Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphological and biochemical study of the pineal gland of pregnant and non-pregnant female vizcachas (Lagostomus maximus maximus).

OBJECTIVES The morphological and biochemical aspects of the pineal gland of pregnant and non-pregnant female vizcachas were investigated to examine whether there is a relationship between the pregnancy and this gland. METHODS Pregnant and non-pregnant adult female vizcachas were used. The ultrastructure of type I cell (dark and light pinealocytes) was studied. Pineal and serum melatonin were investigated by radioimmunoassay. Radiometric methods were applied to investigate the arylalkylamine-N-acetyltransferase (AA-NAT) and hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase (HIOMT) activities. RESULTS The morphological study showed the existence of dark and light pinealocytes. The differences between both cells are slight. However, the appearance of dark pinealocytes suggests that they have a high activity. These cells were more abundant in the pineal gland of pregnant females. The pineal melatonin levels and the AA-NAT activity were higher in the pregnant females. Serum melatonin and HIOMT activity did not show significant differences. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that the morphological and biochemical changes in the pineal gland of pregnant vizcachas are associated with the gestation. However, the relation between the pineal gland and the pregnancy is complex and further studies are necessaries to clearly establish it.
Characterization of the Aspergillus nidulans aspnd1 gene demonstrates that the ASPND1 antigen, which it encodes, and several Aspergillus fumigatus immunodominant antigens belong to the same family

For the first time, an immunodominant Aspergillus nidulans antigen (ASPND1) consistently reactive with serum samples from aspergilloma patients has been purified and characterized, and its coding gene (aspnd1) has been cloned and sequenced. ASPND1 is a glycoprotein with four N-glycosidically-bound sugar chains (around 2.1 kDa each) which are not necessary for reactivity with immune human sera. The polypeptide part is synthesized as a 277-amino-acid precursor of 30.6 kDa that after cleavage of a putative signal peptide of 16 amino acids, affords a mature protein of 261 amino acids with a molecular mass of 29 kDa and a pI of 4.24 (as deduced from the sequence). The ASPND1 protein is 53.1% identical to the AspfII allergen from Aspergillus fumigatus and 48% identical to an unpublished Candida albicans antigen. All of the cysteine residues and most of the glycosylation sites are perfectly conserved in the three proteins, suggesting a similar but yet unknown function. Analysis of the primary structure of the ASPND1 coding gene (aspnd1) has allowed the establishment of a clear relationship between several previously reported A. fumigatus and A. nidulans immunodominant antigens.
Efficacy and safety of cefepime in late-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia in infants: a pilot randomized and controlled study

Abstract Multidrug-resistant organisms cause late-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). In a pilot, randomized and controlled study, the efficacy and safety of cefepime, in late-onset VAP in infants, have now been evaluated in Malaysia. Thirty children aged <1 year with late-onset VAP (i.e. VAP occurring 5 or more days after intubation) were randomized to receive cefepime or, as a control, ceftazidime. The clinical responses and the microbiological clearance of tracheal aspirates were evaluated in each arm. Adverse events, if any, were monitored clinically and by blood tests. Ten of the 15 children given cefepime and five of the 15 given ceftazidime showed a satisfactory clinical response (P<0.1). Cefepime appeared significantly better at clearing polymicrobial infections from tracheal aspirates. There were no fatalities in the cefepime arm but three in ceftazidime (P<0.1). The mean (S.E.) durations of antibiotic use were 9.4 (1.5) days for cefepime and 7.6 (1.0) days for ceftazidime (P>0.05). No serious adverse effects were observed in either arm. In conclusion, in late-onset VAP in infants, cefepime monotherapy appears to be at least as effective and safe as ceftazidime monotherapy, with better microbiological clearance.
Factors driving Indian consumer’s purchase intention of roof top solar

Purpose The solar energy sector has been growing with dramatic reduction in commercial pricing, improved efficiencies and improved deployments/usage conveniences. The purpose of this study is to understand the drivers of the purchase intent for rooftop (RT) solar. This will enable policymakers to improve the penetration of this new and promising green technology. Design/methodology/approach This research leverages the framework of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) to identify and build a quantitative approach to identify factors (and their relative impact on) the purchase intent of a domestic RT solar buyer. The 400 respondents’ field data were collected in Bangalore (a high RT solar penetration region) and Delhi NCR (relatively lower RT solar penetration region). Findings The exploratory factor analysis study revealed that the consumers’ purchase intention of RT Solar is shaped by seven main factors, namely, environmental concerns, social beliefs, hedonic motivation, performance expectancy, price value, self-efficacy and effort expectancy, and that these factors explain 79.2 per cent of the field data. This study finds that social beliefs followed by effort expectance concerns are key factors explaining approximately 20 per cent of the purchase intent each, while unit change in price value beliefs explain about 18 per cent of the purchase intent. Practical implications Suggested policy measures include building on strengthening emergence of local solar evangelist groups in the communities and easing effort expectance items (e.g. building legal, regulatory frameworks and financial tools for solar penetration models such as renewable energy services companies). Originality/value This paper is the first attempt to model the consumer behavior of the Indian RT solar photovoltaic buyer leveraging the UTAUT2.
Normograde and retrograde pinning of the distal fragment in humeral fractures of the dog.

OBJECTIVE To determine if normograde and retrograde pinning of the distal humeral fragment, to maximize pin purchase in this fragment, would damage vital structures in and around the elbow and shoulder joints in dogs. STUDY DESIGN Anatomic study. SAMPLE POPULATION Cadaveric dogs (n = 12; 12 thoracic limb pairs). METHODS Twelve thoracic limb pairs were harvested from cross-breed dogs and 1 thoracic limb from each pair was allocated to 1 of 3 groups. A transverse osteotomy was created at the junction of the middle and distal thirds in the diaphyseal fracture group (n = 8) and proximal to the supracondylar foramen in the metaphyseal fracture group (n = 8). The humeri in the normograde group (n = 8) were left intact. In all specimens in the distal and supracondylar fracture groups, retrograde pinning of the distal fragment was performed with the elbow flexed. The pins were driven into the medial epicondyle until they exited the skin caudal to the elbow. Dissection of the soft tissues around the exit tract of the pin was performed. The fracture was then reduced and the pin was advanced until it exited the proximal humeral fragment. In the specimens in the normograde group, pinning was initiated on the distal aspect of the medial epicondyle. The pin was directed parallel to the caudal aspect of the medial epicondyle and driven proximally into the humerus until it exited the proximal humerus. RESULTS Pins exiting the distal aspect of the medial epicondyle passed through muscle origins in 7 specimens in the diaphyseal osteotomy group and in all 8 specimens in the metaphyseal group. The ulnar nerve was entrapped in 1 specimen in the metaphyseal osteotomy group; however, it was not entrapped in any of the specimens in the diaphyseal osteotomy group. The articular cartilage of the trochlea was damaged in 2 specimens in each of the retrograde pinned groups. There was no damage to articular or periarticular structures by pins exiting the proximal humerus. CONCLUSION Retrograde pinning of the distal fragment in humeral fractures in the dog may damage the articular cartilage and cannot be recommended.
Study of creeping discharges propagating over epoxy resin insulators in presence of different gases and mixtures

This work shows that the discharges pattern and final length, L<inf>f</inf>, of creeping discharges depend on the amplitude and polarity of the voltage, the type of gas (mixture) and pressure similarly as in the case of the materials we investigated previously. L<inf>f</inf> is longer when the point is positive than when it's negative; this is likely due to the influence of space charge on the electric field. L<inf>f</inf> increases quasi-linearly with the voltage; it's reduced when the pressure is increased. L<inf>f</inf> is shorter in SF<inf>6</inf> than in CO<inf>2</inf> or N<inf>2</inf>. On the other hand, the increase of SF<inf>6</inf> content in SF<inf>6</inf>-CO<inf>2</inf> mixture leads to a significant decrease of L<inf>f</inf>. Therefore the addition of small concentration of SF<inf>6</inf> in a given gas mixture improve the dielectric strength of insulating structure.
Adjuvant Chemoimmunotherapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients: Adriamycin, Interleukin‐2, and Lymphokine‐Activated Killer Cells Versus

To determine improved postresection survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, two postoperative protocols were compared: adoptive Chemoimmunotherapy versus chemotherapy. Following resection, 24 patients were allocated at random to receive (1) arterial infusion of Adriamycin. re-combinant interlcukin-2 and lymphokine-activated killer cells or (2) arterial infusion of Adriamycin alone. The spleen was removed at operation and used to prepare lymphokine-activated killer cells. Each group had 12 patients. They were followed until signs of recurrence appeared. The overall survival rates of the patients were 91.7%, 82.9%, and 72.5% at 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively, and slightly higher than would be expected with surgery alone. No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups either in the survival rate (generalized Wilcoxon test, P = .936) or in the cumulative disease free rate (P = .182). However, when patients who had had hepatic resection with negative margin (≥1 cm) were separated, the 2-year cumulative disease-free rate in the adoptive Chemoimmunotherapy was higher (83.3%, n = 6) than that in chemotherapy (37.5%, n = 8). Toxicity to adoptive Chemoimmunotherapy was moderate; no severe side effects were observed. Totally no statistical difference between the two groups was found. Although only one of six patients in adoptive Chemoimmunotherapy experienced recurrence after hepatic resection with negative margin, it was not feasible to determine the role of interleukin-2 and lymphokine-activated killer cells. We conclude that the adoptive Chemoimmunotherapy in this study is not an ideal adjuvant protocol after hepatic resection.
The Impact of Forced Displacement on Host Communities: A Review of the Empirical Literature in Economics

The paper reviews 49 empirical studies that estimate the impact of forced displacement on host communities. A review of the empirical models used by these studies and a meta-analysis of 762 separate results collected from them are the main contributions of the paper. Coverage extends to 17 major forced displacement crises that occurred between 1922 and 2015, to host countries at different levels of economic development and different types of forced migrants. The focus is on outcomes related to household well-being, prices, employment, and wages. All studies can be classified as ex post quasi-natural experiments. The analysis on empirical modeling shows a preference for partial equilibrium modeling, differences-in-differences evaluation methods, and cross-section econometrics, with all these choices largely dependent on the type of data available. The meta-analysis on household well-being shows that between 45 and 52 percent of the results are positive and significant, indicating a net improvement in household well-being. An additional 34 to 42 percent of the results are found to be nonsignificant, and 6 to 20 percent show a decrease in household well-being. The analyses on employment and wages show positive and significant improvements for 12 to 20 percent of the results, nonsignificant results in 63 percent of the cases, and negative and significant results for 22 to 25 percent of the results. Negative results on employment and wages relate to young and informal workers in middle-income countries. The results on prices show asymmetric behavior across types of products. Overall, the probability of having a negative outcome for host communities in the consumer and labor markets is below 20 percent.
Linking Entrepreneurial Skills and Opportunity Recognition with Improved Food Distribution in the Context of the CPEC: A Case of Pakistan

Far-reaching changes in the domestic and global markets are crafting big avenues for farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs. This study examines the agriculture entrepreneurship and farmers’ performance in the context of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). A survey was conducted to collect primary data from three agricultural zones adjacent to the under-construction CPEC in Pakistan. According to the results, market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, innovation orientation, and opportunity recognition positively influence agriculture entrepreneurship thereby facilitating timely distribution of food commodities in ensuring food security. Our findings also indicate that uptake of entrepreneurship complements farmers’ marketing, operational and economic performance. These findings do imply that improving farmers’ entrepreneurial skills is the essential element for their improved performance in terms of locating potential markets and timely delivery of primary commodities, such as food items. It suggests that farmers might seek enormous economic opportunities arising from improved infrastructure, output linkages, connectivity and access to global markets through the CPEC. Based on the findings, the study provides implications for policymakers to channelize the potential endeavors for facilitating the farmers’ access to new markets and getting the foremost advantage of Belt and Road Initiative. The study also extends the existing literature on agriculture entrepreneurship-opportunity recognition and access to new markets in a befitting manner.
Auditory and Visual Cueing of the [±Rounded] Feature Of Vowels

That lipreading plays a role in phoneme recognition, even when the acoustic signal alone is phonologically unambiguous, has been concluded from experiments in the perception of discrepant combinations of acoustic and visual speech signals. Little is known about the effect of visual information on explicitly phonetic judgments, the kind of judgments made by trained observers that are the basis for describing the phonological pattern of a language. In this study some isolated vowels, most of them similar to vowels in standard French, were produced in ten random orders by an experienced phonetician. The acoustic signals and frontal views of the lower half of the speaker's face were recorded on video tape. By computer editing, audiovisual stimuli were prepared in which pairs of vowels supposed to differ primarily in rounding were variously combined. Twenty French-speaking speech researchers carried out three tasks: to decide on the rounding of each vowel by sound alone, by sight alone, and by sound when accompanied by matching or discrepant images of the talker. Their summed responses indicate that, despite the instruction to base decisions on the auditory signal, visual evidence of speech activity significantly “perturbed” subjects' rounding judgments. However, the lipreading effect varied greatly across both subjects and vowels. Most subjects judged most vowels strictly on the basis of the auditory information, while for others lipreading exerted paramount influence. Only a small minority responded so as to indicate any integration of discrepant rounding information registered by ear and eye.
Polymorphonuclear Neutrophil-Derived Ectosomes Interfere with the Maturation of Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells1

Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) are a key component of the innate immune system. Their activation leads to the release of potent antimicrobial agents through degranulation. Simultaneously, PMNs release cell surface-derived microvesicles, so-called ectosomes (PMN-Ect). PMN-Ect are rightside-out vesicles with a diameter of 50–200 nm. They expose phosphatidylserine in the outer leaflet of their membrane and down-modulate monocyte/macrophage-activation in vitro. In this study, we analyzed the effects of PMN-Ect on maturation of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs). Intriguingly, exposing immature MoDCs to PMN-Ect modified their morphology, reduced their phagocytic activity, and increased the release of TGF-β1. When immature MoDCs were incubated with PMN-Ect and stimulated with the TLR4 ligand LPS, the maturation process was partially inhibited as evidenced by reduced expression of cell surface markers (CD40, CD80, CD83, CD86, and HLA-DP DQ DR), inhibition of cytokine-release (IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, and TNF-α), and a reduced capacity to induce T cell proliferation. Together these data provide evidence that PMN-Ect have the ability to modify MoDC maturation and function. PMN-Ect may thus represent an as yet unidentified host-factor influencing MoDC maturation at the site of injury, thereby possibly impacting on downstream MoDC-dependent immunity.
Long-term follow-up of HBsAg-positive patients in Germany

Background Little is known about the prognosis and complications of chronic hepatitis B in countries with low disease prevalence including Germany. Materials and methods This retrospective/prospective study analyzes the course of 608 HBsAg-positive patients between 2002 and 2012 in Germany. The follow-up duration was 5.2±2.9 years (mean±SD) and the age of the patients was 40.4±13.8 years. Of the total cohort, 59.9% were men; 34.9% had been born in Germany, 30.4% in Turkey, and 34.7% in other countries. Results In 78.3% of women, diagnosis was made during pregnancy screening, which is the only reinforced screening procedure in Germany. During follow-up, 21 patients died, five had a LTX, and 20 developed a hepatocellular carcinoma. Of the total cohort, 15% developed at least one severe liver-associated complication. By multivariate analysis, prognosis was associated with high age and cirrhosis, but not with sex, HBV-DNA, alanine aminotransferase, and ethnic origin. Of the 608 patients, 211 (34.7%) had at least one antiviral therapy. Of the 178 patients who were treated with nucleot(s)ides at the last visit 88.8% had an HBV-DNA less than 20 IU/ml. Conclusion Today, in Germany, hepatitis B is a disease of migrants. The present data show that mandatory screening is effective and needs to include more high-risk groups. Mortality and complications including hepatocellular carcinoma are associated primarily with cirrhosis and age, but not with HBeAg status or viral load probably because modern therapies considerably reduce viral replication in almost all patients. The prognosis is exclusively determined by the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Extractive Reserves in the Brazilian Amazon thirty years after Chico Mendes: social movement achievements, territorial expansion and continuing struggles

The Brazilian Amazon contains the largest remaining contiguous forest in the tropics, but also faces strong development pressures and one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. In the 30 years since the murder of the rubber tapper leader Chico Mendes and the subsequent creation of Extractive Reserves (ERs), this protected area model continues to be a conservation and development strategy that strives to secure land for forest-dependent smallholders and stem the advance of large-scale deforestation in the region. As of August 2018, 76 federal and state ERs have been created in the Brazilian Amazon, spanning over 14 million ha. Despite three decades of ER implementation and its importance to people-based conservation, there has not yet been a region-wide analysis of this model. In order to fill this gap, we analyze the spatial and temporal trajectory of ERs and how the implementation of this policy played out differently across Amazonian states. Grounded in a political ecology framework, we identify four phases of ERs implementation (inception, consolidation, expansion, and stagnation). We assess the land allotted in each state to ER protection and examine the federal and state-level political and institutional dynamics that may have favored or limited the growth of the ER model. Although ERs made an impressive impact, and remain in the spotlight of environmental policy debates in Brazil, challenges remain to combat continued pressures at Amazon development frontiers. This paper contributes to better understanding the current condition of the ER model and provides lessons for its continued implementation in the Brazilian Amazon, and its role in forest conservation.
Educating for professional responsibility - a normative dimension of higher education

This paper has the politically defined mandate of higher education as its starting point to highlight and discuss contemporary challenges in relation to its normative dimension that are illustrated by examples from Norwegian higher education. A central question in the first part of the paper is whether there has been a change in the public understanding of the normative responsibility of higher education. Is there a move towards an understanding of the main responsibility of higher education as that of providing society with technical expertise and professionals who give precedence to financial interests, entrepreneurial and innovative ideas − at the expense of moral and civic values? In the second part of the paper, it is argued that greater awareness of the normative dimension of higher education is called for – here illustrated with the case of educating for professional responsibility. It is suggested that a teaching approach based on the model of deliberative communication provides an appropriate means of increasing moral consciousness of professional responsibility. Students may gain greater ability to see and critically examine the moral and societal implications of their future professional responsibility if issues of professional responsibility are linked to the societal frameworks in which professionals are to operate.