Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sub-Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations of Rhubarb Water Extracts Inhibit Streptococcus suis Biofilm Formation

Streptococcus suis is one of the most important swine pathogens, which can cause persistent infection by forming biofilms. In this study, sub-minimum inhibitory concentration (sub-MIC) of rhubarb water extracts were found to inhibit biofilm formation. Two-component signal transduction systems (TCSs), transcriptional regulators, and DNA binding proteins were compared under two conditions: (1) cells treated with sub-MIC rhubarb water extracts and (2) untreated cells. Using an isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) strategy, we found that TCSs constituent proteins of histidine kinase and response regulator were significantly down-regulated. This down-regulation can affect the transfer of information during biofilm formation. The transcriptional regulators and DNA binding proteins that can interact with TCSs and interrupt gene transcription were also significantly altered. For these reasons, the levels of protein expressions varied in different parts of the treated vs. untreated cells. In summary, rhubarb water extracts might serve as potential inhibitor for the control of S. suis biofilm formation. The change in TCSs, transcriptional regulators, and DNA binding proteins may be important factors in S. suis biofilm inhibition.
Pea aphid promotes amino acid metabolism both in Medicago truncatula and bacteriocytes to favor aphid population growth under elevated CO2

Rising atmospheric CO2 levels can dilute the nitrogen (N) resource in plant tissue, which is disadvantageous to many herbivorous insects. Aphids appear to be an exception that warrants further study. The effects of elevated CO2 (750 ppm vs. 390 ppm) were evaluated on N assimilation and transamination by two Medicago truncatula genotypes, a N‐fixing‐deficient mutant (dnf1) and its wild‐type control (Jemalong), with and without pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) infestation. Elevated CO2 increased population abundance and feeding efficiency of aphids fed on Jemalong, but reduced those on dnf1. Without aphid infestation, elevated CO2 increased photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, nodule number, biomass, and pod number for Jemalong, but only increased pod number and chlorophyll content for dnf1. Furthermore, aphid infested Jemalong plants had enhanced activities of N assimilation‐related enzymes (glutamine synthetase, Glutamate synthase) and transamination‐related enzymes (glutamate oxalate transaminase, glutamine phenylpyruvate transaminase), which presumably increased amino acid concentration in leaves and phloem sap under elevated CO2. In contrast, aphid infested dnf1 plants had decreased activities of N assimilation‐related enzymes and transmination‐related enzymes and amino acid concentrations under elevated CO2. Furthermore, elevated CO2 up‐regulated expression of genes relevant to amino acid metabolism in bacteriocytes of aphids associated with Jemalong, but down‐regulated those associated with dnf1. Our results suggest that pea aphids actively elicit host responses that promote amino acid metabolism in both the host plant and in its bacteriocytes to favor the population growth of the aphid under elevated CO2.
Effects of OPRM1 A118G polymorphism on epidural analgesia with fentanyl during labor: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Emerging evidence has shown that the most common polymorphism (A118G; rs1799971 A>G) in the μ-opioid receptor (OPRM1) gene may influence the response to labor analgesia, but individually published studies showed inconclusive results. OBJECTIVE This meta-analysis aimed to derive a more precise estimation of the effects of the OPRM1 A118G polymorphism on epidural analgesia with fentanyl during labor. METHODS A literature search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and China BioMedicine databases before April 1st, 2013. The crude standardized mean difference (SMD) or odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated. RESULTS Six clinical studies were included with a total 838 women who received epidural analgesia with fentanyl during labor. The meta-analysis results indicated that women carrying the G allele (AG+GG) of the OPRM1 A118G polymorphism required less fentanyl doses to achieve adequate pain relief compared with those with the AA homozygote (SMD=-0.24, 95% CI [-0.44, -0.03], p=0.022). The 118G variant was associated with a decreased ED50 of fentanyl for labor analgesia (SMD=-1.56, 95% CI [-1.97, -1.15], p<0.001). The analgesia satisfaction in women carrying the G allele (AG+GG) was higher than those with the AA homozygote (SMD=0.22, 95% CI [0.05, 0.39], p=0.012). However, there were no statistically significant differences between an AA homozygote and a G carrier (AG+GG) in the incidence of nausea and vomiting (OR=1.99, 95% CI [0.88, 4.52], p=0.101). CONCLUSION In conclusion, the current meta-analysis indicates that women carrying the G allele (AG+GG) of OPRM1 A118G polymorphism may have a good response to epidural analgesia with fentanyl during labor. The OPRM1 A118G polymorphism may help predict individuals' response to epidural labor analgesia and so optimize postoperative pain control.
Paradox of Hysteresis and Real Wage Flexibility in Australia

This study examines the paradoxical coexistence of high unemployment rates and real wage flexibility during the period 1966-92 in Australai. The neoclassical paradigm postulates that real wage flexibility is a per-requisite to operate at the natural rate or full employment level of output. The Keynesian paradigm blames the downward stickiness of nominal wages for the prevalence of unemployment. However, both paradigms agree that the divergence of the unemployment rate for the natural rate is a short-run phenomenon and in the long-run the unemployment reverts the natural rate. The New Keynesians and Neo Keynesians, while dissenting on the speed of reversal agree that in the long run the unemployment rate will gravitate to the natural rate.The concept of NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment) attempts to synthesize the conflicting paradigms and explain the non reversal to the natural rate in terms of socioeconomic policy variables. The non-reversal of the unemployment rate to the natural rate and its persistence has a similarity to the concept of hysteresis in physics and implies that unemployment rate is dependent on its past state. Unit root and cointegration analysis are deployed to tests the degree of real wage flexibility and prevalence of hysteresis in the Australian unemployment rate during the study period.
Corporate Political Connections and Tax Aggressiveness

This study investigates the relation between corporate political connections and tax aggressiveness. We study a broad array of corporate political activities, including the employment of connected directors, campaign contributions, and lobbying. Using a large handâ€ collected data set of U.S. firms' political connections, we find that politically connected firms are more tax aggressive than nonconnected firms, after controlling for other determinants of tax aggressiveness, industry and year fixed effects, and the endogenous choice of being politically connected. Our findings are robust to various measures of political connections and tax aggressiveness. These results are consistent with the conjecture that politically connected firms are more tax aggressive because of their lower expected cost of tax enforcement, better information regarding tax law and enforcement changes, lower capital market pressure for transparency, and greater riskâ€ taking tendencies induced by political connections.
The quest for business excellence: evidence from New Zealand's award winners

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the progression of business excellence (BX) in 13 repeat applicants for the New Zealand Business Excellence award over the period 1993‐2007.Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case approach analyses quantitative scoring data along with qualitative interview and secondary data.Findings – Formal, external assessments play a critical role in promoting continuous improvement toward BX. However, effective responses to feedback differ for enabler processes vs results. Achieving improved results requires a fundamental review of measurement approaches, as well as better alignment of performance measures to overall activities. Successful paths to continuous improvement vary depending on the starting point for this journey. Organisations starting with a relatively strong position can use external feedback to target improvement efforts for maximum benefit. Organisations starting at a more basic level of performance need to generalise improvement efforts across the.
Occupational gender wage discrimination in Turkey

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender based wage differences by schooling and occupations and to estimate the occupational gender wage discrimination in Turkey where strenuous attempts are underway to modernize and negotiate its culturally (Islamic)-based gender differences. Design/methodology/approach – This study employs an extension of Blinder and Oaxaca's approach to measure the effect of wage discrimination. In order to correct a possible sample selection problem, Heckman's two step procedure is used to estimate the earning equations for males and females by using Turkish Household Expenditure and Income Survey. Findings – Among the paper's central findings is that gender wage gap decreases with education, is less in the public sector, and varies across occupations. The overall discriminatory wage gap is estimated at 30 percent after controlling for education, experience, occupation, region, and selection effects. Research limitations/implications – Limitations of this study are mostly related to the nature of the data set used in the analysis. Future research should be replicated on time series data with more variables if they are available. Practical implications – Policy makers should promote education of women since education reduces inequalities among genders as revealed from the decreasing gap of wage differentials for higher levels of education. They should implement measures aimed at reducing inequalities in women's pay and improving women's status in the labor market in line with the European Union policies. Originality/value – By using micro data, this study estimates the gender wage discrimination at occupational levels in Turkey by correcting the possible sample selection bias in the analysis, usually omitted in other studies.
Capital Goods Imports, Catch-Up and Total Factor Productivity Growth

This paper undertakes an empirical examination of the effect of capital goods imports on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth. Using a broad sample of 77 countries for the time period 1975 - 1995, the study first provides evidence of positive and significant effect of capital goods imports on TFP growth. In addition, the paper examines for if there are any advantages of technological backwardness associated with capital goods imports. We also find that countries which are technologically backward gain more from capital goods imports. A 10% increase in the share of capital goods imports to GDP is associated with approximately 0.4% increase in TFP growth. The results are robust to inclusion of other relevant variables and consideration of simultaneity bias.
The economic development of Ireland in the twentieth century

This book examines Irish economic development in the twentieth century compared with other European countries. It traces the growth of the Republic's economy from its separation from Britain in the early 1920s through to the present. It assesses the factors which encouraged and inhibited economic development, and concludes with an appraisal of the country's present state and future prospects.
Intellectual capital models in Spanish public sector

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide assistance to public organizations in the process of developing their ability to identify, measure and manage their intangible assets.Design/methodology/approach – A review of the most important intellectual capital management initiatives at Spanish public organizations is realized.Findings – The paper shows the importance of intellectual capital approaches as instruments to face the new challenges in public sector. The experience gained from the case studies provides a practical help to public organizations to develop means to identify, measure and manage their intangible assets.Practical implications – The study provides a basis to understand how Spanish public organizations are measuring and managing their intellectual capital. In this sense, the first step would be the definition and diffusion of the organization's strategic objectives. Then, critical intangibles related to these objectives should be identified. Afterwards, a set of indicators is defin.
Laminar Arrangement of Ventricular Myocytes Influences Electrical Behavior of the Heart

The response of the heart to electrical shock, electrical propagation in sinus rhythm, and the spatiotemporal dynamics of ventricular fibrillation all depend critically on the electrical anisotropy of cardiac tissue. A long-held view of cardiac electrical anisotropy is that electrical conductivity is greatest along the myocyte axis allowing most rapid propagation of electrical activation in this direction, and that conductivity is isotropic transverse to the myocyte axis supporting a slower uniform spread of activation in this plane. In this context, knowledge of conductivity in two directions, parallel and transverse to the myofiber axis, is sufficient to characterize the electrical action of the heart. Here we present new experimental data that challenge this view. We have used a novel combination of intramural electrical mapping, and experiment-specific computer modeling, to demonstrate that left ventricular myocardium has unique bulk conductivities associated with three microstructurally-defined axes. We show that voltage fields induced by intramural current injection are influenced by not only myofiber direction, but also the transmural arrangement of muscle layers or myolaminae. Computer models of these experiments, in which measured 3D tissue structure was reconstructed in-silico, best matched recorded voltages with conductivities in the myofiber direction, and parallel and normal to myolaminae, set in the ratio 4:2:1, respectively. These findings redefine cardiac tissue as an electrically orthotropic substrate and enhance our understanding of how external shocks may act to successfully reset the fibrillating heart into a uniform electrical state. More generally, the mechanisms governing the destabilization of coordinated electrical propagation into ventricular arrhythmia need to be evaluated in the light of this discovery.
An Electromyography Analysis of 3 Muscles Surrounding the Shoulder Joint During the Performance of a Chest Press Exercise at Several Angles

Trebs, AA, Brandenburg, JP, and Pitney, WA. An electromyography analysis of 3 muscles surrounding the shoulder joint during the performance of a chest press exercise at several angles. J Strength Cond Res 24(7): 1925-1930, 2010-This study compared the activation of the clavicular head and the sternocostal head of the pectoralis major and the anterior deltoid when performing the bench press at several different angles. Fifteen healthy male subjects participated in this study. Subjects performed the chest press exercise at 0 (flat bench), 28, 44, and 56° above horizontal using 70% of their respective 1 repetition maximum for each angle. Electromyographic activity was recorded during each repetition. Activation of the clavicular head of the pectoralis major was significantly greater at 44° compared to 0° (p = 0.010), at 56° compared to 0° (p = 0.013), and at 44° compared to 28° (p = 0.003). Activation of the sternocostal head of the pectoralis major was significantly greater at 0° compared to 28° (p = 0.013), at 0° compared to 44° (p = 0.018), at 0° compared to 56° (p = 0.001), at 28° compared to 56° (p = 0.003), and at 44° compared to 56° (p = 0.001). Activation of the anterior deltoid was significantly greater at 28° compared to 0° (p = 0.002), at 44° compared to 0° (p = 0.012), and at 56° compared to 0° (p = 0.014). To optimize recruiting the involved musculature, it would seem that performing both the flat and incline chest press exercises is necessary.
Actigraph accelerometer interinstrument reliability during free-living in adults.

UNLABELLED The Actigraph (AG; model 7164 v. 2.2) accelerometer is widely accepted as a valid means of physical activity (PA) assessment. However, no studies have investigated interinstrument reliability for data collection in a free-living condition. PURPOSE To determine agreement (on raw outputs and derived variables) between AG accelerometers worn concurrently on the right hip (RH) and left hip (LH) during 24 h of free-living. METHODS Ten distinct pairings of AG were evaluated on 10 participants (four males, six females; age=30.1+/-3.8 yr). AG were worn during waking hours (other than water activities). Raw outputs were activity counts and steps. Derived variables were time (minutes) in sedentary, light, moderate, vigorous, and MVPA (moderate+vigorous) intensity using published cut points. Intraclass correlations (ICC), absolute percent error (APE), coefficient of variation (CV), and paired t-tests were evaluated between accelerometers. RESULTS Raw variables of total activity counts and steps, and derived variables of time in sedentary, light, vigorous, and MVPA intensity displayed high interinstrument reliability. The ICC, APE, and CV values for moderate intensity were 0.98, 18.8%, and 13.5% and, for MVPA, 0.99, 3.7%, and 4.9%, respectively. Only MVPA displayed a statistically significant mean difference (2 min) between RH versus LH AG, but the effect size was small (ES=0.07). CONCLUSION Results display evidence of decreased interinstrument reliability of moderate-intensity time assessed during free-living. If separate moderate and vigorous categories are not necessary for specific research questions, MVPA may be the optimal intensity range to report, at least in terms of interinstrument reliability.
Radial Basis Functions for Combining Shape and Speckle Tracking in 4D Echocardiography

Quantitative analysis of left ventricular deformation can provide valuable information about the extent of disease as well as the efficacy of treatment. In this work, we develop an adaptive multi-level compactly supported radial basis approach for deformation analysis in 3D+time echocardiography. Our method combines displacement information from shape tracking of myocardial boundaries (derived from B-mode data) with mid-wall displacements from radio-frequency-based ultrasound speckle tracking. We evaluate our methods on open-chest canines (N=8) and show that our combined approach is better correlated to magnetic resonance tagging-derived strains than either individual method. We also are able to identify regions of myocardial infarction (confirmed by postmortem analysis) using radial strain values obtained with our approach.
Learner responsibility in the English classroom

This paper is the result of a case study of learner responsibility in English language teaching at an upper secondary school. With the implementation of Gy11, the new curriculum for the upper secondary school in Sweden, learner responsibility has been introduced as an obligatory goal. However, in the steering documents the concept is not clearly defined. As a result the implementation of learner responsibility is dependent on the interpretation done by the schools. The purpose of this project was to explore how some students, teachers and head teachers perceive learner responsibility in relation to teaching and learning. The empirical study consists of observations and interviews with two head teachers, two teachers and eight students. Our results show that both students and teachers are happy with the opportunities for learner responsibility provided. Furthermore, they highlight it as something important. Both the head teachers and the teachers emphasise the importance to view the implementation of learner responsibility as an on-going process which the teachers are responsible for. In addition the students express that they are more motivated in their English studies as a result of being allowed more influence over their learning process. Lastly, the head teachers highlight motivation and understanding as key factors for learner responsibility. Key concepts: English 5, upper secondary school, learner responsibility, learner autonomy, learner training.
‘A diabolical challenge’: public opinion and climate change policy in Australia

The need for co-ordinated international action to mitigate climate change makes it one of the most complex public policy problems of modern times. For the advanced democracies, public opinion is a key element in developing an appropriate policy response. Australian public opinion towards climate change and the public policies that have been proposed to deal with the problem, most notably the emissions trading scheme (ETS), are examined using national survey data collected in late 2008. The results show widespread public concern about climate change, and a majority of respondents support the introduction of an ETS. However, a significant minority of the public remains opposed. Most importantly, however, most people declare themselves willing to pay more for environmental protection.
Displacement of Crime

Crime displacement is a concept that emerged in criminology in the early 1970s. It refers to an unintended effect of crime prevention programs that successfully reduce crime in their target area. Displacement is said to occur if crime reductions in the target area lead to crime increases elsewhere. These increases may occur in neighboring areas, or in the same area but at different times. Alternatively, they may affect different targets, crime types, tactics, or offenders. The term arose in connection with crime prevention efforts that were believed not to address the root causes of crime. Particular crime prevention initiatives need to be evaluated for displacement effects, but there is considerable evidence that displacement is not inevitable, and that an opposite effect—diffusion of benefits—is just as likely to occur. Keywords: Crime Prevention; Deterrence; Environmental Criminology; Evidence-Based Practices; Rational Choice; Victimization
[Effects of exhaustive exercise-induced oxidative stress on red blood cell deformability].

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study is to explore the effects of exhaustive exercise-induced oxidative stress on the antioxidant capacity and diformability of rat red blood cells. METHODS Rats were divided into three group (n = 10): sedentary control (C), exhaustive running exercise (ERE) and moderate running exercise (MRE) groups. Animals in the ERE group started treadmill running at a speed of 20 m/min speed with a 5% gradient, and reached a speed of 25 m/min with gradient 15% in 20 min. Running was continued until exhaustion. MRE group rats running at a speed of 20 m/min with a 5% gradient for 40 min. The levels of free thiol in erythrocyte membrane protein, lipidperoxidation levels and membrane protein components were analyzed. The red blood cell deformability of different groups was also observed. RESULTS The results showed that red blood cells were damaged by severe oxidative stress and the anti-oxidative capacity decreased significantly under exhaustive exercise conditions. Besides, lipid peroxidation and protein sulfhydryl cross-link based clustering of membrane were found after exhaustive exercise, and polymers high molecular weight (HMW) was formed. The elongation index (EI) was found to decline significantly in the ERE group compared with the C and MRE groups under shear stress (control group, 0.41 +/- 0.01 at 3 Pa and 0.571 +/- 0.008 at 30 Pa; ERE group, 0.314 +/- 0.013 at 3 Pa and 0.534 +/- 0.009 at 30 Pa; P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION These exercise-induced oxidative injure result in a significant decrease in deformability of rat erythrocytes, which in turn leads to dysfunction in the microcirculatory.