Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of CCK in the Regulation of Secretion and Adaptation in the Pig Pancreas

The effect of cholecystokinin (CCK) on the pancreas was investigated in the pig in two experiments. Fifteen pigs were fed a diet containing 17 or 48% protein with or without MK329 (4.5 mg per meal). MK329 enhanced the postprandial peak of plasma CCK during the first 30 min, but pancreas adaptation to high protein was not affected. Sixteen pigs were divided into two groups: 12 pigs were infused with CCK-8 + secretin for 1 h and four pigs received a standard meal. In both groups, pancreatic secretion tests were performed under infusion of the vehicle alone or with MK329. After CCK + secretin, MK329 (65–500 μg/kg/h) did not alter CCK plasma levels and reduced the early pancreatic protein response by about 30%. Enzyme outputs in pancreatic juice were modestly affected by MK329. After the meal, MK329 (500 μg/kg/h) doubled the postprandial peak of plasma CCK and lowered the pancreatic protein output by 35–40% for the first 30 min. We suggest that (a) pancreatic adaptation to high dietary protein is not mediated via CCK-A receptors and (b) the stimulation of pancreatic protein secretion by a meal or by exogenous CCK-8 is mediated partly by CCK-A receptors.
MUCOCUTANEOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF CHIKUNGUNYA FEVER

Chikungunya fever (CF) is an arboviral acute febrile illness transmitted by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes. After a quiescence of more than three decades, CF has recently re-emerged as a major public health problem of global scale. CF is characterized by an acute onset of high fever associated with a severe disabling arthritis often accompanied by prominent mucocutaneous manifestations. The disease is usually self-limiting, but the joint symptoms and some of the cutaneous features may persist after the defervescence. A wide range of mucocutaneous changes has been described to occur in association with CF during the current epidemic. Besides a morbilliform erythema, hyperpigmentation, xerosis, excoriated papules, aphthous-like ulcers, vesiculobullous and lichenoid eruptions, and exacerbation of pre-existing or quiescent dermatoses had been observed frequently. These unusual features may help in the clinical differential diagnosis of acute viral exanthems mimicking CF.
Ectopia lentis phenotypes and the FBN1 gene

Mutations of the fibrillin‐1 (FBN1) gene on chromosome 15 have been described in patients with classical Marfan syndrome (MFS), neonatal MFS, the “MASS” phenotype, autosomal dominant ascending aortic aneurysms, autosomal dominant ectopia lentis (EL), Marfanoid skeletal features [Milewicz et al., 1995: J Clin Invest 95:2373–2378], familial arachnodactyly, Shprintzen–Goldberg syndrome [Hayward et al., 1994: Mol Cell Probes 8:325–327; Furthmayr and Francke, 1997: Semin Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 9:191–205], and severe progressive kyphoscoliosis [Adès et al., 2002: Am J Med Genet 109:261–270]. We report the use of denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) to facilitate the characterization of a previously elusive FBN1 mutation in the large autosomal dominant EL kindred described by Edwards et al. [1994: Am J Med Genet 53:65–71]. This isolated EL kindred remains the largest for which detailed clinical data is available. Nine years on, we present an update of the clinical status of the family. We report a recurrent FBN1 mutation, R240C, in the kindred. This mutation has been reported three times before, once in a family with classic MFS [Loeys et al., 2001: Arch Intern Med 161:2447–2454], once in one member of a multi‐generation EL kindred, [Körkkö et al., 2002: J Med Genet 39:34–41], and once in an adult from a familial EL kindred who had EL, and involvement of the integument, without cardiovascular involvement [Comeglio et al., 2002: Br J Ophthalmol 86:1359–1362]. This is the second report of the R240C mutation in association with isolated EL, and supports the existing evidence that the R240C mutation can result in two quite distinct, yet related, phenotypes. It also raises the possibility that R240C may prove to be a relative mutational “hot‐spot” for isolated EL. We review the current literature regarding EL (isolated and other) and FBN1 mutations. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Histological and Biological Spectrum of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma in the World Health Organization Classification

Abstract Diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) are aggressive B-cell lymphomas that are clinically, pathologically, and genetically diverse, in part reflecting the functional diversity of the B-cell system. The focus in recent years has been toward incorporation of clinical features, morphology, immunohistochemistry, and ever evolving genetic data into the classification scheme. The 2008 World Health Organization classification reflects this complexity with the addition of several new entities and variants. The discovery of distinct subtypes by gene expression profiling heralded a new era with a focus on pathways of transformation as well as a promise of more targeted therapies, directed at specific pathways. Some DLBCLs exhibit unique clinical characteristics with a predilection for specific anatomic sites; the anatomic site often reflects underlying biological distinctions. Recently, the spectrum of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)–driven B-cell proliferations in patients without iatrogenic or congenital immunosuppression has been better characterized; most of these occur in patients of advanced age and include Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)–positive large B-cell lymphoma of the elderly. Human herpesvirus 8 is involved in the pathogenesis of primary effusion lymphoma, which can present as a “solid variant. ” Two borderline categories were created; one deals with tumors at the interface between classic Hodgkin lymphoma and DLBCL. The second confronts the interface between Burkitt lymphoma and DLBCL, so-called “B-cell lymphoma, unclassifiable, with features intermediate between DLBCL and Burkitt lymphoma” in the 2008 classification. Most cases harbor both MYC and BCL2 translocations and are highly aggressive. Another interesting entity is anaplastic lymphoma kinase–positive DLBCL, which renders itself potentially targetable by anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitors. Ongoing investigations at the genomic level, with both exome and whole-genome sequencing, are sure to reveal new pathways of transformation in the future.
Deep grey matter involvement and altered sensory gating in multiple sclerosis

Background: Somatosensory temporal discrimination threshold (STDT) is altered in multiple sclerosis (MS). In healthy subjects (HS), voluntary movement modulates the STDT through mechanisms of subcortical sensory gating. Objective: With neurophysiological and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, we investigated sensory gating and sensorimotor integration in MS. Methods: We recruited 38 relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS) patients with no-to-mild disability and 33 HS. We tested STDT at rest and during index finger abductions and recorded the movement kinematics. Participants underwent a 3T MRI protocol. Results: Patients exhibited higher STDT values and performed slower finger movements than HS. During voluntary movement, STDT values increased in both groups, albeit to a lesser extent in patients, while the mean angular velocity of finger movements decreased in patients alone. Patients had a smaller volume of the thalamus, pallidum and caudate nucleus, and displayed higher mean diffusivity in the putamen, pallidum and thalamus. STDT correlated with thalamic volume while mean angular velocity correlated with putaminal volume. Changes in mean angular velocity during sensorimotor integration inversely correlated with mean diffusivity in the thalamus and pallidum. Changes in STDT and velocity were associated with fatigue score. Conclusion: Altered STDT and sensorimotor integration are related to structural damage in the thalamus and basal ganglia in MS and likely to affect motor performance.
Cloud Computing Services Adoption in Australian SMEs: a Firm-Level Investigation

Cloud computing services can boost the competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and leverage countries' economies. In the Australian context, there is an emerging trend that SMEs begin to embrace cloud technology in their traditional business activities. However, prior studies did not pay much attention to investigating the factors that influence the cloud computing adoption among Australian SMEs. To fill the research gap, this paper investigates the influential factors that affect the decision on adopting cloud computing services for Australian SMEs. Protocol data collected from fifteen firm-level semi-structured interviews with practitioners are presented and discussed. The protocol analysis indicates that various factors are important to the adoption of cloud computing services for Australian SMEs, such as security concerns, cost savings, and privacy due to geo-restrictions. Furthermore, this study confirms the insignificance of complexity and competitive pressure factors in the adoption of cloud computing among Australian SMEs. These findings have imperative implications to scholars and practitioners alike in the cloud computing research and applications areas.
How Spokesperson Rank and Selected Media Channels Impact Perceptions in Crisis Communication

This study examined the impact of spokesperson’s rank and selected media channels in crisis communication by employing different ranks (i.e., CEO and communication director spokespersons) and media channels (blogs, websites, and newspapers). Findings indicated that CEO spokespersons were more effective in terms of lowering publics’ crisis responsibility attributions than communication director spokespersons and that blogs were more effective in lowering crisis responsibility attributions than websites and newspapers.
The Promise: President Obama, Year One

Barack Obama's inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of "Change We Can Believe In" was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama's historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery. In "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," Jonathan Alter, one of the country's most respected journalists and historians, uses his unique access to the White House to produce the first inside look at Obama's difficult debut. What happened in 2009 inside the Oval Office? What worked and what failed? What is the president really like on the job and off-hours, using what his best friend called "a Rubik's Cube in his brain? " These questions are answered here for the first time. We see how a surprisingly cunning Obama took effective charge in Washington several weeks before his election, made trillion-dollar decisions on the stimulus and budget before he was inaugurated, engineered colossally unpopular bailouts of the banking and auto sectors, and escalated a treacherous war not long after settling into office. "The Promise "is a fast-paced and incisive narrative of a young risk-taking president carving his own path amid sky-high expectations and surging joblessness. Alter reveals that it was Obama alone--"feeling lucky"--who insisted on pushing major health care reform over the objections of his vice president and top advisors, including his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who admitted that "I begged him not to do this. " Alter takes the reader inside the room as Obama prevents a fistfight involving a congressman, coldly reprimands the military brass for insubordination, crashes the key meeting at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference, and bounces back after a disastrous Massachusetts election to redeem a promise that had eluded presidents since FDR. In Alter's telling, the real Obama is an authentic, demanding, unsentimental, and sometimes overconfident leader. He adapted to the presidency with ease and put more "points on the board" than he is given credit for, but neglected to use his leverage over the banks and failed to connect well with an angry public. We see the famously calm president cursing leaks, playfully trash-talking his advisors, and joking about even the most taboo subjects, still intent on redeeming more of his promise as the problems mount. This brilliant blend of journalism and history offers the freshest reporting and most acute perspective on the biggest story of our time. It will shape impressions of the Obama presidency and of the man himself for years to come.
Profit related pay in Italy: A microeconometric analysis

This paper investigates which company characteristics affect the decision to introduce profit‐sharing. Unlike most studies, this paper relies on a ten‐year panel. The results presented in this paper are based on the estimation of a panel data fixed‐effect logit model. Given that they are immune from heterogeneity bias, it is believed that these results are more reliable than those obtained by estimating cross‐sectional models. These results are in line with the common findings of the literature. Companies that are more likely to introduce profit‐sharing (PS) are larger firms which invest more, due to the lower cost of debt, and tend to pay higher wages as an incentive to boost the initially lower productivity. These companies are more likely to undertake investment projects which support the interpretation of PS as a risk‐sharing device.
Patient privacy: Awareness and attitudes of Iran University of Medical Sciences medical students

Background: Respecting patients’ privacy is an essential professional responsibility for physicians and other health team members. In this regard, this study investigates medical students’ knowledge and attitude about confidentiality and disclosure of patients’ information. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 160 medical students of Iran University of Medical Sciences participated who were selected using stratified random sampling. Data were gathered using a valid and reliable self-report questionnaire. Student's knowledge and attitude toward medical confidentiality were assessed using self-administered and researcher-made questionnaires. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for knowledge and attitude levels were 79.7 and 82.2, respectively. Results: The average of medical students' responses to knowledge and attitude questions were 56.6% (9.6/ 17) and 55.3% (9.4 out of 17), respectively. On average, females had an acceptable attitude about 57.5% of the questions, whereas this was 50.9% for males. On average, females had an acceptable knowledge about 59.5% of the questions, whereas this was 50.6% for males. Therefore, female’s attitudes and knowledge were more correct than their male counterparts (p<0.001). Conclusion: The low level of knowledge and attitude of medical students towards medical confidentiality indicates that revision of Iranian medical education curriculum to reinforce attention and knowledge of medical students on this issue to render appropriate care to patients is a necessity. Medical students’ knowledge and attitude towards patient’s confidentiality rights is not fulfilling.
Social Security in Global Perspective

Preface Social Security: The Concept, the Strategies, and the System Social Security's Traditions Global Overview of Social Security Practices: Global Patterns and Recent Developments Employment Injury Old Age, Disability, and Survivorhood Unemployment, Sickness, Maternity, and Health Care Family Support Finance and Administration Comparative Social Security: The Challenge of Comparative Evaluation A Global Ranking of National Social Security Systems and Progams Social Security Towards 2000 and Beyond References Index
The Activation Sequence of Thrombospondin-1 Interacts with the Latency-associated Peptide to Regulate Activation of Latent Transforming Growth Factor-β*

One of the primary points of regulation of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) activity is control of its conversion from the latent precursor to the biologically active form. We have identified thrombospondin-1 as a major physiological regulator of latent TGF-β activation. Activation is dependent on the interaction of a specific sequence in thrombospondin-1 (K412RFK415) with the latent TGF-β complex. Platelet thrombospon-din-1 has TGF-β activity and immunoreactive mature TGF-β associated with it. We now report that the latency-associated peptide (LAP) of the latent TGF-β complex also interacts with thrombospondin-1 as part of a biologically active complex. Thrombospondin·LAP complex formation involves the activation sequence of thrombospondin-1 (KRFK) and a sequence (LSKL) near the amino terminus of LAP that is conserved in TGF-β1–5. The interactions of LAP with thrombospondin-1 through the LSKL and KRFK sequences are important for thrombospondin-mediated activation of latent TGF-β since LSKL peptides can competitively inhibit latent TGF-β activation by thrombospondin or KRFK-containing peptides. In addition, the association of LAP with thrombospondin-1 may function to prevent the re-formation of an inactive LAP·TGF-β complex since thrombospondin-bound LAP no longer confers latency on active TGF-β. The mechanism of TGF-β activation by thrombospondin-1 appears to be conserved among TGF-β isoforms as latent TGF-β2 can also be activated by thrombospondin-1 or KRFK peptides in a manner that is sensitive to inhibition by LSKL peptides.
Brand Extension Evaluation: an experimental research study in the service sector

This study analyzed the effects, in consumers’ evaluations, of different brand names (arbitrary, descriptive, and suggestive), of perceived similarities (high vs. low) and of perceived quality regarding brand extension in services. We implemented two experiments involving 1,338 respondents. In Experiment 1, by means of MANOVA, we managed to detect significant effects of brand names and of similarities in Attitude and Intention to Use of consumers. In Experiment 2, we added manipulation of perceived quality to the sample. We identified transfer of perceived quality to extended service, and that perceived quality overweighed effects of similarity and brand names in extensions, which indicates that perceived quality is more relevant in evaluation of brand extension in service when brand names are not recognized by consumers.
Firms' compliance with the disclosure requirements of IFRS for goodwill impairment testing: Effect of the global financial crisis and other firm characteristics

Purpose – This study aims to examine the impact of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis (GFC) on Australian firms' compliance with IFRS 36/AASB 136 for goodwill impairment testing. It also examines the factors associated with the cross-sectional variations in the compliance levels. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a survey of disclosure notes in companies' annual reports, firm-level compliance scores were developed and further analysed applying quantitative statistical methods. Findings – The findings suggest that firms' compliance has increased during the GFC compared to the PCP. There was no significant intra-period change in the compliance levels during the PCP. Firms belonging to goodwill intensive industries show greater compliance levels than firms in other industries. Audit quality is also a significant determinant of firms' compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing. Goodwill intensity is a significant determinant of firms' compliance level during the GFC but not during the PCP. F.
Source memory that encoding was self-referential: the influence of stimulus characteristics

ABSTRACT Decades of research suggest that encoding information with respect to the self improves memory (self-reference effect, SRE) for items (item SRE). The current study focused on how processing information in reference to the self affects source memory for whether an item was self-referentially processed (a source SRE). Participants self-referentially or non-self-referentially encoded words (Experiment 1) or pictures (Experiment 2) that varied in valence (positive, negative, neutral). Relative to non-self-referential processing, self-referential processing enhanced item recognition for all stimulus types (an item SRE), but it only enhanced source memory for positive words (a source SRE). In fact, source memory for negative and neutral pictures was worse for items processed self-referentially than non-self-referentially. Together, the results suggest that item SRE and source SRE (e.g., remembering an item was encoded self-referentially) are not necessarily the same across stimulus types (e.g., words, pictures; positive, negative). While an item SRE may depend on the overall likelihood the item generates any association, the enhancing effects of self-referential processing on source memory for self-referential encoding may depend on how embedded a stimulus becomes in one’s self-schema, and that depends, in part, on the stimulus’ valence and format. Self-relevance ratings during encoding provide converging evidence for this interpretation.
Gingival crevicular blood for assessment of blood glucose in diabetic patients.

In this study 50 patients with diabetes mellitus had gingival crevicular blood from periodontal probing collected in small plastic pipettes. The pipettes transferred the crevicular blood to a non-wipe glucose self-monitoring instrument. At the same time, finger-stick capillary blood measurements were analyzed in the same glucose self-monitoring instrument, and venous blood was collected for measurement in a laboratory glucose analyzer. Each laboratory measurement was corrected from a serum glucose value to a whole blood glucose value by a function of the patient's hematocrit. This corrected glucose value allowed direct comparison of the laboratory measurement to the intraoral and finger-stick whole blood measurements. The patient blood glucose concentrations ranged from 59 mg/dl to 366 mg/dl. The gingival crevicular blood exhibited a correlation of r = 0.975 (P < .0001) to the corrected laboratory standard measurement, with a mean prediction error (bias) of -4.11 mg/dl and a root mean square error (precision) of 17.43 mg/dl. The finger-stick blood had a correlation of r = 0.983 (P < .0001) to the corrected laboratory standard, with a mean prediction error of 4.65 mg/dl and a root mean square error of 14.48 mg/dl. The American Diabetic Association recommends that the prediction error of blood glucose monitoring devices fall within 15% of the laboratory standard. Using this criterion 92% of the gingival crevicular measurements and 90% of the finger-puncture measurements fell within 15% of the laboratory value. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)