Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification and concentration of organochlorine residues in blood of Sudanese workers at Gezira Agricultural scheme

DDT and other pesticides were extensively used in Sudan to control agriculture pests and vectors of malaria, typhus, yellow fever and sleeping sickness. Since 1981, however, DDT use in Sudan is restricted to public health purposes. In 1997, sixty Sudanese males, who were occupational exposed to pesticides in Gezira agricultural scheme were chosen in order to investigate whether there is a correlation between the concentration of these pesticides in the blood and health symptoms such as chronic headache and tremor. The study revealed that there is no correlation between duration of exposure time to pesticides, or concentration of these pesticides in the blood, and these symptoms. It appears, however, that workers suffering from headache or tremor tend to have relatively high organophosphorous (chlorpyriphos) levels in the blood. Extensive epidemic and clinical investigations are recommended to statistically confirm these observations.
A Novel Chicken Membrane-Associated Complement Regulatory Protein: Molecular Cloning and Functional Characterization1

A cDNA encoding a membrane-associated complement (C) regulatory protein was identified here for the first time in an oviparous vertebrate, chicken. This protein, named Cremp, possessed five short consensus repeats (SCRs) and one SCR-like domain followed by a transmembrane domain and a cytoplasmic tail. SCR1/SCR2 of Cremp were 43.6% identical with SCR2/SCR3 of human decay-accelerating factor (CD55), and SCR3/SCR4 were 45.3% identical with those of human membrane cofactor protein (CD46). Cremp is likely to be an ancestral hybrid protein of human decay-accelerating factor and membrane cofactor protein rather than a homolog of rodent C receptor 1-related protein y, which structurally resembles human CR1 (CD35). Chinese hamster ovary cells transfected with Cremp were efficiently protected from chicken C but not from human or rabbit C in both classical and alternative pathways. Thus, chicken Cremp is a membrane C regulator for cell protection against homologous C. Cremp mRNA was seen as a doublet comprised of a faint band of 2.2 kb and a thick band of 3.0 kb on RNA blotting analysis. An Ab against chicken Cremp recognized a single band of 46.8 kDa on immunoblotting. mRNA and protein of Cremp were ubiquitously expressed in all chicken organs tested. Minute amounts of dimer were present in some tissues. Surface expression of Cremp was confirmed by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence analysis. These results suggested that even in nonmammals a C regulatory membrane protein with ubiquitous tissue distribution should be a prerequisite for protection of host cells from homologous C attack.
Psychological capital and the intent to pursue employment with developed and emerging market multinational corporations

The entrance of emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) into developed markets and their subsequent demand for western talent is an important new research topic in the field of human resource development (HRD). Upon entering developed markets, EMNCs will find themselves competing with a host of well-established western firms for the same limited pool of talent. Due to possible liability of origin issues, EMNCs may be perceived as less attractive employers. Human resource development professionals tasked with helping these newly arrived firms to recruit necessary talent will find the ability to identify those individuals most likely to pursue employment with an EMNC highly beneficial. In pursuit of this goal, five hypotheses were tested on 703 American and European respondents. Specifically, we examined the interaction between the level of psychological capital of western job seekers and their intent to pursue employment in order to identify possible predispositions for finding EMNCs as attractive employers.
Identification of a Mutant α1 Na/K-ATPase That Pumps but Is Defective in Signal Transduction*

Background: It has not been possible to study the pumping and signaling functions of Na/K-ATPase independently in live cells. Results: Both cell-free and cell-based assays indicate that the A420P mutation abolishes the Src regulatory function of Na/K-ATPase. Conclusion: A420P mutant has normal pumping but not signaling function. Significance: Identification of Src regulation-null mutants is crucial for addressing physiological role of Na/K-ATPase. The α1 Na/K-ATPase possesses both pumping and signaling functions. However, it has not been possible to study these functions independently in live cells. We have identified a 20-amino acid peptide (Ser-415 to Gln-434) (NaKtide) from the nucleotide binding domain of α1 Na/K-ATPase that binds and inhibits Src in vitro. The N terminus of NaKtide adapts a helical structure. In vitro kinase assays showed that replacement of residues that contain a bulky side chain in the helical structure of NaKtide by alanine abolished the inhibitory effect of the peptide on Src. Similarly, disruption of helical structure by proline replacement, either single or in combination, reduced the inhibitory potency of NaKtide on Src. To identify mutant α1 that retains normal pumping function but is defective in Src regulation, we transfected Na/K-ATPase α1 knockdown PY-17 cells with expression vectors of wild type or mutant α1 carrying Ala to Pro mutations in the region of NaKtide helical structure and generated several stable cell lines. We found that expression of either A416P or A420P or A425P mutant fully restored the α1 content and consequently the pumping capacity of cells. However, in contrast to A416P, either A420P or A425P mutant was incapable of interacting and regulating cellular Src. Consequently, expression of these two mutants caused significant inhibition of ouabain-activated signal transduction and cell growth. Thus we have identified α1 mutant that has normal pumping function but is defective in signal transduction.
Money and Sustainability: The Missing Link

Pioneering new research from the Club of Rome In 1972, the first Report for the Club of Rome – The Limits to Growth – famously spelled out the unsustainable consequences of an economic system that demands infinite growth in a finite world. Just as The Limits to Growth exposed the catastrophic flaws in our economic system, this new Report from the Club of Rome exposes the systemic flaws in our money system and the wrong thinking that underpins it. It describes the ongoing currency and banking crises we must expect if we continue with the current monopoly system – and the vicious impact of these crises on our communities, our society as a whole and our environment. It finishes by setting out clear, practical proposals for creating a money ‘ecosystem’ with complementary currencies to support and stabilise the current money system. Greece and the eurozone crisis: the authors show that one of these proposals (Civics) could be applied, on the ground, now, across Europe, to reduce unemployment, mitigate the adverse social effects of the currency crisis and create a sustainable and flexible money system for the future. This alone makes it essential reading for policy makers, business leaders and economists, anybody concerned about sustainability (environmental, social, climate change), those working in the fields of monetary systems and anyone with an informed interest in the future of the planet.
A Prospective Investigation of Biomechanical Risk Factors for Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

Background Patellofemoral pain syndrome is one of the most common chronic knee injuries; however, little research has been done to determine the risk factors for this injury. Hypothesis Altered lower extremity kinematics and kinetics, decreased strength, and altered postural measurements will be risk factors. Study Design Cohort study (prognosis); Level of evidence, 2. Methods A total of 1597 participants were enrolled in this investigation and prospectively followed from the date of their enrollment (July 2005, July 2006, or July 2007) through January 2008, a maximum of 2.5 years of follow-up. Each participant underwent baseline data collection during their pre-freshman summer at the United States Naval Academy. Baseline data collection included 3-dimensional motion analysis during a jump-landing task, 6 lower extremity isometric strength tests, and postural alignment measurements (navicular drop and Q angle). Results Risk factors for the development of patellofemoral pain syndrome included decreased knee flexion angle, decreased vertical ground-reaction force, and increased hip internal rotation angle during the jump-landing task. Additionally, decreased quadriceps and hamstring strength, increased hip external rotator strength, and increased navicular drop were risk factors for the development of patellofemoral pain syndrome. Conclusion Multiple modifiable risk factors for patellofemoral pain syndrome pain have been identified in this investigation. To decrease the incidence of this chronic injury, the risk factors for patellofemoral pain syndrome need to be targeted in injury prevention programs. Clinical Relevance Prevention programs should focus on increasing strength of the lower extremity musculature along with instructing proper mechanics during dynamic movements to decrease the incidence of patellofemoral pain syndrome.
Is Diversification a Good Strategy for Chinese Tourism Companies

Employing a sample of Chinese tourism companies from 2001 to 2007, this study examines the impacts of diversification on their financial performance. Return on equity (ROE) is used to measure the corporate performance. The ratio of tourism revenue to principal revenue, Herfindahl index, and entropy index, are employed to gauge the condition of diversification. Evidence indicates that, taken as a whole, a diversification strategy does improve the performance of tourism companies. Further investigation shows that this finding is only true for the attraction‐operating companies; diversification does not enhance the financial performance for the hotel companies. This study supports the policy of encouraging the attraction‐operating companies not to depend only on natural resources but to look for new ways to improve their performance. 本研究以2001–2007年的中国旅游公司为例，研究多元化经营对公司财务表现的影响。 本研究利用股本回报率 (ROE) 衡量公司业绩，并以旅游收入对主要收入比率、赫芬达尔指数 (Herfindahl Index) 及熵指数 (Entropy Index) 测量多元化经营的状况。 实证显示，总体上多元化经营策略确实能够改善旅游公司的业绩。 但经过深入研究后发现，多元化经营只能够改善旅游景区公司的业绩，对酒店的业绩并没有帮助。 本研究认为旅游景区公司不应单纯依赖自然资源，应寻求新方法提升业绩。
The Impact of Surplus Schooling on Productivity and Earnings

This article examines the impact of surplus schooling on individual productivity and earnings. It proposes a model that divides workers' education into two components: education that is required and thus fully utilized in the job, and education that exceeds the amount required and thus may be underutilized in the job. The model is tested with data from the 1969, 1973, and 1977 Quality of Working Life Surveys (Quinn and Staines 1979). Required schooling for each occupation is derived from estimates by job incumbents and by the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. The results show that surplus or underutilized education is rewarded at a lower rate than required education, with the actual return dependent on the type of job.
Students' Reasons for Wanting to Teach in Primary School

Despite the introduction of training salaries for Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) students, a substantial increase in enquiries (Tabberer, 2000) and some reported increase in the actual number of applications for primary teacher education courses (Campbell, 2000), recruitment overall has declined significantly, from 24,994 applications in 1994 to 9,875 in 1999 (Gates, 1999). Higher entry qualifications will not readily be imposed on a smaller pool of applicants if the educational characteristics of those applicants remain at the same level (generally considered to be low: House of Commons, 1997). Specific subject-knowledge for teaching may be enhanced by increased emphasis on first degrees and thus recruitment to primary PGCE courses, through the discriminating allocation of training salaries and as an outcome of the Secretary of State’s description of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree as a ‘sub-degree undergraduate course’ (McAvoy, citing Hansard, 2000), but the PGCE neither ensures adequate coverage of shortage subjects nor the whole curriculum competence required of most primary teachers (Thornton, 1998). Despite the introduction of training salaries for PGCE students, starting in September 2000, recruitment of ethnic minority and male students remains low (Barnard, 2000, reports just a 5 per cent increase in applications from men and a 5 per cent increase in enquiries from ethnic minorities) and there is strong evidence that the teaching profession in England is becoming increasingly feminised (Howson, 1998).
The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on organizational commitment and the moderating role of collectivism and masculinity: evidence from China

This study examines the relationship between employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices and their organizational commitment. Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyze survey data on 280 employees from five export-oriented manufacturing firms in China. Employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices towards internal stakeholders were found to relate positively to their organizational commitment. In contrast, employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices to external stakeholders had a nonsignificant or marginally significant impact on organizational commitment. In addition, the collectivism and masculinity orientations of employees were found to moderate this relationship. These findings provide an insight into how corporate social responsibility practices may be utilized to motivate diverse groups of employees within China-based organizations.
Context-aware lattice based filler approach for key word spotting in handwritten documents

The so-called filler or garbage Hidden Markov Models (HMM-Filler) are among the most widely used models for lexicon-free, query by string key word spotting (KWS) in the fields of speech recognition and (lately) handwritten text recognition. However, it has important drawbacks. First, the keyword-specific HMM Viterbi decoding process needed to obtain the confidence scores of each spotted word involves a large computational cost. Second, in its traditional conception, the model does not take into account any context information - and more recent works where simple character bi-gram context is used show that not only the computational cost becomes even larger, but also the required keyword-specific language model becomes quite intricate to build. In a previous work we introduced KWS methods based on character lattices which proved very much simpler and faster than the traditional HMM-Filler, while providing practically identical results. Here we extend our previous work by using context-aware character lattices obtained by means of Viterbi decoding with high-order character N-gram models. Experimental results show that, as compared with a direct 2-gram HMM-filler implementation, the proposed approach requires between one and two orders of magnitude less query computing time. Moreover, for the first time in the field of handwritten text KWS, Filler-based results for N-grams up to N = 6 are reported, clearly showing a great impact of context on precision-recall performance.
The nature of the psychological contract at work : content and characteristics

The following set of studies presents and tests a model of the `psychological contract', defined here in terms of an individual's beliefs regarding the terms and conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement between that person and another party (Robinson and Rousseau, 1994). The model is based on the assumption that the individual 's construction and perception of the exchange relationship between him/herself and the employer represents the most appropriate level of analysis at which to explore that relationship. The model describes the characteristics of the psychological contract in terms of a stable four-factor structure. These characteristics include: degree of contract-focus; perceptions of equitable behaviour on the part of the organisation; expectations for professional development; and employment time-frame. The thesis also presents evidence which describes the content of the exchange relationship, i. e. factors which dictate the terms on which the employment relationship develops. These factors derive from both self-perceptions and organisational perceptions. Organisational perceptions are concerned with employees' representations of `deal delivery' in a range of areas of importance to them (e. g. rewards, security, HRM practices, supervisory support, development opportunities). Self-perceptions are derived from employees' work-based self-concepts (Fiske and Taylor, 1984), in connection with the exchange relationship and include work values, degree of professional/occupational identification, and a range of social memberships (e. g. age, tenure and gender cohort). Selfand organisational perceptions are shown to be differentialliv predictive of the four characteristics of the perceived exchange relationship, suggesting a range of implications for exploration and management of the psychological contract at work. The potential of the proposed framework for investigating the phenomenon of 'normative' elements of psychological contracts (Sparrow, 1998) is discussed, as is the future of the psychological contract concept within the Organisational Behaviour literature and \\ ithin a \\ ider management context.
Clinical and Pathological Findings in Reexcision of Incompletely Excised Basal Cell Carcinomas

In common practice, patients with incompletely excised basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are referred to elective reexcision. In previous reports, it was observed that tumor cells are found in only 50% of the reexcised specimens. The authors performed a retrospective analysis of a large series of patients to evaluate clinical and pathological findings in patients who underwent reexcision of incompletely excised BCCs. A total of 1,478 BCCs arising in 1,278 patients were excised by plastic surgeons in a plastic and reconstructive surgery department during a 4-year period. In 159 patients (10.8%), the excision was incomplete according to the pathological report. These tumors were defined as an incompletely excised BCCs. One hundred of the 159 patients with incompletely excised BCCs (62.9%) were reoperated. Residual tumor cells were found in 28 of 100 patients (28%) within the pathological specimen of the reexcised tissue (defined as positive reexcision, or +veRE). There was no correlation between +veRE and the age or sex of the patient. Location of the BCCs in the cheeks, eyelids, or ears was associated with a low percent of +veRE (10.0%, 13.3%, and 22.2% respectively). Pathological factors associated with a low percent of +veRE were dermal inflammatory infiltrate in the pathological specimen (p = 0.003) and sun damage pathological changes (p = 0.03), but there was no correlation with the pathological subtype distribution of the tumors. The authors conclude that lack of tumor cells at reexcision of incompletely excised BCCs is associated with location of the tumors in the cheeks, eyelids, and ears, and with pathological findings of dermal inflammatory infiltrates or sun damage changes. The roles of inflammatory and solar changes in the destruction of residual carcinoma cells should be investigated further.
Impact of dry needling and ischemic pressure in the myofascial syndrome: controlled clinical trial

Introducao A dor musculoesqueletica e uma condicao clinica comum e cerca de 10% da populacao possui disturbio do sistema musculoesqueletico. Objetivo O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar se a compressao isquemica e o agulhamento seco sao tecnicas capazes de reduzir a dor de pacientes com sindrome miofascial. Metodo 22 pacientes com idade entre 20-75 anos foram randomizados em 3 grupos: compressao isquemica (GCI = 8), agulhamento seco (GAS = 7) e controle (GC = 7). Os pacientes do GCI e GAS foram avaliados antes e apos as 10 sessoes terapeuticas, que ocorreram 3 vezes por semana. O GC foi avaliado inicialmente e reavaliado 3 semanas depois. Para mensuracao da dor usou-se a Escala Visual Analogica (EVA) e da qualidade de vida o WHOQOL-BREF (5 dominios: global, fisico, psicologico, social e meio ambiente). Resultados A analise dos dados clinicos e demograficos mostrou que nao houve diferenca entre os grupos, exceto para idade (p = 0,042). Os resultados da EVA expressaram que o GCI teve reducao da dor na maioria das sessoes, o mesmo nao se observou para o GAS. Comparando os 2 grupos obteve-se diferenca na 4a e 8a sessoes. Os resultados do WHOQOL-BREF demonstraram que os 3 grupos tiveram um aumento significante no dominio psicologico. O mesmo nao ocorreu para os dominios global, fisico, meio ambiente e social. Conclusao A compressao isquemica e o agulhamento seco foram capazes de reduzir a dor dos pacientes e tambem intervir na sua qualidade de vida, especificamente no aspecto psicologico.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE ON EARLY DEVELOPMENTAL PREVENTION OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

In her recent 2010 report to the British Columbia provincial legislature, the Representative for Children and Youth, Judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, reported that the government of this province had failed to implement key provisions of the 2006 Hughes Royal Commission Report (Leyne, 2010). This failure, she asserted, put too many children at risk for abuse – or even death – especially within the most vulnerable families, such as those headed by impoverished, ill-housed, young and/or single mothers with little of the social capital typically needed to raise healthy children within B.C. communities. Further, a recently released federal report stated the Canada had among the highest rates of child poverty among the leading advanced industrial countries (UNICEF, 2010). Finally, while incarceration rates for young offenders in Canada, generally, have dropped substantially during the last decade, those youth in custody disproportionately have been from the above multi-problem families, especially Aboriginal families (e.g., Doob & Cesaroni, 2004).
Regulation of brain mitochondrial H2O2 production by membrane potential and NAD(P)H redox state

Mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) at Complex I of the electron transport chain is implicated in the etiology of neural cell death in acute and chronic neurodegenerative disorders. However, little is known regarding the regulation of mitochondrial ROS production by NADH‐linked respiratory substrates under physiologically realistic conditions in the absence of respiratory chain inhibitors. This study used Amplex Red fluorescence measurements of H2O2 to test the hypothesis that ROS production by isolated brain mitochondria is regulated by membrane potential (ΔΨ) and NAD(P)H redox state. ΔΨ was monitored by following the medium concentration of the lipophilic cation tetraphenylphosphonium with a selective electrode. NAD(P)H autofluorescence was used to monitor NAD(P)H redox state. While the rate of H2O2 production was closely related to ΔΨ and the level of NAD(P)H reduction at high values of ΔΨ, 30% of the maximal rate of H2O2 formation was still observed in the presence of uncoupler (p‐trifluoromethoxycarbonylcyanide phenylhydrazone) concentrations that provided for maximum depolarization of ΔΨ and oxidation of NAD(P)H. Our findings indicate that ROS production by mitochondria oxidizing physiological NADH‐dependent substrates is regulated by ΔΨ and by the NAD(P)H redox state over ranges consistent with those that exist at different levels of cellular energy demand.