Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validated spectrofluorimetric method for determination of two phosphodiesterase inhibitors tadalafil and vardenafil in pharmaceutical preparations and spiked human plasma.

A valid, sensitive and rapid spectrofluorimetric method has been developed and validated for determination of both tadalafil (TAD) and vardenafil (VAR) either in their pure form, in their tablet dosage forms or spiked in human plasma. This method is based on measurement of the native fluorescence of both drugs in acetonitrile at λem 330 and 470 nm after excitation at 280 and 275 nm for tadalafil and vardenafil, respectively. Linear relationships were obtained over the concentration range 4-40 and 10-250 ng/mL with a minimum detection of 1 and 3 ng/mL for tadalafil and vardenafil, respectively. Various experimental parameters affecting the fluorescence intensity were carefully studied and optimized. The developed method was applied successfully for the determination of tadalafil and vardenafil in bulk drugs and tablet dosage forms. Moreover, the high sensitivity of the proposed method permitted their determination in spiked human plasma. The developed method was validated in terms of specificity, linearity, lower limit of quantification (LOQ), lower limit of detection (LOD), precision and accuracy. The mean recoveries of the analytes in pharmaceutical preparations were in agreement with those obtained from the comparison methods, as revealed by statistical analysis of the obtained results using Student's t-test and the variance ratio F-test.
Dyslexia friendly practices in Greek primary EFL classrooms

Three EFL classrooms in primary schools in Greece were introduced to dyslexia friendly practices so as to explore whether dyslexic pupils? inclusion was enhanced. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the dyslexia friendly practices on dyslexic and non-dyslexic EFL pupils? performance and motivation. EFL teachers? experiences of the introduction of the dyslexia friendly practices were also explored. Classroom observations, focus groups and teacher and pupil interviews before and during the introduction of the dyslexia friendly practices were conducted. A personal research diary was kept throughout the whole study. It was shown that, the dyslexia friendly practices enhanced dyslexic EFL pupils? participation in classroom activities and increased their motivation towards learning English. However, less visible changes were shown in their performance. In contrast to the dyslexic EFL pupils, most of their non-dyslexic peers showed improvements in both their motivation and performance. All three EFL teachers experienced positively the introduction of the dyslexia friendly practices while the need for more training on dyslexia was highlighted. These findings indicate that the dyslexia friendly practices enhance inclusion for dyslexic pupils in foreign language education and have positive effects on all classroom pupils and the teachers? practice. This study contributes to the field of language teaching for dyslexic pupils and suggests a need for more studies on dyslexia support in foreign, second and additional language learning contexts.
Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia-Associated Mutations in the NIPA1 Gene and Its Caenorhabditis elegans Homolog Trigger Neural Degeneration In Vitro and In Vivo through a Gain-of-Function Mechanism

We studied the consequences of expression of wild-type (WT) human NIPA1 and two mutant forms of NIPA1 with known HSP-associated mutations (T45R and G106R) on cultured rat cortical neurons and using equivalent substitutions in the Caenorhabditis elegans NIPA1 homolog CeNIPA. WT NIPA1 localized in transfected neuronal and non-neuronal cells to the Golgi complex, a subset of synaptic vesicles, to a subset of early endosomes, and plasma cell membrane. Mutant NIPA1 accumulated in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) triggering ER stress and features of apoptotic cell death. Flow cytometric analysis of NIPA1 surface expression demonstrated relatively intact trafficking of mutant forms and only the T45R mutant exhibited modestly reduced patterns of surface expression without evidence for a dominant-negative effect. In vivo pan-neuronal expression of the WT C. elegans NIPA1 homolog (CeNIPA) was well tolerated, with no obvious impact on neuronal morphology or behavior. In striking contrast, expression of CeNIPA bearing HSP-associated mutations caused a progressive neural degeneration and a clear motor phenotype. Neuronal loss in these animals began at day 7 and by day 9 animals were completely paralyzed. These effects appeared to arise from activation of the apoptotic program triggered by unfolded protein response (UPR), as we observed marked modifications of motor and cellular phenotype when mutant NIPA1 was expressed in caspase (ced-3)- and UPR (xbp-1)-deficient backgrounds. We propose that HSP-associated mutations in NIPA1 lead to cellular and functional deficits through a gain-of-function mechanism supporting the ER accumulation of toxic NIPA1 proteins.
Restless legs syndrome: an early clinical feature of Parkinson disease in men.

STUDY OBJECTIVE The association between restless legs syndrome (RLS) and Parkinson disease has been extensively studied, but the temporal relationship between the two remains unclear. We thus conduct the first prospective study to examine the risk of developing Parkinson disease in RLS. DESIGN Prospective study from 2002-2010. SETTING United States. PARTICIPANTS There were 22,999 US male health professionals age 40-75 y enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study without Parkinson disease, arthritis, or diabetes mellitus at baseline. MEASUREMENT AND RESULTS RLS was assessed in 2002 using a set of standardized questions recommended by the International RLS Study Group. Incident Parkinson disease was identified by biennial questionnaires and then confirmed by review of participants' medical records by a movement disorder specialist. We documented 200 incident Parkinson disease cases during 8 y of follow-up. Compared to men without RLS, men with RLS symptoms who had symptoms greater than 15 times/mo had higher risk of Parkinson disease development (adjusted relative risk = 1.47; 95% confidence interval: 0.59, 3.65; P = 0.41). This was statistically significant only for cases diagnosed within 4 y of follow-up (adjusted relative risk = 2.77; 95% confidence interval: 1.08, 7.11; P = 0.03). CONCLUSION Severe restless legs syndrome may be an early feature of Parkinson disease.
Analysis of a Multiscale Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Convection-Diffusion Problems

We study a multiscale discontinuous Galerkin method introduced in [T. J. R. Hughes, G. Scovazzi, P. Bochev, and A. Buffa, Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg. , 195 (2006), pp. 2761-2787] that reduces the computational complexity of the discontinuous Galerkin method, seemingly without adversely affecting the quality of results. For a stabilized variant we are able to obtain the same error estimates for the convection-diffusion equation as for the usual discontinuous Galerkin method. We assess the stability of the unstabilized case numerically and find that the inf-sup constant is positive, bounded uniformly away from zero, and very similar to that for the usual discontinuous Galerkin method.
Does Marriage Matter? Marital Status, Family Processes, and Psychological Distress Among Latino Men and Women

This study examined the association between marital status and psychological distress among Latinos in the United States, with attention to the impact of gender and family processes (family support, family cohesion, family cultural conflict, and family burden). Analyses were conducted using the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). The sample was a national randomized stratified probability sample (N = 2,554). For the entire sample, being separated, divorced, cohabitating, or single was associated with higher levels of psychological distress compared with being married. For women, being separated or divorced was associated with higher levels of psychological distress compared with being married, but for men, distress was not related to marital status. For both men and women, lower levels of support and higher levels of cultural conflict and burden in the family were related to higher psychological distress. Among divorced women, family variables impacted the relationship between marital status and psychological distress.
Secondary traumatic stress and empowerment among social workers working with family violence or sexual assault survivors

Summary The impact of secondary traumatic stress on social workers can be profound. The study reported here examined the relationship between psychological empowerment and secondary traumatic stress among social workers who provide services to family violence or sexual assault survivors on a regular basis. The study participants (N =154) were recruited from the National Association of Social Workers in the United States; data were collected through mail surveys. Psychological empowerment was defined as having a sense of competency, impact, self-determination, and meaning in one’s organization as the person performs work. Findings Social workers who demonstrated higher levels of psychological empowerment experienced lower levels of secondary traumatic stress controlling for sociodemographic variables. Among the control variables, experiencing more personal traumatic events predicted higher levels of secondary traumatic stress. Applications The findings imply that social service organizations can help social workers prevent or alleviate secondary traumatic stress symptoms by enhancing their psychological empowerment. Several organizational strategies can be developed to empower social workers who assist the survivors of family violence or sexual assault to prevent secondary traumatic stress or reduce its severity.
Hormonal control of 17 beta-estradiol biosynthesis in proestrous rat follicles: estradiol production by isolated theca versus granulosa.

The cellular source and gonadotropic control of follicular 17β-estradiol secretion were investigated. Theca and granulosa isolated from proestrous follicles of immature rats treated with pregnant mare's serum gonadotropin were cultured separately for 3 days in the presence or absence of LH (0.1 μg/ml), FSH (0.1 μg/ml), and/or testosterone (5 × 10-7 M). Medium was collected and replaced at 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h of culture and measured for estradiol by radioimmunoassay. Granulosa cell cultures secreted negligible quantities of estradiol in the absence of exogenous androgen precursor. Addition of testosterone to the culture medium greatly increased the production of estradiol by granulosa cells. Estradiol secretion was sustained throughout the 3-day culture period only if both testosterone and FSH were included in the culture medium. Thecal preparations secreted relatively low amounts of estradiol in the absence of exogenous testosterone and somewhat higher quantities in its presence. Gonadotropins had .
Autologous stem cell transplantation followed by a dose-reduced allograft induces high complete remission rate in multiple myeloma.

We evaluated toxicity, engraftment, chimerism, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and response to a dose-reduced allograft after cytoreductive autografting in 17 patients with advanced stage II/III multiple myeloma (MM). After autografting with melphalan (200 mg/m2) the patients received after a median interval of 119 days (range 60-210) a dose-reduced regimen consisting of fludarabine (180 mg/m2), melphalan (100 mg/m2), and antithymocyte globulin (3 x 10 mg/kg) followed by allografting from related (n = 7), mismatched related (n = 2), or unrelated (n = 8) donors to induce a graft-versus-myeloma effect. After dose-reduced allografting all patients became neutropenic (< 0.2 x 10(9)/L) for at least 8 days. All patients engrafted with a median time for leukocyte (> 1 x 10(9)/L) and platelet (> 20 x 10(9)/L) counts of 16 (range, 11-24) and 23 days (range, 12-43), respectively. Complete donor chimerism was detected after a median of 30 days (range, 19-38). Acute GVHD stage II occurred in 4 patients (25%) and grade III GVHD in 2 patients (13%). Chronic GVHD developed in 40% of the patients, but only 1 patient experienced extensive chronic GVHD requiring further immunosuppressive therapy. Two patients died of alveolar hemorrhage and pneumonia, resulting in a day 100 mortality rate of 11%. The rate of complete remission with negative immunofixation increased from 18% after autografting to 73% after allografting. After a median follow-up of 17 months after autologous and 13 months after allogeneic transplantation 13 patients are alive and 12 of them free of relapse or progression. The tandem auto-allotransplant protocol is highly active and provides rapid engraftment with complete donor chimerism and tolerable toxicity.
Use-Dependent Plasticity in Clock Neurons Regulates Sleep Need in Drosophila

Sleep is important for memory consolidation and is responsive to waking experience. Clock circuitry is uniquely positioned to coordinate interactions between processes underlying memory and sleep need. Flies increase sleep both after exposure to an enriched social environment and after protocols that induce long-term memory. We found that flies mutant for rutabaga, period, and blistered were deficient for experience-dependent increases in sleep. Rescue of each of these genes within the ventral lateral neurons (LNVs) restores increased sleep after social enrichment. Social experiences that induce increased sleep were associated with an increase in the number of synaptic terminals in the LNV projections into the medulla. The number of synaptic terminals was reduced during sleep and this decline was prevented by sleep deprivation.
IS AUDIT QUALITY DIFFERENT FOR BIG 4 AND MID-TIER AUDITORS ?

Prior research suggests that Big 4 auditors provide higher quality audits by virtue of their large size. Still, the recent reforms mandated by the Sarbanes Oxley Act – by increasing client and auditor incentives for accurate reporting – may have narrowed audit quality differences across auditor groups. In this paper, we examine audit quality for Big 4 and Mid-tier auditors during 2003-06 and include clients of other smaller audit firms for comparison purposes. We examine actual audit quality (as proxied by earnings management metrics) as well as perceived audit quality (as proxied by the clientand year-specific eloading and ex ante equity risk premium metrics). We include in our analysis only those Big 4 clients for whom the Mid-tier firms are potentially viable as auditors. Relative to other smaller audit firm clients, we find Big 4 and Mid-tier audit clients to have (1) lower levels of accrual management, (2) higher levels of real earnings management, and (3) higher levels of investor-perceived accruals quality. In each case, we were unable to reject the null that Big 4 and Mid-tier audits are similar. However, we find Big 4 audit clients to have a lower client-specific ex ante equity risk premium relative to both Mid-tier and other smaller audit firm clients. Collectively, our findings indicate that in situations where a Mid-tier auditor is potentially viable, Big 4 clients could utilize a Mid-tier firm without adversely affecting audit quality. Still, the results suggest that Big 4 clients have a lower ex ante cost of equity capital which is likely related to the insurance considerations (“deep pockets”) – rather than the audit quality -associated with having a Big 4 auditor.
“Party Effort and Its Impact on the Vote”

The effect of party activities on the vote, while a fundamentally important question for any understanding of party operations, has received little research attention. This neglect has come about partly because the analysis is difficult to conceptualize and because the data have to be generated principally by the investigator. In addition, structural variables relevant to the nature of the environment in which the parties compete must be introduced into the analysis, and the canvas must be broad enough to permit comparative assessments within a controlled research design. The present study sets out to deal with precisely these problems. It analyzes the contribution of the competing parties' efforts to the final vote in elections for five levels of office, from local to national, in 100 North Carolina counties. Multiple correlation analysis was used to judge the association between the final vote and three sets of independent variables: demographic, institutional (specifically the extent of competition between the contending parties), and political, with emphasis on those associated with campaigning. The variance explained by each is described, as well as the total contribution of all to understanding the outcome of the election. The variables proved quite successful in explaining the final vote. The strength of the associations increased as one proceeded from the local to the national level, and party output measures proved more impressive contributors to explaining the votes in competitive as against non-competitive areas. Overall, the variables relating to party effort were found to add significantly to the under-standing of the election outcomes.
DISCOVERY AND ROSSITER–McLAUGHLIN EFFECT OF EXOPLANET KEPLER-8b

We report on the discovery and the Rossiter–McLaughlin (R-M) effect of Kepler-8b, a transiting planet identified by the NASA Kepler Mission. Kepler photometry and Keck-HIRES radial velocities yield the radius and mass of the planet around this F8IV subgiant host star. The planet has a radius RP = 1.419 RJ and a mass MP = 0.60 MJ, yielding a density of 0.26 g cm−3, one of the lowest planetary densities known. The orbital period is P = 3.523 days and the orbital semimajor axis is 0.0483+0.0006−0.0012 AU. The star has a large rotational vsin i of 10.5 ± 0.7 km s−1 and is relatively faint (V ≈ 13.89 mag); both properties are deleterious to precise Doppler measurements. The velocities are indeed noisy, with scatter of 30 m s−1, but exhibit a period and phase that are consistent with those implied by transit photometry. We securely detect the R-M effect, confirming the planet's existence and establishing its orbit as prograde. We measure an inclination between the projected planetary orbital axis and the projected stellar rotation axis of λ = −26. °4 ± 10. °1, indicating a significant inclination of the planetary orbit. R-M measurements of a large sample of transiting planets from Kepler will provide a statistically robust measure of the true distribution of spin–orbit orientations for hot Jupiters around F and early G stars.
Role of Sex Hormones in the Development and Progression of Hepatitis B Virus-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in developed countries. Epidemiological reports indicate that the incidence of HBV-related HCC is higher in males and postmenopausal females than other females. Increasing evidence suggests that sex hormones such as androgens and estrogens play an important role in the progression of an HBV infection and in the development of HBV-related HCC. While androgen is supposed to stimulate the androgen signaling pathway and cooperate to the increased transcription and replication of HBV genes, estrogen may play a protecting role against the progression of HBV infections and in the development of HBV-related HCC through decreasing HBV RNA transcription and inflammatory cytokines levels. Additionally, sex hormones can also affect HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis by inducing epigenetic changes such as the regulation of mRNA levels by microRNAs (miRNAs), DNA methylation, and histone modification in liver tissue. This review describes the molecular mechanisms underlying the gender disparity in HBV-related HCC with the aim of improving the understanding of key factors underneath the sex disparity often observed in HBV infections. Furthermore, the review will propose more effective prevention strategies and treatments of HBV-derived diseases.
MODELLING THE RELATIONSHIP OF UNCLEAR CAREER DEVELOPMENT WITH JOB DISSATISFACTION, JOB STRESS AND EMPLOYEES’ TURNOVER INTENTION: STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING APPROACH

Drawing upon primary data gathered through self-administered questionnaire from banking and IT sectors, this study presents key factors that cause turnover intentions among talented employees in organisations. Structural equation modelling (SEM) technique employed in the study helped researchers predict that lack of clear career development and generates job dissatisfaction which causes job stress in employees and they begin thinking to quit the organisation. This study reveals interrelationship among the factors stated above and contributes structural model to predict causes of employee turnover at work. Study offers policy implications for decision-making quarters to provide clear path of employee career development in the organisation to enhance job satisfaction which reduces job stress and turnover intention at work.
Dual-Modality Monitoring in a Classification Task: The Effects of Bilingualism and Ageing

Two experiments are reported in which monolingual and bilingual participants who were younger (Experiment 1) or older (Experiment 2) adults performed in a dual-task classification paradigm. Visually (primary task) and auditorily (secondary task) presented stimuli were classified into two categories. The stimuli belonged to two domains, letters or numbers (LN) and animals or musical instruments (AM), and the two task modalities used stimuli from the same (related) or opposite (unrelated) domains. For both age groups, bilinguals were less disrupted than monolinguals in visual sorting in the LN domain, and relatedness affected performance only in the AM domain. The results indicate different processing demands for the two domains, with the simpler domain (LN) favouring bilinguals and the more semantically complex domain (AM) favouring related judgements for the two task modalities.
The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. IV. The Mass Density Profile of Early-Type Galaxies out to 100 Effective Radii

We present a weak-lensing analysis of 22 early-type (strong) lens galaxies, based on deep HST images obtained as part of the Sloan Lens ACS Survey. Using advanced techniques to control systematic uncertainties, we show that weak-lensing signal is detected out to ~300 h-1 kpc (at the mean lens redshift z = 0.2). We analyze blank control fields from COSMOS in the same manner, inferring that the residual systematic uncertainty in the tangential shear is less than 0.3%. A joint strong- and weak-lensing analysis shows that the average total mass density profile is consistent with isothermal (i.e., ρ ∝ r-2) over two decades in radius (3-300 h-1 kpc, approximately 1-100 effective radii). This finding extends by over an order of magnitude in radius previous results, based on strong lensing and/or stellar dynamics, that luminous and dark components ``conspire'' to form an isothermal mass distribution. In order to disentangle the contributions of luminous and dark matter, we fit a two-component mass model (de Vaucouleurs+NFW) to the weak- and strong-lensing constraints. It provides a good fit to the data with only two free parameters: (1) the average stellar mass-to-light ratio M*/LV = 4.48 ± 0.46 h M☉ L (at z = 0.2), in agreement with that expected for an old stellar population; (2) the average virial mass-to-light ratio Mvir/LV = 246 h M☉ L. Taking into account the scatter in the mass-luminosity relation, the latter result is in good agreement with semianalytical models of massive galaxy formation. The dark matter fraction inside the sphere of radius, the effective radius, is found to be 27% ± 4%. Our results are consistent with galaxy-galaxy lensing studies of early-type galaxies that are not strong lenses, in the 30-300 h-1 kpc radius range. Thus, within the uncertainties, our results are representative of early-type galaxies in general.