Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of surface charge on serum protein interaction and cellular uptake: studies with dendritic polyglycerols and dendritic polyglycerol-coated gold nanoparticles

Nanoparticles (NPs) have gained huge interest in the medical field, in particular for drug delivery purposes. However, binding of proteins often leads to fast NP uptake and rapid clearance, thereby hampering medical applications. Thus, it is essential to determine and control the bio–nano interface. This study investigated the serum protein interactions of dendritic polyglycerols (dPGs), which are promising drug delivery candidates by means of two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) in combination with mass spectrometry. In order to investigate the influence of surface charge, sulfated (sulfated dendritic polyglycerol [dPGS]) and non-sulfated (dPGOH) surfaces were applied, which were synthesized on a gold core allowing for easier separation from unbound biomolecules through centrifugation. Furthermore, two different sizes for dPGS were included. Although size had only a minor influence, considerable differences were detected in protein affinity for dPGS versus dPGOH surfaces, with dPGOH binding much less proteins. Cellular uptake into human CD14+ monocytes was analyzed by flow cytometry, and dPGOH was taken up to a much lower extent compared to dPGS. By using a pull-down approach, possible cellular interaction partners of serum pre-incubated dPGS-Au20 NPs from the membrane fraction of THP-1 cells could be identified such as for instance the transferrin receptor or an integrin. Clathrin-mediated endocytosis was further investigated using chlorpromazine as an inhibitor, which resulted in a 50% decrease of the cellular uptake of dPGS. This study could confirm the influence of surface charge on protein interactions and cellular uptake of dPGS. Furthermore, the approach allowed for the identification of possible uptake receptors and insights into the uptake mechanism.
KASL Clinical Practice Guidelines: Management of chronic hepatitis B

UNLABELLED The guideline on the management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) was first developed in 2004 and revised in 2007 by the Korean Association for the Study of the Liver (KASL). Since then there have been many developments, including the introduction of new antiviral agents and the publications of many novel research results from both Korea and other countries. In particular, a large amount of knowledge on antiviral resistance--which is a serious issue in Korea--has accumulated, which has led to new strategies being suggested. This prompted the new guideline discussed herein to be developed based on recent evidence and expert opinion. TARGET POPULATION The main targets of this guideline comprise patients who are newly diagnosed with CHB and those who are followed or treated for known CHB. This guideline is also intended to provide guidance for the management of patients under the following special circumstances: malignancy, transplantation, dialysis, coinfection with other viruses, pregnancy, and children.
Electron microscope study of the base sequence homology between simian virus 40 and human papovavirus BK

The base sequence homology between the genomes of simian virus 40 (SV40) and human papovavirus BK (BKV) was studied by the heteroduplex method of Ferguson and Davis (J. Mol. Biol. 94:135-149, 1975). When mounted for microscopy in 30% formamide (Tm-35 degrees C), BKV/SV40 heteroduplexes were an average of 92% double-stranded and contained only two small nonhomologous regions that mapped near the junctions between the early and late regions of the SV40 Genome. At higher formamide concentrations, the fraction of duplex DNA in the BKV/SV40 heteroduplexes decreased, indicating significant base mismatching in the homologous regions. The strongest regions of homology were located in the late region.
mobility , knowledge and cooperation : scientific diasporas as agents of development

The growing knowledge gap between the North and the South shows the need for innovative perspectives in the study of the mobility of scientists and skilled professionals. Today, more than ever, it is obvious that there is a need to recognize the importance of science and the production of knowledge for development, the value of international cooperation and the intervention of scientific diasporas as relevant actors. As globalization and technological advances have promoted new ways of contributing from a distance, the challenge now is to find the best way to involve emigrated human capital in the scientific and socioeconomic progress of developing countries. This article offers an evidence-based analysis of the transnational practices of scientists and skilled professionals from Colombia, India and South Africa living in Switzerland, and it examines the conditions and the opportunity structures that are necessary if they are to act as agents of change in the benefit of their countries of origin.
Severe Human Influenza Infections in Thailand: Oseltamivir Treatment and Risk Factors for Fatal Outcome

Background Influenza is often not recognized as an important cause of severe or fatal disease in tropical and subtropical countries in Southeast Asia. The extent to which Oseltamivir treatment may protect against a fatal outcome in severe influenza infections is not known. Thailand's National Avian Influenza Surveillance (NAIS) system affords a unique opportunity to describe the epidemiology of laboratory-confirmed severe and fatal human influenza infections. Methodology/Principal Findings During January 2004 through December 2006, 11,641 notifications to the NAIS were investigated in 73 of 76 Thai provinces. Clinical and demographic data and respiratory swab specimens were collected and tested by PCR for influenza. Using the NAIS database, we identified all patients with laboratory confirmed human influenza (A/H3N2, A/H1N1 and Type B) infection. A retrospective medical record review was conducted on all fatal cases with laboratory confirmed influenza and from a sample of hospitalized cases in 28 provinces. The association of underlying risk factors, Oseltamivir treatment and risk of a fatal outcome were examined. Human influenza infections were identified in 2,075 (18%) cases. Twenty-two (1%) deaths occurred including seven deaths in children less than ten years of age. Thirty-five percent of hospitalized human influenza infections had chest X-ray confirmed pneumonia. Current or former smoking; advanced age, hypertension and underlying cardiovascular, pulmonary or endocrine disease were associated with a fatal outcome from human influenza infection. Treatment with Oseltamivir was statistically associated with survival with a crude OR of . 11 (95% CI: 0.04–0.30) and . 13 (95% CI: 0.04–0.40) after controlling for age. Conclusions Severe and fatal human influenza infections were commonly identified in the NAIS designed to identify avian A/H5N1 cases. Treatment with Oseltamivir is associated with survival in hospitalized human influenza pneumonia patients.
HANDLING OF GLYCEROL IN THE KIDNEY.

Kruhoffer, P. and O. I. Nissen. Handling of glycerol in the kidney. Acta physiol. scand. 1963. 59. 284–294. —Essentially complete reabsorption of glycerol (and urine/plasma ratios below one) was observed in cats at low filtered loads. With increasing filtered loads the reabsorption rate continued to rise and the reabsorption fraction converged upon a value of about 0.4. The rate of metabolic conversion of glycerol in the kidneys – simultaneously determined from measurements of renal blood flow and arterio-venous deficits –exceeded the reabsorption rate at low filtered loads whereas the relation was undoubtedly reversed at high filtered loads. Stop-flow experiments indicated that the most distal parts of the nephron are sparsrly permeable to glycerol and that concentrations below that of arterial plasma may arise in proximal parts. The observations ma)- be accounted for on the assumptions that reabsorption at low filtered loads is predominantly a conversion reabsorption (diffusion from the tubular lumen into tubular cells maintained by a metabolic convcrsion inside the cytoplasm) and that at high filtered loads well above the level of saturation of the glycerol converting enzymes it is essentially due to transcellular back-diffusion through the (proximal) tubular cells. I'he pattern of renal excretion of glycerol may thus be interpreted without resorting to special transmembranr transfer mechanisms.
Better Game Studies Education the Carcassonne Way

As game design programs become more common, educators are faced with challenges in bringing the formal study of games to students. In particular, educato rs must find ways to help students transition from viewing games purely as entertainment to a field worthy of critic al study. One aspect of this transition is to view games on t he level of mechanics rather than purely in terms of aesthet ics. The study described in this paper was conducted to test the hypothesis that exposing students in an introductor y game studies class to German-style board games would lead to improved understanding of game mechanics. The data gathered shows that the students who were exposed t o these types of games did exhibit a greater understanding of game mechanics at the end of the course. Author Keywords
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND MARITAL ADJUSTMENT IN STUDENTS

هديكچ نيـب ةـطبار ،ييوـشانز يراگزاـس رـب رثؤـم لماوع تخانش فده اب شهوژپ نيا هم ترا يم يسررب ار ييوشانز يراگزاس و يطابترا ياه دنك . ،روـظنم نـيا يارـب 132 دندـش باـختنا هداس يفداصت شور هب وجشناد جوز . ساـيقم هـب نيـجوز هدـش رـظن دـيدجت ييوـشانز تياـضر ) ،رديانـس 1997 ( ) R MSI ( ساـيقم و تراهم يطابترا ياه ) ،نارون 1967 ( ) CSI ( دنداد خساپ . د ناشـن جياتن ليلحت دا تراهم نيب هك دراد دوجو لااب يگتسبمه نيجوز يطابترا ياه . نازيم نينچمه جوز ييوشانز يراگزاس تراهم ياراد ياه فـلتخم داـعبا رد يوـق يطاـبترا ياه هب ،ييوشانز طباور نعم روط ا جوز زا رتشيب راد تراـهم ياراد ياـه يطاـبترا ياـه دوب فيعض . تراـهم شـقن هـب هـجوت موزل جياتن نيا ياـه هـب لـين رد يطاـبترا يم ناشن رطاخ ار يراگزاسان زا يريگشيپ و ييوشانز يراگزاس دزاس .
Assessing the Genetic Diversity of the Aldolase Genes of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax and Its Potential Effect on Performance of Aldolase-Detecting Rapid Diagnostic Tests

ABSTRACT Malaria-specific rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) targeting aldolase show highly variable sensitivities. We assessed diversity in Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax aldolases by sequencing the coding genes from parasites of various origins. The results show that aldolases are highly conserved, indicating that antigenic diversity is not a cause of variable RDT sensitivity.
Failure to Launch, Failure to Achieve Criteria for Adulthood?

In the West it is not until the mid-20s or 30s people reach an adult status. Becoming an adult signifies being independent from others (especially from parents) and learning to stand alone as a self-sufficient person. This study investigates whether the attainment of such individual qualities are affected by emerging adults’ living circumstances. Results indicate that though independent living is associated with an accelerated achievement of certain criteria for adulthood, continued coresidence with parents during emerging adulthood slows down the process by which an individual moves toward becoming a self-sufficient and independent adult. Because success in the achievement of an adult status also positively predicts emerging adults’ well-being, delayed home-leaving during this stage of life is an issue that requires special attention.
Communicating about opioids for chronic pain: A qualitative study of patient attributions and the influence of the patient–physician relationship

Chronic pain poses numerous challenges for patients and providers, particularly when opioid treatment is discussed. Despite accounts of antagonistic patient–provider communication, little is known about how communication about opioids unfolds during clinic visits and, importantly, how the relationship history of a patient and physician shapes this communication. This study's objective was to advance understanding of communication about opioid treatment by recording primary care clinic visits and conducting in‐depth interviews with patients to gain insight into the patient–provider relationship and its influence on clinical communication.
Understanding Learning from Leading Women's Experience: Towards a Sociological

Conceptions of leadership draw largely on the leadership experiences of a limited population, and of those in a restricted range of organizational settings. This article begins to address some of these biases by examining the experiences of six leading women in differing sectors. In researching the ‘how’ of leadership there emerges a web of four inter-related factors that connects these leaders to their community and that plays a foundational role in their lives: upbringing, environment, focus and networks and alliances. The ways in which leadership is experienced and constructed by women, the article therefore argues, can be made more sense of through a sociological lens, and raises questions about how tendencies in research sites lead to gendered and individualistic understandings of leadership. In illuminating the need to make the distinction between representations of leadership and our experience of leadership, the article concludes that leadership is not just about leading people, but is often pioneering and can include the leadership of ideas, communities, and the representation of issues.
Establishment Heterogeneity, Exporter Dynamics, and the Effects of Trade Liberalization

The authors study the effects of tariffs in a dynamic variation of the Melitz (2003) model, a monopolistically competitive model with heterogeneity in productivity across establishments and fixed costs of exporting. With fixed costs of starting to export that are on average 3.7 times as large as the costs incurred to continue as an exporter, the model can match both the size distribution of exporters and annual transition in and out of exporting among US manufacturing establishments. The authors find that the tariff equivalent of these fixed costs is nearly 30 percentage points. They use the calibrated model to estimate the effect of reducing tariffs on welfare, trade, and export participation. The authors find sizeable gains to moving to free trade equivalent to 1.03 percent of steady state consumption. Considering the transition dynamics following the cut in tariffs, they find that the model predicts economic activity overshoots its steady state, with the peak in output coming 10 years after the trade reform. Because of this overshooting, steady state changes in consumption understate the welfare gain to trade reform. The authors also find simpler trade models that abstract from these export dynamics provide a poor approximation of the aggregate responses from our more general model.
Autonomous Workgroups: An Evaluation at an Industrial Site

This paper describes an exploratory longitudinal study with semi-autonomous work groups in a large, unionized heavy engineering workshop. The results show that groups which adopted the new set of work arrangements reported substantially different perceptual, behavioral, and affective responses to those groups which continued to employ more traditional work practices. These findings and their implications for similar work sites are discussed.
Condom use in Uganda and Zimbabwe: exploring the influence of gendered access to resources and couple-level dynamics.

There has been little systematic investigation of the routes through which the sociocultural construction of gender actually influences risk-related behaviors or the factors that might encourage changes in elements of gender systems that promote safer behavior vis-a-vis HIV/AIDS. In particular we know little about the ways in which gendered inequalities in access to resources and couple dynamics ultimately influence the adoption of protective behaviors. Moreover most of the evidence is based on small-scale or qualitative studies making it difficult to assess the generalizability of findings or the size of the effects. The present analysis uses national-level quantitative survey data from two African countries to examine the ways in which gendered inequalities in access to resources and gendered patterns of interaction between partners are related to the adoption of protective behavior specifically condom use. (excerpt)
Event-Based GPC for Multivariable Processes: A Practical Approach With Sensor Deadband

In this paper, a practical event-based framework for multivariable processes is introduced. The developed control algorithm is based on a Generalized Predictive Control (GPC) algorithm suitable for multiple-input multiple-output systems. The most important advantage of the proposed control scheme is the adaptability of control actions to process disturbances and process interactions. The application of the developed control system allows us to reduce the amount of messages exchanged between control system agents, what is beneficial for communication burden. Moreover, event-based approach allows us prioritizing the selected control variables, paying more attention to important variables (often related to security or costs), while neglecting the noncritical ones. This is possible through adjusting the sensor deadband value, making feasible a tradeoff between control effort and control performance. Using this approach, it is possible to keep less relevant variables within the established limits, focusing the control system attention on those critical to process operation. The analyzed event-based control technique for multivariable systems is tested through a simulation study and real experiments. The obtained results show several benefits regarding event-based control application, keeping all properties of event-based approach as well as model predictive control ones.
School Involvement in Pharmacotherapy for Behavior Disorders

Hyperactivity is one of the most common reasons for chronic drug therapy in exceptional children. Clinicians have long recognized that behavioral evaluations from the teacher are essential in diagnosing this disorder, titrating dosage, and monitoring and terminating treatment. In order to evaluate the adequacy of typical treatment practices, 2 state-wide studies of special education programs were conducted. Teachers completed questionnaires for 232 pupils in their current classroom who were receiving medication for a learning or behavior disorder, and the mothers of 100 of these children participated in a telephone interview. The findings from both studies were remarkably similar. Teachers were often not involved in referral, diagnosis, or the withdrawal of medication. The allegation that school personnel frequently pressure parents into medication for their child was unsupported. Although 60% of the teachers reported drug effects, standardized evaluation instruments were rarely used. Direct communication with the physician was all but nonexistent. There appears to be a considerable disparity between the treatment procedures recommended in the medical literature as being necessary for adequate care and typical practices in everyday situations.
Personnel Attitudes and Motivation

The literature published since the previous review of this topic. by Miner & Dachler (65) shows several trends. There has been a dramatic decrease in the popularity of equity theory, especially with respect to explaining job and task performance. Since the Pritchard et al monograph (76), the few studies concerned with equity have stressed its role in influencing pay satisfaction. Competent criticisms of equity theory's vagueness (106) and limited applicability may have contributed to its current lack of popularity. Need for achievement is also encountering increasing criticism (25), and the validity of Herzberg's theory remains in doubt (56). In the applied realm, job enrichment and Management by Objectives continue to attract the attention of practitioners. But participatory management is the most frequently recommended panacea for problems pertaining to employee motiva­ tion (61) despite equivocal evidence (18). In the theoretical realm, expectancy or V-I-E (valence-instrumentality-expec­ tancy) theory has clearly become the most popular approach to motivation among industrial researchers (e.g. 48). However, there are still those who consider factor analysis and/or huge correlation matrices involving measurements of dozens of variables to be the key to unlocking the secrets of motivational psychology. (For this writer's comments on the latter approach, see 52, 54, 56). Organiza­ tional climate has also become popular, but the problem lies in determining just what the concept means (36). Space limitations prevent further discussion of this concept here, but for a thorough review of the topic see (37a). Two other areas which continue to attract the attention of researchers are pay (97) and the relationship between job attitudes and behavior (73). This article will be a selective review and critique of major theoretical ap­ proaches and major research areas relevant to employec attitudes and motivation.
Crosstalk between Delta Opioid Receptor and Nerve Growth Factor Signaling Modulates Neuroprotection and Differentiation in Rodent Cell Models

Both opioid signaling and neurotrophic factor signaling have played an important role in neuroprotection and differentiation in the nervous system. Little is known about whether the crosstalk between these two signaling pathways will affect neuroprotection and differentiation. Previously, we found that nerve growth factor (NGF) could induce expression of the delta opioid receptor gene (Oprd1, dor), mainly through PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling in PC12h cells. In this study, using two NGF-responsive rodent cell model systems, PC12h cells and F11 cells, we found the delta opioid neuropeptide [d-Ala2, d-Leu5] enkephalin (DADLE)-mediated neuroprotective effect could be blocked by pharmacological reagents: the delta opioid antagonist naltrindole, PI3K inhibitor LY294002, MAPK inhibitor PD98059, and Trk inhibitor K252a, respectively. Western blot analysis revealed that DADLE activated both the PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways in the two cell lines. siRNA Oprd1 gene knockdown experiment showed that the upregulation of NGF mRNA level was inhibited with concomitant inhibition of the survival effects of DADLE in the both cell models. siRNA Oprd1 gene knockdown also attenuated the DADLE-mediated neurite outgrowth in PC12h cells as well as phosphorylation of MAPK and Akt in PC12h and F11 cells, respectively. These data together strongly suggest that delta opioid peptide DADLE acts through the NGF-induced functional G protein-coupled Oprd1 to provide its neuroprotective and differentiating effects at least in part by regulating survival and differentiating MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways in NGF-responsive rodent neuronal cells.
REFORMAS DE LA FINANCIACIN DEL SISTEMA DE PENSIONES

A process for producing an iron-based powder composition for powder metallurgy having excellent flowability at room temperature and a warm compaction temperature, having improved compactibility enabling lowering ejection force in compaction, and to provide a process for producing a compact of a high density from the iron-based powder composition, wherein the iron-based powder composition comprises an iron-based powder, a lubricant, and an alloying powder, and at least one of the iron-based powder, the lubricant, and the alloying powder is coated with at least one surface treatment agent selected from the group of surface treatment agents of organoalkoxysilanes, organosilazanes, titanate coupling agents, fluorine-containing silicon silane coupling agents, and wherein the iron-based powder composition is compacted at a temperature not lower than the lowest melting point of the employed lubricants, but not higher than the highest melting point of the employed lubricants.