Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activation of stem cell up-regulation/mobilization: a cardiovascular risk in both mice and humans with implications for liver disease, psoriasis and SLE

Abstract Experimentally induced injury triggers up-regulation and mobilization of stem cells in Apoe -/- mice that causes accelerated atherosclerosis. Abca1 -/- Abcg1-/- mice have chronic activation of stem cell up-regulation/mobilization and accelerated atherosclerosis. In addition, the Abca1 -/- Abcg1-/- mice have elevation of serum cytokines G-CSF, IL-17 and IL-23, each necessary for stem cell mobilization. IL-17 and IL-23 are elevated in two human illnesses that have cardiovascular (CV) risk independent of traditional risk factors—SLE and psoriasis. Serum G-CSF, which can be elevated in liver disease, predicts major adverse cardiovascular events in humans. These serum cytokine elevations suggest activation of the stem cell mobilization mechanism in humans that results, as in mice, in accelerated atherosclerosis. Efforts to reduce CV disease in these patient populations should include mitigation of the diseases that trigger stem cell mobilization. Since activation of the stem cell up-regulation/mobilization mechanism appears to accelerate human atherosclerosis, use of stem cells as therapy for arterial occlusive disease should distinguish between direct administration of stem cells and activation of the stem cell up-regulation/mobilization mechanism.
Scattering of an Arbitrarily Oriented Electric Dipole Field from an Infinitely Long dB Circular Cylinder

Analytic expressions for the scattered magnetic vector potential from an inflnitely long DB circular cylinder are presented. An arbitrarily oriented electric dipole is considered as a source of excitation that induces surface currents on the DB circular cylinder. Approximate far fleld expressions for magnetic vector potential are also derived in this setting. Numerical results of the scattering from the DB cylinder are also presented and compared with those of the PEC cylinder.
Introducing a reserve waiting list initiative for elective general surgery at a District General Hospital

Cancelled operations represent a significant burden on the National Health Service in terms of theatre efficiency, financial implications and lost training opportunities. Moreover, they carry considerable physical and psychological effects to patients and their relatives. Evidence has shown that up to 93% of cancelled operations are due to patient-related factors. An analysis at our District General Hospital revealed that approximately 18 operations are cancelled on the day of surgery each month. This equates to 27 hours of allocated operating time valued by the trust as £67 500, not being used effectively. This retrospective quality improvement report aims to reduce unused theatre time due to cancelled elective operations in general surgery theatres—thereby improving theatre efficiency and patient care. To ascertain the baseline number of cancelled operations, an initial review of theatre cases was undertaken. Further review was then completed after implementation of two improvements—a short notice surgical waiting list and fast track pre-assessment clinics. The results showed that implementation of the reserve surgical waiting list reduced unused operating time by an average of 2.25 hours per month. By further adding in the fast track preassessment clinic, these figures increased to an average of 11.5 hours over the next 3 months. This precipitated a reutilisation of otherwise wasted theatre time. Economic impact of this time amounts around £28 750 a month, after implementation of both improvements. Simple protocol changes can lead to large improvements in the efficient running of theatres. The resultant change has improved patient satisfaction, led to greater training opportunities and improved theatre efficiency. Extrapolation of our results show better usage of previously underused theatre time, to the equivalent worth of £345 000. Further implementation of these improvements in other surgical specialities and hospitals would be beneficial.
Investigating The Effect of Behavioral Intention on E-learning Systems Usage: Empirical Study on Tertiary Education Institutions in Ghana

Abstract The objective of the study aimed at assessing the relationship that exists between antecedents of behavioral intentions, and how they impact on the usage of E-learning systems in tertiary institutions in Ghana. Empirical data for the study was obtained through a survey from 237 respondents made up of; governing council members, school management members, faculty members, ICT department staff and students from five tertiary education institutions in Ghana. The study developed an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by incorporating an external variable, self-efficacy. The hypothesized model was examined using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLSSEM) technique using Smart PLS version 12 software. The paper argues that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and self-efficacy influenced individual’s behavioral intentions to utilize E-learning systems. However, the findings confirm that, through the mediating role of individuals’ behavioral intention to use, self-efficacy is the most influential factor that affects individual’s behavioral intentions to utilize E-learning systems in Ghana’s tertiary education institutions, relative to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. This result implies that self-efficacy is the main behavioral intention factor in determining E-learning system utilization, in Ghana’s tertiary education context. This study satisfies or fills an E-learning utilization literature shortfall by the extension of the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM) to investigate antecedents of behavioral intentions and their impact on E-learning systems usage among tertiary education institutions. Also, the study demonstrates the importance of behavioral intention-to-use as playing a full mediating role between self-efficacy and E-learning system usage.
Toll-Like Receptors: The Key of Immunotherapy in MSCs

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are potential candidates for various applica- tions in the fields of immunotherapy. Their multilineage differentiation capability and immune modulatory features allow their prospective application for the management of different immunological circumstances. However, the local microenvironment, in addi tion to the source of the MSCs can control diverse biological features of the cells. Indeed, throughout their therapeutic application, MSCs may interact with their microenviron ment through their expressed toll-like-receptors (TLRs), producing immune modulating reactions. Stimulation of MSCs before or within the potential treatment procedures with distinct TLR ligands may assist as an effective step controlling the biological function of the MSCs as needed in different therapeutic stages of the disease.
Associations Between Schemes of Social Insurance and Self-Rated Health Comparison: Evidence From the Employed Migrants in Urban China

Background: Little was known about the relationship between social insurance without health insurance and self-rated health comparison (SRHC). The present study aimed to investigate how social insurance schemes improved SRHC among employed migrants in urban China. Methods: The employed migrants aged 18 and above were selected from the 2009 Rural-Urban Migration in China project. Multiple probit regression models were adopted to identify the determinants of participation of social insurance. Multiple logistic regression models were used to analyze the relationship between unemployment insurance, pension insurance, and work injury insurance and SRHC. Results: In the sample, most of the participants were middle-aged, male, and uninsured persons. However, over 80% of them reported better SRHC. Health insurance contributed to the participation of social insurance. The social insurance schemes were associated with financial risk. Regarding the confounding effects of health insurance, the three schemes of social insurance were associated with SRHC. Conclusions: The result indicated that not all three, but two schemes of social insurance, could improve SRHC among the employed migrants.
Dietary Intervention to Alleviate Acne Severity

Acne is one of the most prevalent skin conditions affecting the majority of teenagers; the aim of the study was to alleviate acne severity by dietary intervention. Intervention study was performed on 40 acne cases aged 15-20 years. All participants were asked to follow a low glycemic load diet (LGL) for 12 weeks. Acne severity was assessed by global acne grading system (GAGS). Fasting blood glucose (FBS), serum insulin, insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and anthropometrics (weight and height) were measured at baseline and after dietary intervention. There was a significant decreasing in mean score of GAGS after LDL diet intervention (25.43±3.61 before and 16.35± 2.50 after; P= 0.026). Mean weight and BMI decreased not significantly (P>0.05); all of FBS, serum insulin, IGF-1 and HOMA-IR decreased significantly (P<0.05); and a direct significant correlation between GAGS score and all studied biochemical measurements was found after dietary intervention. The LGL diet plays a dual role in the prevention of hyperinsulinemia by lowering the postprandial insulin demand and improving insulin sensitivity which represents a dietary strategy to alleviate acne. Therefore, diet is believed to be one of the aetio-pathological factors of acne and following a LGL diet may have a therapeutic effect on acne. A nutritionist is required to educate acne
Dynamics of lossless polarization attraction

We study a nonlinear lossless polarizer (NLP), a fiber-based device able to control the polarization of an optical signal while preserving its energy. The NLP exploits the lossless polarization attraction (LPA) generated by the Kerr interactions between the signal and a fully polarized continuous wave (CW) pump. By employing a copropagating pump, we show that the effectiveness of LPA depends on the joint action of the Kerr nonlinearity and the mutual delay between signal and pump. We find the optimal pump wavelength placement and demonstrate that true LPA occurs only within a limited range of delay values. Thus, we explain why the copropagating NLP is more flexible and power efficient compared with the traditional counterpropagating NLP. © 2015 Chinese Laser Press OCIS codes: (060.4370) Nonlinear optics, fibers; (230.5440) Polarization-selective devices; (230.4320) Nonlinear optical devices; (230.1150) All-optical devices.
GGE biplot analysis based selection of superior chickpea(cicer arietinum l.) inbred lines undervariable water environments

Chickpea is an important legume crop and grown mainly on the marginal lands in Pakistan. Insufficient and erratic water availability is severe problem for this crop. Hence, breeding chickpea for low moisture stress tolerance is absolutely important in this era of climate change. Research work was started with evaluation of mini core collection of 450 chickpea lines and 42 lines were retained after three years of selection under different water treatments. These 42 lines were used in current study for evaluation and further selection under three water treatments. Detailed study on these lines was conducted under irrigated, rainfed and tunnel conditions (no rainfall and irrigation) during 2012-13 and 2013-14. Data were collected for yield and yield components which were subjected to analysis of variance and GGE biplot analysis. Analysis showed highly significant differences among lines for all traits under study. Mean comparison showed less differences between irrigated and rainfed conditions than tunnel for all traits. GGE biplot ranked chickpea lines as; above average, below average, stable, unstable and ideally performing. Lines present closer to ideal genotype on GGE biplot were worthy for selection because these had higher mean values with stable performances across different water treatments. The ideal lines in these experiments; K008-11, CM1592/08, CM526/05, D089-11, TGDX201, D094-11 and K051-11 were selected with higher yield potential.
Flavescence doree in France and Italy - Occurrence of closely related phytoplasma isolates and their near relationships to Palatinate grapevine yellows and an alder yellows phytoplasma

Grapevine yellows (GY) are diseases of Vitis vinifera caused by phytoplasmas. On the basis of DNA analysis, it is possible to distinguish different groups and subgroups among grapevine phytoplasmas. Flavescence doree (FD), the most serious problem in European vineyards, is caused by a phytoplasma which belongs to the elm yellows group (EY or 16SrV), Differences between 7 phytoplasma isolates in this group, found until now in French, Italian and German grapevines, and 4 phytoplasmas in the same group, isolated mainly from elm and alder in Europe and America, were investigated. These 11 EY-group isolates plus 3 non-EY phytoplasmas, were compared by PCR-RFLP analyses of two different DNA fragments using 8 restriction enzymes. Two French and two Italian grapevine isolates, classified as FD, appeared to be closely related and were also closer to an Italian alder phytoplasma. One French and one Italian FD isolate always showed the same restriction pattern. On the opposite, the three German grapevine isolates related to alder phytoplasmas in Germany appeared to be closer to the two elm phytoplasmas from America and Europe.
The Real Business Cycle Model for Lesotho

This paper modi…es Hansen’s model of indivisible labour, to include labour exports, which is parameterised and calibrated to mimic some of the Lesotho economy’s distinctive features. Of particular interest in this small open economy framework, is the fact that the household’s average labour supply consists of domestic and foreign components, in which the latter represents labour supplied to the South African mines. To the extent that Lesotho household’s consumption expenditure, on average, exceeds domestic output, shocks to foreign labour income potentially play a critical role in in‡uencing domestic economic activity. The results of this neoclassical model suggest that private consumption rises while domestic output declines due to a positive shock in foreign wages, which attracts labour away from domestic production to foreign mining employment. This result has signi…cant policy implications, in that a conventional demand management policy geared towards consumption has a potential to cause a reces
Regional variation in Lalo : beyond east and west.

Lalo, a Burmic, Central Ngwi language spoken in western Yunnan, China, has been classified as having two dialects: East Mountain and West Mountain (Chen et al., 1985). Wang (2003) mentions a few differences between the dialects, but, in general, previous research has left major patterns of variation and the relative degrees of difference unexplored. Fieldwork conducted in 2008, including the collection of wordlists and texts, reveals a linguistic diversity previously unimagined. This paper presents evidence for the subgrouping of three lower-level dialect clusters: Central, Northwestern, and Eastern, from both a diachronic and a synchronic perspective. Diachronically, shared innovations in tone, initials and rhymes are used as criteria for subgrouping. Synchronically, the Levenshtein distance algorithm is applied to quantify aggregate pronunciation differences (Heeringa, 2004), and the results are presented using NeighborNet network mapping and multidimensional scaling. The synchronic, dialectometric results show a high degree of congruence with the diachronic findings for lower-level clusters. East and West Mountain Lalo are found to group together within the Central Lalo cluster. Northwestern, Eastern, and Central Lalo are clear lower-level subgroups, with possible higher-level connections to each other that distinguish them from peripheral Lalo groups that migrated out of the Lalo homeland area. Besides presenting major regional variation patterns in Lalo, this research furthermore reveals that the degree of difference is considerable, a finding with implications for any future Lalo language planning.
Universal thermodynamic properties of the intracluster medium over two decades in radius in the X-COP sample

Context. The hot plasma in a galaxy cluster is expected to be heated to high temperatures through shocks and adiabatic compression. The thermodynamical properties of the gas encode information on the processes leading to the thermalization of the gas in the cluster’s potential well and on non-gravitational processes such as gas cooling, AGN feedback, shocks, turbulence, bulk motions, cosmic rays and magnetic field. Aims. In this work we present the radial profiles of the thermodynamic properties of the intracluster medium (ICM) out to the virial radius for a sample of 12 galaxy clusters selected from the Planck all-sky survey. We determine the universal profiles of gas density, temperature, pressure, and entropy over more than two decades in radius, from 0.01R500 to 2R500. Methods. We exploited X-ray information from XMM-Newton and Sunyaev-Zel’dovich constraints from Planck to recover thermodynamic properties out to 2R500. We provide average functional forms for the radial dependence of the main quantities and quantify the slope and intrinsic scatter of the population as a function of radius. Results. We find that gas density and pressure profiles steepen steadily with radius, in excellent agreement with previous observational results. Entropy profiles beyond R500 closely follow the predictions for the gravitational collapse of structures. The scatter in all thermodynamical quantities reaches a minimum in the range [0.2 − 0.8]R500 and increases outward. Somewhat surprisingly, we find that pressure is substantially more scattered than temperature and density. Conclusions. Our results indicate that once accreting substructures are properly excised, the properties of the ICM beyond the cooling region (R > 0.3R500) follow remarkably well the predictions of simple gravitational collapse and require few non-gravitational corrections.
EFFECT OF MENOGON ® ON HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMERERS AND BODY WEIGHT OF RABBIT

Department of Animal Breeding and Physiology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. Abia State, Nigeria. Department of Animal Science, University of Benin, Benin City. Nigeria. Correspondence aurthor:james.imasuen@gmail.com Haematological traits and body weight of rabbit bucks treated with Menogon were studied. Twenty-four Crossbreed rabbit bucks weighing 1.3 – 1.6 kg at 15 – 17weeks were randomized into four treatment Menogon doses of 0 I.U. (control), 7.5 I.U. , 15.0 I.U. , and 22.5 I.U in a completely randomized design for 56 days. Each treatment was replicated three times with two bucks per replicate. Samples of blood were collected weekly from the ear vein for haematology. Results of haematology showed that the packed cell volume (%) of 15.0 I.U (33.45 %) was significantly (P<0.05) higher than those of 22.5 I.U (29.33), 7.5 I.U (29.04) and control (28.67) groups. Significant (P<0.05) increase observed in lymphocyte count (%) was higher in the control (51.92) than in 7.5 I.U (49.34), 15.0 I.U (45.83), and 22.5 I.U (43.25) groups. Results of body weight showed higher significant (P<0.05) difference in the average weight gain (0.79 kg) and final weight gain (2.20 kg) of bucks at 22.5 I.U. dose of Menogon. These results revealed that Menogon significantly increased the weight of the rabbit bucks without any adverse effects since the haematological values were within normal range.
Effect of adding 25-hydroxycholecalciferol in plant diets with and without fish meal on rearing results and bones of broiler chickens.

The objective of the research was to determine an impact of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol addition to mixes containing either fish meal or plant-based mixes, on rearing results and thigh and tibial bone physico-chemical characteristics of broiler chickens. A feeding experiment was conducted on 192 Ross 308 broiler chickens arranged in a two-factor design, the factors being a type of feed raw materials used to formulate mixtures and an addition of 25-OH-D3. The chickens were divided into 2 groups (main factor) which were further divided into two subgroups (side factor). Within each subgroup, there were 6 replications consisting of 8 birds. The chickens were reared for 42 days in metal cages with a mesh floor, under standard microclimatic conditions and with an unlimited access to feed and water. They were fed starter (from 1 to 21 days of age) and grower mixtures (from 22 to 42 days of age). Two mixtures were analysed: K1 (including fish meal) and K2 (based on plant material only). The mixtures were supplemented with 62.5 μg 25-OH-D3. Over the first period of rearing (1 to 21 days of age), the most beneficial production results were recorded for birds of the group offered the mixture containing fish meal and 25-hydroxycholecalciferol. The addition of vitamin D3 metabolite significantly (P≤0.05) increased body weight (by 9%) as well as feed and nutrient utilization (by 6%) compared with the group fed the plant material-based mixture. The application of the mixture supplemented with 25-hydroxycholecalciferol significantly (P≤0.05) reduced the weight of both thigh and tibia bones and increased (P≤0.01) crude ash, calcium and phosphorus contents in the above bones of broiler chickens.
Blame attribution among people with developmental disability

We synthesize the main findings from two studies that examined moral judgement abilities in people with autism, and in people with Down syndrome. In both studies, the way these people mentally combine information about the intent of a harmful act and the severity of its consequences when attributing blame to an offender was compared with that of typically developing controls. Adolescents and adults with autism or with Down syndrome were, practically to the same extent as controls, able to take into account both information pieces for attributing blame. It would be an exaggeration to imply that adolescents and adults with either autism or Down syndrome are severely immature in moral judgement based on the fact that they are usually not able to explain or justify their judgements with sophisticated philosophical arguments. By contrast, children with autism blame attribution appeared to be essentially based on consequence information. The finding that adolescents and adults with autism or Down syndrome are able to make moral judgements in a way that is not very different from adolescents and adults of the same age could influence the way these people are perceived, cared for, and attributed basic rights.
An analysis for the compressible Stokes equations by first‐order system of least‐squares finite element method

This article applies the first‐order system least‐squares (fosls) finite element method developed by Cai, Manteuffel and McCormick to the compressible Stokes equations. By introducing a new dependent velocity flux variable, we recast the compressible Stokes equations as a first‐order system. Then it is shown that the ellipticity and continuity hold for the least‐squares functionals employing the mixture of H−1 and L2, so that the fosls finite element methods yield best approximations for the velocity flux and velocity. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 17:689–699, 2001