Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Methicillin resistant staphylococci associated with bovine mastitis and their zoonotic importance

Aim: The present study was conducted to determine the zoonotic importance of methicillin resistant staphylococci associated with bovine mastitis and their potential role in transmission to animal handlers. A total of 158 milk samples from bovine mastitis cases and 126 nasal swabs from the animal handlers were sampled in and around Pondicherry (Southern India). The Presence of Staphylococcal organism was confirmed by PCR amplification using the genus specific primers and among the isolated Staphylococci; methicillin resistance was identified by genetic amplification of methicillin resistant gene. Then the amplified gene from the bacteria expressing the gene (PBP2a) ( 2kb fragment) was further sequenced using four sets of primer pairs and aligned for determining their genetic relatedness between the sequences. Both phenotypic and genotypic analysis was carried out for the six MRS isolates (three bovine and three human) in this study. Out of 158 mastitis milk samples; 96 and 19 bovine isolates were found to be positive for Staphylococcal genus specific PCR and methicillin resistant ( ) gene PCR, respectively. Similarly, Out of 126 human nasal swabs, 64 and 13 human isolates were found to be positive for Staphylococcal genus specific PCR and gene PCR, respectively. Among the 160 staphylococcal isolates (Bovine and Human origin); 51 were identified as coagulase-positive staphylococci (CPS) and remaining as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CONS). The results obtained in this study revealed the presence of many species of Staphylococci but the predominant species were and . The Sequence analysis of the gene of human isolates obtained in this study had a maximum identity (99% -100%) with the bovine isolates. The phenotypic and genotypic analysis carried out for the six Methicillin Resistant Staphylococci ( isolates in this study were indistinguishable and epidemiologically related, which may indicate the transmission of MRS between bovine and humans. The occurrence of methicillin resistance among staphylococci isolated from cases of bovine mastitis is increasing, necessitating the periodic surveillance for antimicrobial resistance patterns of Staphylococci in order to control the spread of MRS. : bovine mastitis, coagulase-negative staphylococci (CONS), equence analysis. mec A mecA
Improved clinical outcome of lupus nephritis during the past decade: importance of early diagnosis and treatment

Objective: To evaluate the differences in the outcome of lupus nephritis diagnosed either in the 1980s or the 1990s in Heidelberg, Germany. Methods: Fifteen patients with biopsy confirmed lupus nephritis (LN) were followed up between 1980 and 1989 and 41 patients were followed up between 1990 and 2000. Their status at diagnosis and their treatment schedules and outcome were analysed. 68% had WHO IV nephritis. Results: In the decade from 1990 to 2000 there was significantly less proteinuria (46 v 17 g/l, p=0.008), significantly lower rates of renal failure (40% v 17%, p=0.02), and fewer histological signs of chronicity (33% v 10%, p=0.01) at the time of diagnosis of LN than in the decade from 1980 to 1989. The mean (SD) time from the first appearance of proteinuria until kidney biopsy was significantly shorter in the later decade (15.4 (15.6) v 3.9 (4.7) months). Although treatment schedules were not significantly different, the outcome of the disease was significantly better in the patients who were diagnosed with LN between 1990 and 2000 (p=0.045). Whereas 6/15 (40%) patients between 1980 and 1989 had terminal renal failure after a mean time of 94 months, in the group of 1990–2000 no patient developed terminal renal failure (median observation time 24 months). In both groups one patient died from infection. A high chronicity index in histology and the presence of arterial hypertension or renal failure, or both, at the time of diagnosis were significant risk factors for the development of terminal renal failure in the course of the disease. Conclusions: The outcome of patients with newly diagnosed LN was significantly better between 1990 and 2000 than between 1980 and 1989. Kidney damage and chronic histological changes at time of diagnosis were significantly less common between 1990 and 2000, which is attributable to earlier diagnosis and treatment in the later decade.
The rate of profit as a random variable

This thesis is a systematic attempt to investigate two conjectures about the distribution of company rates of profit: that it should be log-normal (Gibrat 1931), and that it should be gamma distributed (Farjoun and Machover 1983). A large set of company accounts data is analysed, and partial support found for Gibrat and for a generalised version of Farjoun and Machover. The analysis includes a demonstration of different empirical distributions for different profit rate measures, a demonstration of power law tails in all measures of the profit rate, and a demonstration of size effects (differences in tail weights) in financial ratios. Annual variation in the overall skewness and kurtosis of profit rate distributions is shown to be dominated by variation in the power law tails. L-moments, a recent innovation in robust methods to deal with extreme values, are used in conjunction with a size-weighted sampling scheme to identify possible models for distributions of the profit rate at the capital level. Farjoun and Machover derive their hypothesis from a particular conception of the process of capitalist competition. A rival conception, that of Glick (1985), is tested using company accounts data and shown to be vulnerable to criticism concerning the scope of its data set, the test statistic employed, and its choice of profit rate measure. More fundamentally, it is also dependent on doubtful premises about the within-industry distribution of profit rates, as L-moment analysis demonstrates.
Computing trust resultant using intervals

An important problem in trust management area is to evaluate the trust value among two nodes in a web of trust using intermediate nodes. This is widely used when the source node has no experience of direct interaction with the target. If trust is used to support decision making, it is important to have not only an accurate estimate of trust, but also a measure of confidence in the intermediate nodes and in the final estimated value of trust. In this paper we introduce a novel approach for representation of trust and confidence -both together- using intervals. Based on this representation, we then propose a kind of summation operation that is a method for calculating the resultant of trust opinions. We show that this operator is more accurate for evaluation of trust resultant than the usual method of weighted-averaging. We also report and analyze the results of experiments carried out on a well-known trust dataset which show that our proposed method reduces the average absolute difference and increases the correlation among the inferred and direct values of trust comparing to the weighted-averaging method.
Intracoronary infusion of bone marrow-derived selected CD34+CXCR4+ cells and non-selected mononuclear cells in patients with acute STEMI and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction: results of randomized, multicentre Myocardial Regeneration by Intracoronary Infusion of Selected Population of Stem

AIMS Comparison of intracoronary infusion of bone marrow (BM)-derived unselected mononuclear cells (UNSEL) and selected CD34(+)CXCR4(+) cells (SEL) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and reduced <40% left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). METHODS AND RESULTS Two hundred patients were randomized to intracoronary infusion of UNSEL (n = 80) or SEL (n = 80) BM cells or to the control (CTRL) group without BM cell treatment. Primary endpoint: change of LVEF and volumes measured by magnetic resonance imaging before and 6 months after the procedure. After 6 months, LVEF increased by 3% (P = 0.01) in patients treated with UNSEL, 3% in patients receiving SEL (P = 0.04) and remained unchanged in CTRL group (P = 0.73). There were no significant differences in absolute changes of LVEF between the groups. Absolute changes of left ventricular end-systolic volume and left ventricular end-diastolic volume were not significantly different in all groups. Significant increase of LVEF was observed only in patients treated with BM cells who had baseline LVEF < median (37%). Baseline LVEF < median and time from the onset of symptoms to primary percutaneous coronary intervention > or = median were predictors of LVEF improvement in patients receiving BM cells. There were no differences in major cardiovascular event (death, re-infarction, stroke, target vessel revascularization) between groups. CONCLUSION In patients with AMI and impaired LVEF, treatment with BM cells does not lead to a significant improvement of LVEF or volumes. There was however a trend in favour of cell therapy in patients with most severely impaired LVEF and longer delay between the symptoms and revascularization.
Human and mouse oligonucleotide-based array CGH

Array-based comparative genomic hybridization is a high resolution method for measuring chromosomal copy number changes. Here we present a validated protocol using in-house spotted oligonucleotide libraries for array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). This oligo array CGH platform yields reproducible results and is capable of detecting single copy gains, multi-copy amplifications as well as homozygous and heterozygous deletions as small as 100 kb with high resolution. A human oligonucleotide library was printed on amine binding slides. Arrays were hybridized using a hybstation and analysed using BlueFuse feature extraction software, with >95% of spots passing quality control. The protocol allows as little as 300 ng of input DNA and a 90% reduction of Cot-1 DNA without compromising quality. High quality results have also been obtained with DNA from archival tissue. Finally, in addition to human oligo arrays, we have applied the protocol successfully to mouse oligo arrays. We believe that this oligo-based platform using ‘off-the-shelf’ oligo libraries provides an easy accessible alternative to BAC arrays for CGH, which is cost-effective, available at high resolution and easily implemented for any sequenced organism without compromising the quality of the results.
Same Question, Different Data Source, Different Answers? Data Source Agreement for Surgical Procedures on Women with Breast Cancer

] Abstract This study assessed the accuracy of the Manitoba Cancer Registry (MCR) and two administrative data sources, the Manitoba Health hospital discharge file and the Manitoba Health medical claims file, for capturing surgical procedures related to the treatment of breast cancer. The study cohort included all women diagnosed in Manitoba with invasive or in situ breast cancer between 1995 and 1999. The surgical procedures of interest were mastectomy, breast conserving surgery and axillary node dissection. Analysis focused on assessing concordance between data sources following record linkage. Agreement was measured using the kappa statistic, and chart reviews of discordant information were completed to identify the more reliable data source and to validate data files. The effect of using each data set alone to calculate procedure rates was determined to identify any clinically important differences arising from the choice of data source. Results indicate that capture of breast cancer patients using administrative data sets alone can be quite good and that the population-based cancer registry is superior to other administrative data sets for capturing surgical treatment information on cancer cases.
Learning by Doing and the Introduction of New Goods

A dynamic general equilibrium model is developed in which goods are valued according to the characteristics they contain, the set of goods produced in any period is endogenously determined, and learning by doing is the force behind sustained growth. It is shown that the set of produced goods changes in a systematic way over time, with goods of higher quality entering each period and those of lower quality dropping out. The model is then used to study the effect of introducing a "traditional" sector in which there is no learning.
A Combination of Screening and Computational Approaches for the Identification of Novel Compounds That Decrease Mast Cell Degranulation

High-content screening of compound libraries poses various challenges in the early steps in drug discovery such as gaining insights into the mode of action of the selected compounds. Here, we addressed these challenges by integrating two biological screens through bioinformatics and computational analysis. We screened a small-molecule library enriched in amphiphilic compounds in a degranulation assay in rat basophilic leukemia 2H3 (RBL-2H3) cells. The same library was rescreened in a high-content image-based endocytosis assay in HeLa cells. This assay was previously applied to a genome-wide RNAi screen that produced quantitative multiparametric phenotypic profiles for genes that directly or indirectly affect endocytosis. By correlating the endocytic profiles of the compounds with the genome-wide siRNA profiles, we identified candidate pathways that may be inhibited by the compounds. Among these, we focused on the Akt pathway and validated its inhibition in HeLa and RBL-2H3 cells. We further showed that the compounds inhibited the translocation of the Akt-PH domain to the plasma membrane. The approach performed here can be used to integrate chemical and functional genomics screens for investigating the mechanism of action of compounds.
Genetic susceptibility to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Koreans: combined analysis of polymorphic genotypes for microsomal epoxide hydrolase and glutathione S-transferase M1 and T1

BACKGROUND Although smoking is the major causal factor in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), only 10–20% of chronic heavy cigarette smokers develop symptomatic COPD which suggests the presence of genetic susceptibility. This genetic susceptibility to COPD might depend on variations in enzyme activities that detoxify cigarette smoke products such as microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEPHX) and glutathione-S transferase (GST). As there is increasing evidence that several genes influence the development of COPD, multiple gene polymorphisms should be investigated to find out the genetic susceptibility to COPD. METHODS The genotypes of 83 patients with COPD and 76 healthy smoking control subjects were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) for the mEPHX gene, and multiplex PCR for GST M1 and GST T1 genes. The frequencies of polymorphic genotypes of mEPHX, GST M1, and GST T1 genes were compared both individually and in combination in patients with COPD and healthy smokers. RESULTS No differences were observed in the frequency of polymorphic genotypes in exons 3 and 4 of mEPHX, GST M1, and GST T1 genes between patients with COPD and healthy smokers. The frequencies of any combination of these genotypes also showed no differences between the COPD group and the control group. CONCLUSIONS Genetic polymorphisms in mEPHX, GST M1, and GST T1 genes are not associated with the development of COPD in Koreans.
The Capacity of Robust Private Information Retrieval With Colluding Databases

Private information retrieval (PIR) is the problem of retrieving as efficiently as possible, one out of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> messages from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> non-communicating replicated databases (each holds all <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> messages) while keeping the identity of the desired message index a secret from each individual database. The information theoretic capacity of PIR (equivalently, the reciprocal of minimum download cost) is the maximum number of bits of desired information that can be privately retrieved per bit of downloaded information. <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-private PIR is a generalization of PIR to include the requirement that even if any <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> databases collude, the identity of the retrieved message remains completely unknown to them. Robust PIR is another generalization that refers to the scenario where we have <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M \geq N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> databases, out of which any <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M - N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> may fail to respond. For <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> messages and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M\geq N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> databases out of which at least some <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula> must respond, we show that the capacity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-private and Robust PIR is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(1+T/N+T^{2}/N^{2}+\cdots +T^{K-1}/N^{K-1})^{-1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. The result includes as special cases the capacity of PIR without robustness (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M=N$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) or <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-privacy constraints (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T=1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>).
Bayesian Learning in Text Summarization

The paper presents a Bayesian model for text summarization, which explicitly encodes and exploits information on how human judgments are distributed over the text. Comparison is made against non Bayesian summarizers, using test data from Japanese news texts. It is found that the Bayesian approach generally leverages performance of a summarizer, at times giving it a significant lead over non-Bayesian models.
International management : theories and practices

PART I. SETTING THE SCENE Introduction 1. Cultural differences across the world 2. Major national institutions 3. Major cultural characteristics 4. Collective programming of the mind: culture and its influence on management PART II. GOING ABROAD 5. Setting strategies and objectives 6. International alliances and acquisitions 7. E-Commerce worldwide PART III. GOING ABROAD - COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS 8. Interface activities 9. Communication across cultures PART IV. MANAGING EMPLOYEES IN DIFFERENT CULTURES 10. Comparative industrial relations 11. International human resource management 12. Expatriates 13. Management in the Arab world PART V. TAKING STOCK Long case study 1 Long case study 2 Long case study 3
The Role of Visual and Semantic Properties in the Emergence of Category-Specific Patterns of Neural Response in the Human Brain

Abstract Brain-imaging studies have found distinct spatial and temporal patterns of response to different object categories across the brain. However, the extent to which these categorical patterns of response reflect higher-level semantic or lower-level visual properties of the stimulus remains unclear. To address this question, we measured patterns of EEG response to intact and scrambled images in the human brain. Our rationale for using scrambled images is that they have many of the visual properties found in intact images, but do not convey any semantic information. Images from different object categories (bottle, face, house) were briefly presented (400 ms) in an event-related design. A multivariate pattern analysis revealed categorical patterns of response to intact images emerged ∼80–100 ms after stimulus onset and were still evident when the stimulus was no longer present (∼800 ms). Next, we measured the patterns of response to scrambled images. Categorical patterns of response to scrambled images also emerged ∼80–100 ms after stimulus onset. However, in contrast to the intact images, distinct patterns of response to scrambled images were mostly evident while the stimulus was present (∼400 ms). Moreover, scrambled images were able to account only for all the variance in the intact images at early stages of processing. This direct manipulation of visual and semantic content provides new insights into the temporal dynamics of object perception and the extent to which different stages of processing are dependent on lower-level or higher-level properties of the image.
Dendritic Cells in Human Renal Inflammation – Part II

Dendritic cells (DCs) are bone marrow-derived professional antigen-presenting cells that act as master regulators of acquired and innate immune responses. Here, we review the available information on their role in human renal inflammation. In the 1980s and early 1990s, major histocompatibility complex class II antigen- (HLA-DR) positive DCs were first described in normal human kidneys and in the interstitium of kidneys from patients with glomerulonephritis. Several DC subtypes were subsequently distinguished based on their expression of CD1c/BDCA-1, CD141/BDCA-3 and CD209/DC-SIGN (in combination with HLA-DR). These cells were almost exclusively found in the tubulointerstitium, with increased numbers seen during glomerulonephritis. It appears that the human renal tubulointerstitium harbors different DC types which allow the collection of both exogenous as well as endogenous antigens. Plasmacytoid DCs have a plasma cell-like morphology and were commonly found within nodular tubulointerstitial infiltrates. Follicular DCs are rarely seen, but show a predominant localization in organized infiltrates. CD207/langerin is a marker for Langerhans cells. Langerin-positive cells have been found in association with the collecting ducts and urothelium. A functional characterization of these subtypes has been hampered by the difficulty of obtaining samples for analysis. However, these studies are clearly required to define the role of DCs and DC subsets in the pathophysiology of renal disease.
Dividend Taxes and Decisions of MNEs: Evidence from a Finnish Tax Reform

In this study we explore how a firm-level dividend tax on redistributed foreign profits affects the financial decisions of a multinational enterprise (MNE). We examine this by using evidence from a recent tax reform in Finland. The so-called equalization tax (EQT) used to be a regular element of European imputation systems, designed to ensure that dividends were not paid out of untaxed profits. Theoretical analyses have suggested that EQT may distort several financial decisions of MNEs. We find a 23 percent increase in dividend payments and a similar increase in repatriated foreign profits after the repeal of EQT among Finnish MNEs. We also find evidence that the reported profits increased among foreign subsidiaries of Finnish MNEs, which indicates an effect on profit-shifting. No change in investment was detected.
Match Rates and Savings: Evidence from Individual Development Accounts

How do people respond to matched-savings incentives? Studies of 401(k) plans find that matching increases participation but that higher match rates do not increase--and may decrease--the level of savings. This paper analyzes saving by low-income people in Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), a new savings incentive that matches withdrawals if used for home purchase, post-secondary education, or self-employment. The model controls for several sources of bias common in estimates of match-rate effects: unobserved heterogeneity among firms and among participants, censoring of savings at the match cap, and an inverse relationship between match rates and match caps. In IDAs, higher match rates are associated with an increased probability of continued participation but also with a decreased level of savings.