Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The type and effect discipline

The type and effect discipline, a framework for reconstructing the principal type and the minimal effect of expressions in implicitly typed polymorphic functional languages that support imperative constructs, is introduced. The type and effect discipline outperforms other polymorphic type systems. Just as types abstract collections of concrete values, effects denote imperative operations on regions. Regions abstract sets of possibly aliased memory locations. Effects are used to control type generalization in the presence of imperative constructs while regions delimit observable side effects. The observable effects of an expression range over the regions that are free in its type environment and its type; effects related to local data structures can be discarded during type reconstruction. The type of an expression can be generalized with respect to the variables that are not free in the type environment or in the observable effect. <<ETX>>
Identification of Mutations in the Canine von Willebrand Factor Gene Associated with Type III von Willebrand Disease

Summary In humans, type III von Willebrand disease is caused by deletions or nonsense mutations. In dogs, the underlying genetic defects have not been determined yet. We searched for the genetic defect in four related type III deficient Dutch Kooiker dogs obtained from one breeder. Mutation analysis was performed with total RNA isolated from platelets or whole blood. The complete coding region of the vWf gene was amplified by RT-PCR and sequenced by the cycle sequencing technique. Two homozygous mutations were found, a G→A transition at the first position of the donor splice site sequence of intron 16 (TGgtaagt→TGataagt) and a missense mutation at nt 208 (G→A) (1). The splice site defect resulted in the generation of a transcript containing 46bp of intron sequence and a stop codon at amino acid position 729 in the propeptide region of the vWf protein. This mutation seems to be causative for the type III phenotype. The effect of the missense mutation in exon 3 which causes a change of Val to Ile on the vWD phenotype is unclear. Probably, this transition represents a polymorphism occurring in Dutch Kooiker dogs. Both mutations were not present in 5 healthy mongrel dogs. Parts of this paper were presented at the 39th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), December 5-9, San Diego, USA
Self-Esteem and Use of the Internet among Young School-Age Children

The literature suggests a relationship between technology use and self-esteem. Such research has failed to consider young school-aged children and their use of the internet, particularly across contexts. Thirty-eight children aged 6 to 8 years rated the level and nature of their internet use (email, instant message, play games, visit websites) at home, school and in the community (i.e., at someone else’s house). They also rated items that measured home, school and peer self-esteem. Instant messaging at school explained 21% of the differences in school self-esteem. As children tended to report instant messaging at school, they also tended to report the highest school-based self-esteem. Instant messaging at someone else’s house explained 11% of the differences in home self-esteem. As children tended to report instant messaging at someone else’s house, they also tended to report the lowest home self-esteem. Visiting websites at someone else’s house explained 10% of the differences in peer self-esteem. As children tended to report visiting websites at someone else’s house, they also tended to report the highest peer self-esteem. Internet use during the early school years is related to children’s sense of self and mediated by context.
Non-invasive Raman Spectroscopy and Quantitative Real-Time PCR Distinguish Among Undifferentiated Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Redifferentiated Nucleus Pulposus Cells and Chondrocytes In Vitro

Background: The most common cause of lower back pain is the pathological degeneration of the nucleus pulposus (NP). Promising NP regeneration strategies involving human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) would require specific markers to confirm successful differentiation into the NP lineage and to distinguish the articular cartilage (AC). Objective: We sought specific NP mRNA markers that are upregulated in native NP cells but not in dedifferentiated NP cells, undifferentiated hMSCs or chondrocytes. We also considered the suitability of non-invasive Raman spectroscopy to distinguish among these classes of cells. Method: We used quantitative real-time PCR and Raman spectroscopy to analyse undifferentiated hMSCs in monolayers and embedded in hydrogels, and compared the results with dedifferentiated and redifferentiated human NP and AC cells. Results: The redifferentiation of NP cells induced the expression of annexin A3 (ANXA3), collagen type II (COL2) and proteoglycan mRNAs, whereas the redifferentiation of AC cells only induced proteoglycan expression. Redifferentiated NP cells expressed higher levels of ANXA3, COL2, paired box 1 (PAX1) and OCT4 mRNA than redifferentiated AC cells. Redifferentiated NP cells and undifferentiated hMSC-TERT cells expressed similar amount of OCT4 mRNA, indicating that only ANXA3, COL2 and PAX1 are promising markers for redifferentiated NP cells. Raman spectra clearly differed among the three cell types and highlighted their differentiation status. Conclusion: We recommend ANXA3, COL2 and PAX1 as markers to determine the success of hMSC-based differentiation to regenerate NP cells. Raman spectroscopy can be used to determine cell type and differentiation status especially in the context of clinical trials.
Oh to be a scholar – an HE in FE perspective

This paper considers conceptions of the term ‘scholarship’ amongst lecturers delivering business higher education programmes (BHEPs) in further education colleges (FECs). A condensed overview of leading authors’ work on the subject of scholarship is first considered; then, at the end of the paper, an alternative definition is offered in the hopes of stimulating discussion. The data was drawn from a doctoral study by the author (2009) looking at this subject area, and is based on findings from primary data collected in 2006–7. Due to the lack of published work in and on higher education (HE) in further education (FE) at that time, the study drew heavily on literature from HE. This paper highlights potential issues and anxieties of the lecturers who took part in the study, and identifies that the term ‘scholarship’ is not one familiar to, or easily defined by, those delivering BHEPs in FECs.
A systematic review of peer teaching and learning in clinical education.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The purpose of this review is to provide a framework for peer teaching and learning in the clinical education of undergraduate health science students in clinical practice settings and make clear the positive and negative aspects of this teaching and learning strategy. BACKGROUND The practice of using peers incidentally or purposefully in the clinical education of apprentice or undergraduate health science students is a well-established tradition and commonly practiced, but lacks definition in its implementation. METHOD The author conducted a search of health science and educational electronic databases using the terms peer, clinical education and undergraduate. The set limitations were publications after 1980 (2005 inclusive), English language and research papers. Selection of studies occurred: based on participant, intervention, research method and learning outcomes, following a rigorous critical and quality appraisal with a purposefully developed tool. The results have been both tabled and collated in a narrative summary. RESULTS Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria, representing five countries and four health science disciplines. This review reported mostly positive outcomes on the effectiveness of peer teaching and learning; it can increase student's confidence in clinical practice and improve learning in the psychomotor and cognitive domains. Negative aspects were also identified; these include poor student learning if personalities or learning styles are not compatible and students spending less individualized time with the clinical instructor. CONCLUSIONS Peer teaching and learning is an effective educational intervention for health science students on clinical placements. Preclinical education of students congruent with the academic timetable increases student educational outcomes from peer teaching and learning. Strategies are required prior to clinical placement to accommodate incompatible students or poor student learning. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The findings from this systematic review, although not statistically significant, do have pragmatic implications for clinical practice. It can increase clinical placement opportunities for undergraduate health students, assist clinical staff with workload pressures and increase clinician time with clients, while further developing students' knowledge, skills and attitudes.
An adaptive strain estimator for elastography

Elastography is based on the estimation of strain due to applied tissue compression. In conventional elastography, strain is computed from the gradient of the displacement estimates between gated pre- and postcompression echo signals. Gradient-based estimation methods are known to be susceptible to noise. In elastography, in addition to the electronic noise, a principal source of estimation error is the decorrelation of the echo signal as a result of tissue compression (decorrelation noise). Temporal stretching of postcompression signals previously was shown to reduce the decorrelation noise. In this paper, we introduce a novel estimator that uses the stretch factor itself as an estimator of the strain. It uses an iterative algorithm that adaptively maximises the correlation between the pre- and postcompression echo signals by appropriately stretching the latter. We investigate the performance of this adaptive strain estimator using simulated and experimental data. The estimator has exhibited a vastly superior performance compared with the conventional gradient-based estimator.
Prevalence and Disease Burden of Common Alpha Thalassemia Deletions in Malaysian Blood Donors: A multi ethnic population

Alpha thalassaemia is common in Malaysia which comprises of Malays, Chinese, Indians and other ethnics. Therefore it is important to determine the prevalence of common alpha thalassemia deletions that are -- SEA , -- THAI , -- FIL , - 3.7 and -  4.2 , and to estimate the number of pregnancies each year in which the fetus would be at risk and contribute for deletional Hb Barts hydrops foetalis syndrome and deletional HbH disease in Malaysia. In this study, a cross-sectional study of 94 Malays, 129 Chinese and 7 others from Health Awareness Campaign was carried out using standard haematological analysis, multiplex PCRs and statistical analysis. Red Cell Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) < 80 fL was identified in 38 (16.5%) with exclusion of Indians. 17 (7.4%) of blood donors showed alpha thalassaemia deletions. 3.5% were with double gene deletion and 3.9% with single gene deletions. -- SEA was seen in 7(5.4%) Chinese and 1(1.1%) Malay. - 3.7 was seen in 7 (3.0%) of 4 (4.3%) Malays, 2 (1.6%) Chinese and 1 other ethnic. - 4.2 was seen in 2 Chinese (0.9%). The projected number of pregnancies at risk and contribute for deletional Hb Barts hydrops foetalis syndrome and deletional HbH disease each year in Malaysia is 30 and 120 in the Malays, 250 and 150 in the Chinese, 640 in combination and on average is 600 and 669 respectively. The current prevalence and projected number of pregnancies at risk of deletional Hb Barts hydrops foetalis syndrome and deletional HbH disease will help to achieve a better disease management in order to lessen present alpha thalassaemia burden and to prevent much higher alpha thalassaemia birth in Malaysia.
DO MORAL PHILOSOPHIES INFLUENCE AUDITORS' ETHICAL JUDGMENTS?

The increasing number of financial scandals resulting from auditors’ unethical judgment has led to public distrust on the morality of auditors. Hence, the message is clear; to be relevant, auditors must be ethical in their behavior and judgments. As such, it is important to understand and investigate factors that influence auditors’ ethical judgments. This paper attempts to examine the influence of two moral philosophies namely deontology and teleology evaluations on auditors’ ethical judgments. A total of 940 questionnaires were sent to audit firms in Malaysia. About 250 auditors responded with 224 questionnaires were usable. By using Structural Equation Modeling of AMOS 16.0, the study found that there were significant relationships between these two philosophies namely deontology and teleology evaluations on auditors’ ethical judgments. Findings of this study will be useful for Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA), the government, audit firms and institutions of higher learning in their effort to improve auditors’ ethical judgments which can uphold the credibility and viability of the auditing profession. Keyword: deontology, teleology, auditor, ethical judgments
The Evolution of Markets and Entry, Exit and Survival of Firms

This paper examines entry, exit, and the survival of firms in terms of evolutionary changes in the market from the first introduction of a product to maturity of the market. It is shown that both entry and exit rates depend systematically on the stage of development of the market in the cycle from birth to maturity. Survival rates depend both on stage of development and on individual firm attributes. The empirical work is carried out with data for twenty-five new products. A complete inventory of entering, exiting, and surviving firms from the birth of a new product to its maturity is developed. Copyright 1996 by MIT Press.
Hepatocyte growth factor induces Mcl‐1 in primary human hepatocytes and inhibits CD95‐mediated apoptosis via Akt

CD95 (APO‐1/Fas)‐mediated apoptosis of hepatocytes plays a central role in the pathophysiology of various human liver diseases. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) was shown to exert antiapoptotic functions in rodent hepatocytes. We previously showed that primary human hepatocytes (PHH) are a valuable tool for the investigation of apoptotic processes in liver cells. In this study, we analyzed the influence of HGF on CD95‐mediated apoptosis of PHH and its molecular determinants. HGF significantly inhibited CD95‐mediated apoptosis of PHH as well as cleavage of caspase‐8 and poly (ADP‐ribose)polymerase. HGF transcriptionally induced the expression of the anti‐apoptotic Bcl‐2 family member myeloid cell leukemia‐1 (Mcl‐1). In contrary, HGF did not alter the expression levels of Bcl‐2 or Bcl‐xL. HGF activated survival pathways such as the phosphatidylinositol‐3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway, the mitogen‐activated protein kinase/extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) kinase/ERK and the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway. Notably, HGF triggered serine727—but not tyrosine705—phosphorylation of STAT3. Pretreatment of PHH with the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 as well as adenoviral transduction of dominant negative Akt1 prevented HGF‐mediated Mcl‐1 induction and reversed the antiapoptotic effects of HGF. In conclusion, HGF confers survival of PHH by activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway. PI3K/Akt activation by HGF results in the induction of antiapoptotic proteins such as Mcl‐1. Thus, application of HGF may be a therapeutic approach to prevent CD95‐mediated hepatocellular damage in human liver diseases. (HEPATOLOGY 2004;39:645–654.)
Systems Modeling of Interactions between Mucosal Immunity and the Gut Microbiome during Clostridium difficile Infection

Clostridium difficile infections are associated with the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics and result in an exuberant inflammatory response, leading to nosocomial diarrhea, colitis and even death. To better understand the dynamics of mucosal immunity during C. difficile infection from initiation through expansion to resolution, we built a computational model of the mucosal immune response to the bacterium. The model was calibrated using data from a mouse model of C. difficile infection. The model demonstrates a crucial role of T helper 17 (Th17) effector responses in the colonic lamina propria and luminal commensal bacteria populations in the clearance of C. difficile and colonic pathology, whereas regulatory T (Treg) cells responses are associated with the recovery phase. In addition, the production of anti-microbial peptides by inflamed epithelial cells and activated neutrophils in response to C. difficile infection inhibit the re-growth of beneficial commensal bacterial species. Computational simulations suggest that the removal of neutrophil and epithelial cell derived anti-microbial inhibitions, separately and together, on commensal bacterial regrowth promote recovery and minimize colonic inflammatory pathology. Simulation results predict a decrease in colonic inflammatory markers, such as neutrophilic influx and Th17 cells in the colonic lamina propria, and length of infection with accelerated commensal bacteria re-growth through altered anti-microbial inhibition. Computational modeling provides novel insights on the therapeutic value of repopulating the colonic microbiome and inducing regulatory mucosal immune responses during C. difficile infection. Thus, modeling mucosal immunity-gut microbiota interactions has the potential to guide the development of targeted fecal transplantation therapies in the context of precision medicine interventions.
Radial and 2D colour properties of E+A galaxies

We investigated the radial colour gradient and two-dimensional (2D) colour properties of 22 E+A galaxies with 5.5 < Hδ equivalent width(EW) < 8.5 A and 49 normal early-type galaxies as a control sample at a redshift of <0.2 in the Second Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We found that a substantial number of E+A galaxies exhibit positive slopes of radial colour gradient (bluer gradients toward the centre) which are seldom seen in normal early-type galaxies. We found irregular 'colour morphologies' - asymmetrical and clumpy patterns - at the centre of g - r and r - i 2D colour maps of E+A galaxies with positive slopes of colour gradient. Kolomogorov-Smirnov two-sample tests show that g - r and r - i colour gradient distributions of E+A galaxies differ from those of early-type galaxies with a more than 99.99 per cent significance level. We also found a tight correlation between radial colour gradients and colours, and between radial colour gradients and the 4000-A break in the E+A sample; E+A galaxies which exhibit bluer colour or weaker D 4000 tend to have positive slopes of radial colour gradient. We compared the GISSEL model and E+A observational quantities, Hδ EW, D 4000 and u - g colour, and found that almost all our E+A galaxies are situated along a single evolutionary track. Therefore, these results are interpreted as E+A galaxies evolving from Hδ EW ∼ 8 A to Hδ EW ∼ 5 A, with colour gradients changing from positive to negative, and with the irregular 2D colour map becoming smoother, during a time-scale of ∼300 Myr. Our results favour the hypothesis that E+A galaxies are post-starburst galaxies caused by merger/interaction, having undergone a centralized violent starburst.
Fixation duration surpasses pupil size as a measure of memory load in free viewing

Oculomotor behavior reveals, not only the acquisition of visual information at fixation, but also the accumulation of information in memory across subsequent fixations. Two candidate measures were considered as indicators of such dynamic visual memory load: fixation duration and pupil size. While recording these measures, we displayed an arrangement of 3, 4 or 5 targets among distractors. Both occurred in various orientations. Participants searched for targets and reported whether in a subsequent display one of them had changed orientation. We determined to what extent fixation duration and pupil size indicate dynamic memory load, as a function of the number of targets fixated during the search. We found that fixation duration reflects the number of targets, both when this number is within and above the limit of working memory capacity. Pupil size reflects the number of targets only when it exceeds the capacity limit. Moreover, the duration of fixations on successive targets but not on distractors increases whereas pupil size does not. The increase in fixation duration with number of targets both within and above working memory capacity suggests that in free viewing fixation duration is sensitive to actual memory load as well as to processing load, whereas pupil size is indicative of processing load only. Two alternative models relating visual attention and working memory are considered relevant to these results. We discuss the results as supportive of a model which involves a temporary buffer in the interaction of attention and working memory.
Is ABO mismatch another risk factor for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in pediatric thalassemic patients?

The ABO incompatibility between donor and recipient is not considered a barrier to successful allogeneic HSCT. Nevertheless, conflicting data still exist about the influence of ABO incompatibility on transplant outcome in pediatric patients with thalassemia. Fifty‐one children with beta‐thalassemia major who underwent allogeneic HSCT were enrolled this study. Twenty‐three of them (45%) received an ABO‐incompatible transplant [minor ABO mismatch: six (26%), major ABO mismatch: fourteen (61%), and bidirectional mismatch: three (13%)]. In this study, ABO incompatibility did not significantly impair GVHD, VOD, neutrophil and platelet engraftment, TRM, OS and TFS. Particularly in major and bidirectional ABO‐mismatched patients, a delayed erythroid recovery was recorded as compared to the group receiving an ABO‐compatible graft (median time, 31 and 38 days vs. 19.5 days; p: 0.02 and p: 0.03). Median time to red cell transfusion independence was significantly longer in major ABO‐incompatible patients (median time, 87 days vs. 32 days; p: 0.001). Therefore, whenever feasible, major ABO‐mismatched donors should be avoided in HSCT recipients, to prevent delayed erythroid recovery with prolonged RBC transfusion needs and impaired quality of life.
The effect of organizational support, self efficacy, and computer anxiety on the usage intention of e-learning system in hospital

The purpose of the study is to develop the usage intention model of e-learning systems. A survey of 1071 samples of six teaching hospitals in Taiwan shows that the effects of organizational support, self efficacy, and computer anxiety on usage intention are mediated by perceived ease of use, and perceived useful. According to the statistical results, the proposed model fits very well for the samples. Besides, both self efficacy and computer anxiety are important antecedents of perceived ease of use, and perceived useful. Also, organizational support has significantly influence on perceived ease of use. In addition, perceived ease of use has the most influence on usage intention, followed by perceived useful. Further investigation reveals that organizational support, self efficacy, and computer anxiety all have indirect influences on usage intention. This research can provide e-learning designers and managers of the hospital with the implication that we must focus not only on the technological aspect (perceived ease of use and perceived useful), but also on the social psychological aspect (organizational support, self efficacy, computer anxiety). Key words: E-learning, organizational support, self efficacy, computer anxiety, perceived ease of use, perceived useful.