Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A study on MRP practices in Egyptian manufacturing companies

States that a review of the literature on materials requirements planning (MRP) implementation in less developed countries in general, and in Egypt in particular, revealed that no systematic study has attempted to investigate how manufacturing companies have been implementing MRP systems. Thus attempts to investigate the state of the art of MRP implementation in Egypt. States the major mail survey findings of the 93 responses received, of which 52 were MRP companies which operated in quite different business environments within the Egyptian industrial sector. The findings of the current study may permit MRP managers and users to obtain a better understanding of MRP promoters, suggest some ideas for further research and acquaint the reader elsewhere in the world how manufacturing companies in less developed countries such as Egypt are implementing new production management systems like MRP systems. The findings of the study suggest that MRP implementation in Egypt is relatively similar to implementation in manufacturing companies in the newly industrialised countries in the west.
Changing trends in marrow transplantation for aplastic anemia.

Three different conditioning regimens were applied to 144 patients undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) with HLA identical sibling marrow, depleted of lymphocytes by counterflow centrifugation. All regimens consisted of cyclophosphamide and fractionated total body irradiation (TBI). In 49 patients treated with regimen A the total TBI dose was 9 Gy. In regimen B the dose rate of TBI was increased and anthracyclines were added (n = 65). Thirty patients received regimen C with a total TBI dose of 12 Gy but no anthracyclines. The different conditioning regimens did not influence the percentage of patients with detectable recipient CFU-GM prior to infusion of donor marrow. The incidences of mixed erythrocyte chimerism at 6 months after BMT were 73, 33 and 20% for regimens A, B and C respectively. The conditioning regimen influenced significantly mixed erythrocyte chimerism from 6 to 24 months after BMT. Both age and the conditioning regimen influenced significantly the incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (p = 0.017 and 0.0001 respectively). Acute GVHD greater than or equal to I occurred in 15, 29 and 77% of the patients treated with regimens A, B and C respectively. The incidence of acute and chronic GVHD was significantly higher in complete donor chimeras than in mixed chimeras (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.01). The probability of relapse was 43% in 32 and 18% in 43 good risk patients treated with regimens A and B respectively (p = 0.07). Longer follow-up is needed to draw conclusions about relapse in regimen C. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
N-Terminal Pro-Brain Natriuretic Peptide or Troponin Testing Followed by Echocardiography for Risk Stratification of Acute Pulmonary Embolism

Background—Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal (NT)-proBNP have recently emerged as promising parameters for risk assessment in acute pulmonary embolism (PE). However, their positive predictive value is low, and the prognostic implications of NT-proBNP or troponin elevation alone are questionable. Methods and Results—To determine whether the combination of NT-proBNP testing with echocardiography may identify both low-risk and high-risk patients with PE, we examined 124 consecutive patients with proved PE. All underwent echocardiography on admission to detect right ventricular dysfunction. NT-proBNP and troponin concentrations were measured in one core laboratory. The primary end point was death or major in-hospital complications. The cutoff level of 1000 pg/mL had a high negative predictive value (95% for a complicated course, 100% for death), but NT-proBNP ≥1000 pg/mL did not independently predict an adverse outcome. Combination of NT-proBNP testing with echocardiography identified 3 major risk groups. A positive echocardiogram was associated with a 12-fold elevation in complication risk compared with patients with low NT-proBNP (P=0.002), whereas NT-proBNP elevation without right ventricular dysfunction on echocardiography only slightly increased the risk of an adverse outcome (P=0.17). The combination of cardiac troponin testing with echocardiography yielded similar complication rates in the lowest-risk group and a similar magnitude of risk elevation for the highest-risk patients, but it also increased the number of intermediate-risk groups. Conclusions—Our results support a simple risk stratification algorithm for patients with PE, with the use of NT-proBNP or troponin testing as an initial step that should be followed by echocardiography if elevated levels of the biomarker are found.
The interaction between corporate social responsibility and value added intellectual capital: empirical evidence from Turkey

Purpose - Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become one of the mainstream issues for sustainable corporate performance in recent decades. Engagement in CSR activities has proven to have certain benefits for companies, ranging from better financial performance to shareholder wealth maximisation. Companies' value creation process has been dominated by companies' hidden assets and concurrently the concept of value added intellectual capital (VAIC). The purpose of this study is to provide evidence from an emerging market about the interaction between CSR and VAIC, and thus contribute to the understanding and awareness of the significance of socially responsible investments for companies. Design/methodology/approach - The empirical analyses, which take into account VAIC and its dimensions, are conducted on a sample of manufacturing companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) during the period 2007-2008. It is shown that some causality is related to the existence of a lag during the periods for the variables CSR and VAIC. Based on previous empirical studies, this study conducts the analyses based on the assumption that there may be a relationship between firm age, financial leverage, return on sales and market-to-book ratio and CSR. Findings - The results fail to provide any significant relationship between CSR and VAIC during the period analysed. These findings should not overshadow the benefits of CSR, but should be attributed to the time it takes for these investments to have an impact on firms' intellectual capital. Practical implications - A larger sample of firms covering a longer time span could be utilised. Generation of a CSR index in Turkey that eliminates the subjectivity of CSR measurement will undoubtedly improve the accuracy of the analyses. Originality/value - This paper increases the understanding of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and value-added intellectual capital. This research is also the first research to have examined Turkish companies for CSR and VAIC issues.
Initial use of once-monthly administration of C.E.R.A. is effective and safe in correcting renal anemia in non-dialysis patients: the MERCUR trial.

BACKGROUND Continuous erythropoietin receptor activator (C.E.R.A.) is routinely given once every 2 weeks to correct hemoglobin (Hb) level, but monthly use is recommended in the maintenance phase. PATIENTS AND METHODS In an open-label, single- arm, multicenter trial, 184 ESA-naïve non-dialysis patients with renal anemia (Hb ≤ 10.5 g/dl) received C.E. R.A. monthly from the start of therapy. The trial comprised a titration phase (Months 2 - 7) and an evaluation phase (Months 8 - 9). Mean Hb increased from 9.8 ± 0.7 g/dl at baseline to 11.5 ± 1.1 g/ dl during the evaluation phase (mean change 1.6 ± 1.1 g/dl; 95% CI 1.4 - 1.8 g/dl). Among patients with two Hb values available during the evaluation phase, 18.1% (19/105) were maintained at 11.0 - 12.0 g/dl and 49.5% (52/105) at 11.0 - 13.0 g/dl. 20 patients started dialysis and received C.E. R.A during the titration phase. RESULTS Their mean Hb increased from 10.6 ± 1.6 g/dl (last pre-dialysis value) to 11.3 ± 1.6 g/dl. Nine patients (4.9%) experienced one adverse event with a suspected relation to C.E. R.A. ; 5 were graded serious. 54 patients (29.3%) discontinued the study (22 for adverse events). CONCLUSION Although no control arm was included, such that robust comparisons cannot be drawn, these results suggest that C.E. R.A. therapy can be initiated once a month in non-dialysis CKD patients with renal anemia without appearing to compromise the rate or degree of Hb correction.
Patterns of Catching-Up in Candidate Countries' Manufacturing Industry

This paper analyses the structural changes that have taken place in CEE candidate countries' manufacturing industry during the last decade. In the more advanced candidate countries for EU membership, industry has been able to recover at least part of its previous position thanks to active restructuring and privatization efforts, fostered especially by inflows of FDI. Employment declined more than output and over five million manufacturing jobs were lost in the region between 1990 and 1999. Production specialization has markedly increased between 1990 and 1999 in nearly all candidate countries. The top five branches account for 60% to more than 70% of manufacturing industry output. The structure of manufacturing industry in the majority of candidate countries is now fairly close to the European pattern both in terms of production and employment (exceptions are Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states). A new pattern of productivity winner and loser branches is emerging winners are electrical, optical and transport equipment as well as furniture; losers are food and beverages, textiles, leather, wood products and chemicals. Hungary is a productivity leader among the candidate countries; Bulgarian and Romanian labour productivity is just one fourth of the Hungarian level. In several countries wages are growing faster than productivity, implying a gradual deterioration of the international labour cost competitiveness (except Hungary and possibly also Poland). The winner branches have managed to increase their comparative cost advantages vis-a-vis the present EU member states. But some loser branches - such as textiles, leather and wood products - face clear cost problems and may well have higher unit labour costs than Western Europe. Manufacturing industry has been an important target of FDI in the candidate countries, but the sectoral distribution of FDI is highly uneven. FDI has a clearly positive impact on output growth, labour productivity and ULC improvements.
Understanding Innovation for Sustainable Business Management Capabilities and Competencies under Uncertainty

In recent years, many firms have come to understand that innovation is an important issue in sustainable business management, as it helps improve firm capabilities and competencies. Because of the fiercely competitive environment in the hotel industry, innovation has become a critical factor in the process of hotel differentiation, leading to sustainable business success. However, the literature has not thoroughly examined the role of innovation or the hierarchical structure of the capabilities and competencies in sustainable business management. This study adopts interval-valued triangular fuzzy numbers and grey relational analysis to provide a competitive priority ranking for the aspects and criteria that assist firms in decision-making. The study results indicate that innovation in technology capabilities and networking and social capabilities—in addition to competencies in systemic thinking—are the most important aspects of sustainable business management. In particular, this study indicates that to succeed in building a sustainable business in the hotel industry, firms should upgrade and integrate their business technologies, collaborate with actors inside and outside the firm, build trust as well as a shared vision that includes common agreement, and develop competencies in inventive thinking to support innovation and foster changes in strategy, structure, administrative procedures, and systems when necessary.
Direct detection of insertion/deletion polymorphisms in an autosomal region by analyzing high-density markers in individual spermatozoa.

Direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphisms requires sample homozygosity. For the indel polymorphisms that have the deletion allele with a relatively low frequency in the autosomal regions, direct PCR detection becomes difficult or impossible. The present study is, to our knowledge, the first designed to directly detect indel polymorphisms in a human autosomal region (i.e., the immunoglobulin V(H) region), through use of single haploid sperm cells as subjects. Unique marker sequences (n=32), spaced at approximately 5-kb intervals, were selected near the 3' end of the V(H) region. A two-round multiplex PCR protocol was used to amplify these sequences from single sperm samples from nine unrelated healthy donors. The parental haplotypes of the donors were determined by examining the presence or absence of these markers. Seven clustered markers in 6 of the 18 haplotypes were missing and likely represented a 35-40-kb indel polymorphism. The genotypes of the donors, with respect to this polymorphism, perfectly matched the expectation under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Three V(H) gene segments, of which two are functional, are affected by this polymorphism. According to these results, >10% of individuals in the human population may not have these gene segments in their genome, and approximately 44% may have only one copy of these gene segments. The biological impact of this polymorphism would be very interesting to study. The approach used in the present study could be applied to understand the physical structure and diversity of all other autosomal regions.
Changes in gut microbiota in children with atopic dermatitis administered the bacteria Lactobacillus casei DN--114001.

Gut microbiota was analyzed in children, aged 6-18 months and suffering from atopic dermatitis before and after 3 month supplementation of their diet with Lactobacillus casei DN--114001 in a dose of 109 cells daily. On completion of this period the total number of fecal Lactobacillus sp. cells decreased from 7.86 Log10 CFU/g to 6.40 Log10 CFU/g. After the next 5 months (without dietary supplementation with the probiotic bacteria) the level of Lactobacillus sp. cells was maintained at the latter value. During the dietary supplementation with the probiotic strain, the level of Bifidobacterium cells was maintained at 6.15-6.89 Log10 CFU/g while after 5 months it decreased to 5.57 Log10 CFU/g. The population of Clostridium sp. was reduced after 3 months of dietary supplementation from 6.49 to 5.83 Log10 CFU/g and was maintained at the latter level during the next 5 months. The dietary supplementation had no effect on populations of Bacteroides sp. , Enterococcus sp. and Enterobacteriaceae. Supplementation of children who developed atopic dermatitis with the preparation of Lactobacillus casei DN - 114001 positively affected their gut microbiota in terms of bifidobacteria and clostridia populations.
Leaflet opening and closing dynamics of stentless bioprostheses.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY Stiffening of the aortic root may entail asynchronous aortic leaflet movement, and result in enhanced flexion-stress in specific areas of the cusps. As stentless prostheses are more flexible than their stented counterparts, they are more likely to exhibit physiologic leaflet movements. The study aim was to compare leaflet movement dynamics in stented versus non-stented aortic valves implanted in pigs. METHODS Aortic bioprostheses were implanted surgically into adult pigs as follows: stented Mitroflow (n = 6), stentless Solo (n = 5), and stentless Toronto SPV (n = 4). In five control animals, the native aortic valve leaflets were untouched. Postoperatively, the aortic valve was displayed by epicardial echocardiography. M-mode display of the non-coronary leaflet was applied to assess rapid valve-opening velocity (V(open)) and rapid valve-closing velocity (V(close)). RESULTS The mean V(open) values were 29.2, 25.5, 37.8, and 31.9 cm/s, respectively, for the native, Toronto SPV, Solo, and Mitroflow valves. The mean V(close) values were 23.2, 21.9, 34.1, and 34.3 cm/s, respectively. A comparison of V(open) values showed no statistically significant difference between the valves. The Mitroflow and Solo valves yielded significantly higher V(close) values than the native and Toronto SPV valves. The Toronto SPV exhibited marked systolic leaflet folding. CONCLUSION The stent of a bioprosthetic valve does not appear to affect leaflet velocities when compared to the stentless bioprosthetic valve. The Solo and Mitroflow valves closed more abruptly than the porcine native aortic valve; however, the Toronto SPV valve displayed diverging systolic leaflet movement patterns.
Metal toxicity and the respiratory tract.

The type of lung disease caused by metal compounds depends on the nature of the offending agent, its physicochemical form, the dose, exposure conditions and host factors. The fumes or gaseous forms of several metals, e.g. cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), mercury (Hg), nickel carbonyl (Nl(CO)4, zinc chloride (ZnCl2), vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), may lead to acute chemical pneumonitis and pulmonary oedema or to acute tracheobronchitis. Metal fume fever, which may follow the inhalation of metal fumes e.g. zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and many others, is a poorly understood influenza-like reaction, accompanied by an acute self-limiting neutrophil alveolitis. Chronic obstructive lung disease may result from occupational exposure to mineral dusts, including probably some metallic dusts, or from jobs involving the working of metal compounds, such as welding. Exposure to cadmium may lead to emphysema. Bronchial asthma may be caused by complex platinum salts, nickel, chromium or cobalt, presumably on the basis of allergic sensitization. The cause of asthma in aluminium workers is unknown. It is remarkable that asthma induced by nickel (Ni) or chromium (Cr) is apparently infrequent, considering their potency and frequent involvement as dermal sensitizers. Metallic dusts deposited in the lung may give rise to pulmonary fibrosis and functional impairment, depending on the fibrogenic potential of the agent and on poorly understood host factors. Inhalation of iron compounds causes siderosis, a pneumoconiosis with little or no fibrosis. Hard metal lung disease is a fibrosis characterized by desquamative and giant cell interstitial pneumonitis and is probably caused by cobalt, since a similar disease has been observed in workers exposed to cobalt in the absence of tungsten carbide. Chronic beryllium disease is a fibrosis with sarcoid-like epitheloid granulomas and is presumably due to a cell-mediated immune response to beryllium. Such a mechanism may be responsible for the pulmonary fibrosis occasionally found in subjects exposed to other metals e.g. aluminium (Al), titanium (Ti), rare earths. The proportion of lung cancer attributable to occupation is around 15%, with exposure to metals being frequently incriminated. Underground mining of e.g. uranium or iron is associated with a high incidence of lung cancer, as a result of exposure to radon. At least some forms of arsenic, chromium and nickel are well established lung carcinogens in humans. There is also evidence for increased lung cancer mortality in cadmium workers and in iron or steel workers.
Susceptibility of Multiresistant Gram-Negative Bacteria to Fosfomycin and Performance of Different Susceptibility Testing Methods

ABSTRACT Fosfomycin may be a treatment option for multiresistant Gram-negative bacteria. This study compared susceptibility methods using 94 multiresistant clinical isolates. With agar dilution (AD), susceptibilities were 81%, 7%, 96%, and 100% (CLSI) and 0%, 0%, 96%, and 30% (EUCAST), respectively, for Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacter spp. Categorical agreement between Etest and AD for Enterobacteriaceae and A. baumannii was ≥80%. Disk diffusion was adequate only for Enterobacter. CLSI criteria for urine may be adequate for systemic infections.
The Creation of a Middle‐Management Level by Entrepreneurial Ventures: Testing Economic Theories of Organizational Design

Why do some entrepreneurial ventures rapidly switch from flat organizations composed of owner‐managers and line workers to deeper organizations that also include a middle‐management level? The aim of this paper is to investigate this issue and to test the predictions of different streams of the theoretical economic literature on organizational design. We use the estimates of survival data analysis models to examine the determinants of the addition of a middle‐management level to the corporate hierarchy of a large sample of Italian high‐tech entrepreneurial ventures. The econometric results lend support to the view proposed by the “information processing” stream that the information overload problems engendered by a highly competitive and unpredictable business environment are key drivers of the creation of a middle‐management level. Moreover, in accordance with the “knowledge hierarchy” literature, the greater the human capital of firms’ owner‐managers, the more likely the appointment of a middle manager. Conversely, we fail to provide evidence consistent with theoretical predictions inspired by the “decentralization of incentives” stream. Lastly, transaction costs and adverse selection problems in the managerial labour market are found to have a large negative effect on the likelihood of the appointment of middle managers.
Rey Visual Design Learning Test performance correlates with white matter structure

Objective: Studies exploring relation of visual memory to white matter are extensively lacking. The Rey Visual Design Learning Test (RVDLT) is an elementary motion, colour and word independent visual memory test. It avoids a significant contribution from as many additional higher order visual brain functions as possible to visual performance, such as three-dimensional, colour, motion or word-dependent brain operations. Based on previous results, we hypothesised that test performance would be related with white matter of dorsal hippocampal commissure, corpus callosum, posterior cingulate, superior longitudinal fascicle and internal capsule. Methods: In 14 healthy subjects, we measured intervoxel coherence (IC) by diffusion tensor imaging as an indication of connectivity and visual memory performance measured by the RVDLT. IC considers the orientation of the adjacent voxels and has a better signal-to-noise ratio than the commonly used fractional anisotropy index. Results: Using voxelwise linear regression analyses of the IC values, we found a significant and direct relationship between 11 clusters and visual memory test performance. The fact that memory performance correlated with white matter structure in left and right dorsal hippocampal commissure, left and right posterior cingulate, right callosal splenium, left and right superior longitudinal fascicle, right medial orbitofrontal region, left anterior cingulate, and left and right anterior limb of internal capsule emphasises our hypothesis. Conclusion: Our observations in healthy subjects suggest that individual differences in brain function related to the performance of a task of higher cognitive demands might partially be associated with structural variation of white matter regions.