the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Within international refugee law, the OAU Refugee Convention (OAU Convention) is often taken to encapsulate the ‘African’ legal approach to refugees. This anniversary represents an opportune moment to review the state of ‘African’ refugee law. This article seeks to contribute to that regional undertaking by providing insights based on a comparative analysis of national refugee laws in African States.
This encompasses consideration of how national law engages with the OAU Convention, as a centre of gravity for refugee law development in the region, but it extends also to exploring whether an ‘African’ approach to refugee law can be discerned in the novel ways in which the national refugee laws of African States (i) implement other refugee and human rights law treaties, and (ii) create new refugee law rules without precedent in treaty law. By building a more comprehensive picture of comparative refugee law in Africa, the study aims to complement existing refugee law studies in Africa that focus mainly on the international law level or on local implementation within only one or two States.
What’s Inside the Box? Mapping Agency and Conflict within Victims’ Organizations
Authors: Rudling Adriana 
Published: September 2019

Abstract∞
This article provides a better understanding of victims’ individual-level agency and their differences in terms of transitional justice preferences and capabilities by inquiring into intra-organizational conflict. While it is primarily conceptual, it combines secondary literature with case study material from Colombia and Panama, converging on Latin America as a geographical area and the crime of forced disappearance. Tracing the evolution of the 2004/2005 fragmentation of the Colombian Association of Relatives of Detained Disappeared Persons, it argues that victims’ collective action and perceived homogeneity is a performance that builds on much internal negotiation between members. When deliberations have clear winners, they end in adjustments of the mission statement of the group, purges and voluntary member withdrawal, but fragmentations result from situations where the leaders of opposing coalitions are evenly matched and their proposals equally engaging to peers.
Quality control circle: a tool for enhancing perceptions of patient safety culture among hospital staff in Chinese hospitals
Authors: Zhang Dan , Liao Meixia , Zhou Yiping , Liu Tingfang 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Objective
To explore whether quality control circle (QCC) is associated with hospital staff’s perceptions of patient safety culture (PSC).

Design
A cross-sectional survey in 12 public hospitals from October to December 2018 and a longitudinal survey in one public hospital from November 2017 to November 2018.

Setting
In 12 public hospitals from six provinces located in eastern, central and western of China, and one public hospital in eastern China.

Participants
In total, 811 and 102 hospital staff participated in the cross-sectional survey and the longitudinal survey, respectively. These participants included doctors, nurses, medical technicians and administrative staff.

Main Outcome Measures
Hospital staff’s perceptions of PSC were measured by the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) questionnaire. The association between QCC implementation and PSC was identified by univariate analysis and multiple linear regression analysis.

Results
Univariate analysis showed that the staff from hospitals that had implemented QCC received significantly higher HSOPSC scores than those from hospitals where QCC had not been implemented (3.73 ± 0.61 vs. 3.57 ± 0.41, P &lt; 0.05). The QCC implementation was a significant predictor in the established multiple linear regression model. One year after QCC implementation, the hospital involved in the longitudinal survey scored higher in HSOPSC than before (3.75 ± 0.42 vs. 3.60 ± 0.36, P &lt; 0.001).

Conclusions
QCC implementation was positively associated with PSC and the former could promote the establishment of the latter. It is suggested that QCC can play an active role in enhancing PSC so as to further improve patient safety management.
Post-transcriptional regulation of inflammation by RNA-binding proteins via cis-elements of mRNAs
Authors: Uchida Yutaro , Chiba Tomoki , Kurimoto Ryota , Asahara Hiroshi 
Published: September 2019

AbstractIn human genome, there are approximately 1,500 RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). They can regulate mRNA stability or translational efficiency via ribosomes and these processes are known as ‘post-transcriptional regulation’. Accumulating evidences indicate that post-transcriptional regulation is the determinant of the accurate levels of cytokines mRNAs. While transcriptional regulation of cytokines mRNAs has been well studied and found to be important for the rapid induction of mRNA and regulation of the acute phase of inflammation, post-transcriptional regulation by RBPs is essential for resolving inflammation in the later phase, and their dysfunction may lead to severe autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus. For post-transcriptional regulation, RBPs recognize and directly bind to cis-regulatory elements in 3′ untranslated region of mRNAs such as AU-rich or constitutive decay elements and play various roles. In this review, we summarize the recent findings regarding the role of RBPs in the regulation of inflammation.
Estimating the Term Structure with Linear Regressions: Getting to the Roots of the Problem
Authors: Goliński Adam , Spencer Peter 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Linear estimators of the affine term structure model are inconsistent since they cannot reproduce the factors used in estimation. This is a serious handicap empirically, giving a worse fit than the conventional ML estimator that ensures consistency. We show that a simple self-consistent estimator can be constructed using the eigenvalue decomposition of a regression estimator. The remaining parameters of the model follow analytically. Estimates from this model are virtually indistinguishable from that of the ML estimator. We apply the method to estimate various models of U.S. Treasury yields. These exercises greatly extend the range of models that can be estimated.
Biodiversity of Hematophagous Diptera (Culicidae and Psychodidae) in a Small Hydroelectric Power Station and Surrounding Area in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Authors: Rêgo Felipe Dutra , de Oliveira Maria Angélica , Carvalho Gustavo Mayr de Lima , Andrade Filho José Dilermando 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Hydroelectric power stations may affect the population dynamics of mosquitoes and sand flies, a group with impact on public health due to the possibility to transmit pathogens to humans. This work characterized and compared the fauna of mosquitoes and sand flies in a hydroelectric power station and peridomicile areas in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Insect collections were performed in August 2015 at dry season and February 2016 in rainy season. Ten HP light traps were set at each of two sites for three consecutive days in each of two seasons (dry and rainy). Furthermore, collections with Shannon traps were made in each sampling area (hydropower plant and peridomicile area) from 4:00 p.m. being shut down at 8:00 p.m. for two consecutive days in each of two seasons (dry and rainy). In total, 1,222 insects from 13 genera and 27 species were collected. The most plentiful species were respectively Culex declarator (Dyar and Knab, 1906) and Pintomyia pessoai (Coutinho & Barretto, 1940). A high number of insects (78.5%) were collected during the rainy period (P &lt; 0.05). About equitability, statistical significance was observed in the peridomicile area (dry season J = 0.75 and rainy season J = 0.82). The highest values of species diversity were observed in the hydropower plant (H = 2.68) and peridomicile area (H = 2.38) both in the rainy season with statistical significance comparing with dry season. Our results demonstrate that the occurrence of vector species in this region increases the potential risk of transmission of pathogens, especially arbovirus and Leishmania Ross, 1903.
Unified Staging System for Lewy Body Disorders: Clinicopathologic Correlations and Comparison to Braak Staging
Authors: Adler Charles H , Beach Thomas G , Zhang Nan , Shill Holly A , Driver-Dunckley Erika , Caviness John N , Mehta Shyamal H , Sabbagh Marwan N , Serrano Geidy E , Sue Lucia I , Belden Christine M , Powell Jessica , Jacobson Sandra A , Zamrini Edward , Shprecher David , Davis Kathryn J , Dugger Brittany N , Hentz Joseph G 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThis study was designed to correlate clinical findings with the extent of pathologic a-synuclein (aSyn) in the brain using the Unified Staging System for Lewy Body disorders (USSLB). Data from 280 cases from the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders are presented. Each case had a complete USSLB staging and at least 1 full research clinical assessment, including subspecialty neurologist-administered movement and cognitive evaluation. Of the 280, 25.7% were cognitively normal, 8.6% had mild cognitive impairment, and 65.7% had dementia. All cases could be categorized into 1 of 5 USSLB stages (8.6% stage I—olfactory bulb only; 15.4% IIa—brainstem predominant; 13.6% IIb—limbic predominant; 31.8% III—brainstem and limbic; and 30.7% IV—neocortical) yet using the Braak staging system 70 cases (25.3%) could not be classified. Those with USSLB stages III and IV died at a younger age. Multiple measures of motor parkinsonism, cognitive impairment, hyposmia, and probable RBD were significantly correlated with increasing USSLB stage. We conclude that the USSLB is the most comprehensive staging system for all Lewy body disorders and allows for categorization and ranking of all brains with significant correlations to many motor and nonmotor clinical signs and symptoms.
Fragmented fields: Professionalisms and work settings in Italian management consultancy
Authors: Maestripieri Lara 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Management consultancy has long been a contested terrain in the sociology of the professions. Although the professionalism of management consultants has always been emphasized by practitioners themselves, the lack of a strong community of peers has been an impediment to their professionalization. In this article, I argue that professionalism is not the outcome of a process of regulation and institutionalization but that it has to be conceived a discourse comprising norms, worldviews, and values that define what is appropriate for an individual to be considered a competent and recognized member of this community. Given the diversity characterizing the field, there are multiple discourses surrounding professionalism of management consultants, and these discourses are shaped by work settings. Work settings are a combination of the type of organization professional partnership or professional service firm and the employment status (employee or self-employed). Drawing on the empirical evidence from various work settings (professional service firms, professional partnership, and self-employment), I investigate four clusters of practitioners identified in 55 biographical and semi-structured interviews conducted with management consultants in Italy. Four types of professionalism emerge from the clusters. Organizing professionalism is the sole professionalism that appears in all work settings. Other discourses (corporate, commercialized, and hybrid professionalism) are context-dependent and more likely to be found in specific work settings.
Massive necrotizing fasciitis: a life threatening entity
Authors: Vilallonga Ramon , Mazarro Alejandro , Rodríguez-Luna María Rita , Caubet Enric , Fort José Manuel , Armengol Manuel , Guirao Xavier 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a complicated soft tissue infection frequently associated with severe sepsis if an early medical and surgical treatment is not performed. We report two postoperative cases of severe NF after oophorectomy and colorectal resection. Because of the similarity with more benign skin infections at the early steps, clinical suspicion is crucial. Surgical exploration and resection will provide both the diagnosis confirming necrotizing infection of the fascia with vessels and treatment. Also, empirical broad-spectrum antibiotics must be initiated as soon as possible. Regardless of the presence of risk factors, NF is a condition with a high mortality rate and only an expeditious and undelayed treatment may improve the patient’s outcome. Surgical focus control requires wide and repeated resections, and planned reconstructive plastic surgery might be necessary.