Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Exercise on S-IGA and URS in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract 32 postmenopausal women were randomized to a 16-week home-based walking program or control group. Before and after the intervention, each subject completed a graded maximal treadmill test to establish VO2max and resting saliva was collected to determine levels of salivary immunoglobulin A. The 16-week walking program resulted in an increase in VO2max (+10.4%; p<0.01). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a marked increase in the resting secretion rate of salivary immunoglobulin A (+37.4%; p<0.05) in the exercise group following training. Independent of study group, both before and after the intervention, the secretion rate of salivary immunoglobulin A ( − 32.3%) and saliva flow rate (− 29.3%) were reduced following acute maximal exercise (p<0.05). Weekly upper respiratory symptomatology logs revealed that the number of incidences of upper respiratory symptoms throughout the intervention period were the same and the duration per incidence (control: 5.3±1.5 days; exercise: 6.3±2.2 days) were similar between study groups. These findings in postmenopausal women support that the secretion rate of salivary immunoglobulin A and saliva flow rate are reduced immediately following maximal exercise. Moreover, a 16-week moderate intense walking program can increase the secretion of salivary immunoglobulin A without affecting upper respiratory symptomatology.
MOTIVATION ORIENTATIONS IN INNOVATION CONTESTS: WHY PEOPLE PARTICIPATE

Innovation contests allow companies to involve the general public or specific target groups in solving innovation problems. The increasing importance of innovation contests suggests the need for further research on why people become involved in non-compulsory innovation activities, such as innovation contests. The purpose of this paper was to examine which motivation orientations explain such participation and the quality of the ideas submitted. Drawing on motivation theories, this paper discusses the links between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and problem-solver participation as well as solution quality. Our findings suggest that different levels of participation are driven by different motivation orientations. Low performers participated in contests based on a rational understanding of the extrinsic benefits and perceived effort required, as did non-participants. However, such extrinsic reasoning is insufficient for high-performer motivation; high performers participate in the task due to its intrinsic value. These findings have important implications for both researchers and practitioners.
Assessment of the polyphenolic composition of the organic extracts of Mauritian black teas: A potential contributor to their antioxidant functions

There is increasing interest in the emerging view that tea improves the antioxidant status in vivo and thereby helps to lower risk of certain types of cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke and its component biofactors could provide prophylactic potential for these diseases. The polyphenolic composition and the antioxidant properties of organic extracts (acetone/methanol) of Mauritian commercial black teas were evaluated. HPLC data of the individual compounds revealed remarkably high levels (+)‐Catechin ((+)‐C), (−)‐epicatechin ((−)‐EC), (−)‐epicatechin 3‐gallate ((−)‐ECG), (−)‐epigallocatechin ((−)‐EGC), (−)‐epigallocatechin 3‐gallate ((−)‐EGCG) and gallic acid. Analysis of hydrolysed extracts indicated that quercetin was the dominant flavonol aglycone with traces of myricetin and kaempferol. Based on the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and the Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC) assays Extra tea from Bois Chéri exhibited the highest antioxidant potential. Linear regression analyses showed that the antioxidant capacities of the organic extracts are strongly influenced by total phenols (TEAC: r=0.95 and FRAP: r=0.96) and to a lesser extent by total proanthocyanidin and total flavonoid contents. Catechins and gallic acid seem to add up to the overall antioxidant capacity of black tea extracts. The fresh tea leaves had high levels of total phenols, total flavonoids, total proanthocyanidin and exhibited greater antioxidant potential when compared with black teas. Organic extracts of endemic teas represent useful source of phenolic antioxidants supplements for prophylactic use.
The Complexities of Perceived Risk in Cross-Cultural Services Marketing

Previous research has found that cultural differences influence consumer risk evaluation. From a cross-national perspective, the authors explore the individual and cultural causes, as well as the consequences, of postpurchase personal and nonpersonal risks for a credence service (i.e., insurance). Using survey data from 309 Chinese consumers and 193 Singaporean consumers, the authors find that two cultural dimensions (self-transcendence/self-enhancement versus conservation/openness to change) and individual contextual factors (involvement and face consciousness) exert differential effects on consumer perceived risk in the two countries. In addition, the authors find that personal and nonpersonal risks have varying levels of impact on perceived value and customer satisfaction in the two countries.
Title Brief education to increase uptake of influenza vaccine among pregnant women : a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Pregnant women are the highest priority group for annual influenza vaccination. Studies have shown unacceptably low uptake of both seasonal and pandemic A/H1N1 influenza vaccination among pregnant women. This paper will describe the study protocol and methodology of a randomised controlled trial designed to assess the effectiveness of a brief educational intervention in improving the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccine among pregnant women in Hong Kong. Methods: A randomised controlled trial will be conducted with pregnant women in at least the second trimester of pregnancy from four publicly funded hospital antenatal clinics in Hong Kong. Participants will be randomly assigned to either one of the two treatment groups: standard care (control) or standard care plus brief education (intervention). Pregnant women in the standard care group will receive the usual antenatal care with an educational pamphlet developed by the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection and those in the intervention group will be provided with usual care plus a brief ten-minute education intervention. Content of the education session will cover four core components recommended in the research literature. The primary study outcome will be the proportion of participants who have received influenza vaccine during their pregnancy. A total of 184 pregnant women (92 per group) will be required to give an 80% power to detect a treatment effect of 15%. Discussion: Most intervention studies aimed at improving influenza vaccination rates in pregnant women have targeted obstetric-care providers and the results of the two patient-oriented RCT interventions are conflicting. The high priority for vaccination given to pregnant women and the low influenza vaccination rate among pregnant women worldwide strongly indicates a need for interventions to improve uptake. Trial registration: This trial is registered with the Clinical Trials Registry at www.clinicaltrials. gov (NCT01772901).
Is pituitary gene therapy realistic?

Current therapies for pituitary tumours are moderately successful in many cases but still suffer from significant limitations, with relatively poor long‐term rates of endocrine cure from surgery, and long‐term hypopituitarism after radiotherapy. Even in the case of the most readily treatable tumours, prolactinomas, medical therapy with dopamine agonists is limited by lack of response or side‐effects in up to 10% of patients. This has led to increasing interest in the application of our knowledge of pituitary cell and molecular biology to evaluate the potential of gene therapy. Various vectors are available to facilitate gene delivery, and recombinant adenoviruses have been studied in detail because of their ability to transduce the postmitotic, nondividing cells of the pituitary gland. Various studies with reporter genes such as β‐galactosidase have demonstrated high efficiency and long lasting expression of adenoviral transgenes in cultured pituitary cells in vitro. The feasibility of high level transgene expression has also been shown in vivo, but so far this requires stereotaxic intrapituitary injection to achieve adequate transduction. Ablation of pituitary cells has been demonstrated in cultured cell lines and in subcutaneous tumours in nude mice, though alternative animal models will be required to evaluate efficacy in more slowly proliferating tumours as found in man. Inflammatory responses have been documented in the pituitary gland as in other tissues, and this will require the evaluation of modified vectors to avoid significant adverse effects before human applications can be considered. In summary, gene therapy for pituitary disease is likely to be feasible in the future, but will require careful and extensive evaluation of efficacy and safety, using a variety of possible methods of gene delivery.
Therapeutic experience on 934 adults with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura: Multicentric Trial of the Cooperative Latin American group on Hemostasis and Thrombosis.

In order to analyze the usefulness of different types of treatment in relation to the interval since the onset of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a collaborative study of 934 adult patients was undertaken. Prednisone was administered to 818 patients, and 32% of them achieved prolonged complete remission (PCR). However, only 14% of patients who had ITP for more than six months achieved a prednisone-induced PCR (P less than .01). Splenectomy was done in 399 patients, and 65% of them achieved PCR; the remission rate did not vary with the interval since the onset of ITP. Of 120 patients with chronic ITP that was refractory to corticosteroids and splenectomy, 91 received either azathioprine or cyclophosphamide; 21% of them achieved PCR and 55% had a favorable response. None of 19 patients treated with vincristine and only one of ten patients treated with vinblastine-loaded platelets achieved PCR.
Assessing effects of site characteristics on remediation secondary life cycle impact with a generalised framework

The ‘sustainable remediation’ concept has been broadly embraced by industry and governments in recent years in both the US and Europe. However, there is a strong need for more research to enhance its ‘practicability’. In an attempt to fill this research gap, this study developed a generalised framework for selecting the most environmentally sustainable remedial technology under various site conditions. Four remediation technologies were evaluated: pump and treat (P&T), enhanced in situ bioremediation (EIB), permeable reactive barrier (PRB), and in situ chemical reduction (ISCR). Within the developed framework and examined site condition ranges, our results indicate that site characteristics have a profound effect on the life cycle impact of various remedial alternatives, thus providing insights and valuable information for determining what is considered the most desired remedy from an environmental sustainability perspective.
Interactive control in target cost management

Abstract This paper discusses target cost management (TCM) from the viewpoint of simultaneous engineering. Firstly, it shows empirically how simultaneous engineering is implemented in Japanese companies. Secondly, it formulates and then tests hypotheses on the influential power of managers involved in the process of target costing. Thirdly, it describes processes of interactive control directed at information and value sharing among managers that help explain why simultaneous engineering is working effectively in Japanese companies. It also formulates and tests hypotheses on information and value sharing among managers. Fourthly, it concludes that interactive control in TCM helps generate unique ideas for product development and cost reduction, and that Target Cost Management is a key subsystem of strategic cost management.
Risk Neutral Versus Objective Loss Distribution and CDO Tranches Valuation

We consider the risk neutral loss distribution as implied by index CDO tranche quotes through a "scenario default rate" model as opposed to the objective measure loss distribution based on historical analysis. The risk neutral loss distribution turns out to privilege large realizations of the loss with respect to the objective distribution, thus implying the well known presence of a risk premium. We quantify this difference numerically by pricing CDO tranches and indices under the two distributions. En passant we analyze the implied risk neutral default rate distributions calibrated from April-2004 throughout April-2006, pointing out its distinctive "bump feature" in the tail.
Identifying transudates misclassified by Light's criteria

Purpose of review Light's criteria combine three dichotomous tests into a decision rule that is considered positive if any one of the tests is positive. This strategy clearly maximizes sensitivity, although at the expense of specificity. Although Light's criteria identify 98% of pleural exudates, they misclassify about 25% of transudates as exudates. The way to overcome this limitation is discussed in this review. Recent findings Traditionally, measurement of the protein gradient between the serum and pleural fluid has been recommended to decrease the misclassification rate of Light's criteria. A recent study demonstrated that a gradient between the albumin levels in the serum and the pleural fluid more than 1.2 g/dl performs significantly better than a protein gradient more than 3.1 g/dl to correctly categorize mislabeled cardiac effusions (83 vs. 55%). On the other hand, the accuracy of a pleural fluid to serum albumin ratio less than 0.6 excelled when compared with albumin and protein gradients in patients with miscategorized hepatic hydrothoraces (77 vs. 62 vs. 61%). Summary The simplest strategy to reveal the true transudative nature of heart failure-related effusions, labeled as exudates by Light's criteria, is to calculate the serum to pleural fluid albumin gradient. Conversely, for misclassified hepatic hydrothoraces, measurement of the pleural to serum albumin ratio is recommended. The serum to pleural fluid protein gradient should no longer be considered the preferred test for this purpose.
Exploring Trust and the Auditor-Client Relationship: Factors Influencing the Auditor’s Trust of a Client Representative

SUMMARY: This research examines financial statement auditors’ trust of members of client management in the context of a disagreement. In this descriptive field study involving 48 partners and 23 managers of Canadian offices of international accounting firms, we explore factors that can influence an auditor’s trust of client management. We find that a client representative’s openness of communication and demonstration of concern during an auditor-client disagreement are positively associated with the trust that an auditor feels for that individual. We also find that aspects of the auditor-client relationship are associated with auditor trust. Responses to general questions about trust and auditing indicate that our auditors believe it is important to trust their clients and that they attempt to ensure that trust does not impede professional skepticism, primarily through a rigorous audit process and the adoption of an independent attitude.
Towards the Automatic Anime Characters Creation with Generative Adversarial Networks

Automatic generation of facial images has been well studied after the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) came out. There exists some attempts applying the GAN model to the problem of generating facial images of anime characters, but none of the existing work gives a promising result. In this work, we explore the training of GAN models specialized on an anime facial image dataset. We address the issue from both the data and the model aspect, by collecting a more clean, well-suited dataset and leverage proper, empirical application of DRAGAN. With quantitative analysis and case studies we demonstrate that our efforts lead to a stable and high-quality model. Moreover, to assist people with anime character design, we build a website (this http URL) with our pre-trained model available online, which makes the model easily accessible to general public.
'Openness to inter-ethnic relationships for second generation Chinese and South Asian Canadians: The role of Canadian identity'

As a result of international immigration, ethnic diversity has increased rapidly in many countries, not only in major cities, but also in smaller cities. This trend is not limited to the traditional immigrant receiving countries, such as the United States and Canada, but occurs also in many other countries where doors are gradually opening to immigration, especially in Asia. This combination of a growing immigrant population and ethnic diversity has fostered a more complex immigrant integration process. This book addresses the subject at the city ecological level, inter-group level, and individual level. It contributes to the understanding of immigrant adaptation in a multi-ethnic context, brings Asian perspectives into the discussion of immigration and race and ethnic relations, and will serve as a basis for future study of immigrant adaptation in a multi-ethnic context.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEMAND FOR DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA

The employment of domestic servants is a common phenomenon in Nigeria, where vulnerable children are internally trafficked to work as domestic servants in affluent urban households. While scholars have investigated the push factors aiding the demand for child domestic servants in West Africa, attempts to understand the dynamics underlying the demand are scarce. Hence, this study investigated factors that propel demand for domestic servants in Oyo State. The data were generated using both the quantitative and qualitative methods. The results show three categories of employers: newly married women, married women with grown-up children, and isolated widows and grandparents. The demand is driven by role dualism, workload, and the need for companionship. The incipient decline in the extended family structure of social exchange system (fostering) and preference for “outsiders” rather than family members justify the demand for and use of domestic servants. The study recommended welfare programmes targeted at demanding households and an intervention strategy for the trafficked children.
Can Big 4 versus Non-Big 4 Differences in Audit-Quality Proxies Be Attributed to Client Characteristics?

ABSTRACT: This study examines whether differences in proxies for audit quality between Big 4 and non-Big 4 audit firms could be a reflection of their respective clients’ characteristics. In our analyses, we use three audit-quality proxies—discretionary accruals, the ex ante cost-of-equity capital, and analyst forecast accuracy—and employ propensity-score and attribute-based matching models in attempt to control for differences in client characteristics between the two auditor groups while estimating the audit-quality effects. Using these matching models, we find that the effects of Big 4 auditors are insignificantly different from those of non-Big 4 auditors with respect to the three audit-quality proxies. Our results suggest that differences in these proxies between Big 4 and non-Big 4 auditors largely reflect client characteristics and, more specifically, client size. We caution the reader that this study has not resolved the question, although we hope that it encourages other researchers to explore alt.
Prevalence, Haemolytic Activities and Flouroquinolones Susceptibility Profiles of Moraxella catarrhalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae Associated with Acute Otitis Media.

This study was designed to determine the prevalence, haemolytic activities and flouroquinolones susceptibility profiles of Moraxella catarrhalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae associated with acute otitis media. 272 middle-ear swabbed samples were aseptically collected and analyzed using standard microbiological and disk diffusion methods for antibiotic susceptibility. Haemolytic activities were determined using blood agar. Significant difference at (p<0.05) was observed among 124 (45.6%) male patients and 148 (54.4%) female patients with acute otitis media. 51(18.8%) Moraxella catarrhalis, 58 (21.3%) Haemophilus influenzae and 47(17.3) Streptococcus pneumoniae were identified. The flouroquinolones susceptibility of these bacteria showed that 80-84% of the Moraxella catarrhalis were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin and moxifloxacin, while 29.4% of Moraxella catarrhalis were resistant to ofloxacin. The resistance rate of Streptococcus pneumoniae to the flouroquinolones varied from 29.8 % for levofloxacin to 42.6% for ciprofloxacin. 42 (26.9%) of the isolates were resistant to at least 2 antibiotics with multiple antibiotics resistance index ranging between 0.25 to 0.75 in Moraxella catarrhalis and 0.25 to 1.00 in both Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae . Haemolytic activities of these isolates showed that for Moraxella catarrhalis, 7 strains (13.7%) showed a-haemolysis, 27 (52.9%) â- haemolysis, and (a + â) hemolysis occurred in 3 (5.9%). Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae showed 9 (15.5%), 28 (59.6%) a-haemolysis, respectively. Haemophilus influenzae also showed 21 (36.2%), 2 (3.4%) and 26 (44.8%) â, a + â and a. respectively, while 3 (6.4%) Streptococcus pneumoniae showed â- haemolysis. Despite the effectiveness of flouroquinolones especially levofloxacin and moxifloxacin against these bacterial isolates, prudent use of the antibiotics is strongly recommended. (Akinjogunla, O. J and Eghafona, N. O: Prevalence, Haemolytic Activities and Flouroquinolones Susceptibility Profiles of Moraxella catarrhalis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae Associated with Acute Otitis Media. Nature and Science 2011;9(6):85-92). (ISSN: 1545-0740). http://www.sciencepub. net .
Nudges in Exercise Commitment Contracts: A Randomized Trial

We consider the welfare consequences of nudges and other behavioral economic devices to encourage exercise habit formation. We analyze a randomized trial of nudged exercise commitment contracts in the context of a time-inconsistent intertemporal utility maximization model of the demand for exercise. The trial follows more than 4,000 people seeking to make exercise commitments. Each person was randomly nudged towards making longer (20 weeks) or shorter (8 weeks) exercise commitment contracts. Our empirical analysis shows that people who are interested in exercise commitment contracts choose longer contracts when nudged to do so, and are then more likely to meet their pre-stated exercise goals. People are also more likely to enroll in a subsequent commitment contract after the original expires if they receive a nudge for a longer duration initial contract. Our theoretical analysis of the welfare implications of these effects shows conditions under which nudges can reduce utility even when they succeed in the goal of promoting habitual exercise.