Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The in vitro behaviour and patterns of colony formation of murine epithelial stem cells

Abstract. Objective: The mechanisms of renewal of skin and mucosal epithelia in vivo are associated with hierarchies of stem and amplifying cells organized in distinct spatial patterns. Stem and amplifying characteristics persist after isolation and growth of human keratinocytes in vitro but the pattern for murine keratinocytes has been less clear. Materials and Methods: Murine keratinocytes were grown in low calcium media and examined for their patterns of colony morphologies. Results: We consistently identified three types of colonies, one of which contains concentric zones of amplifying and differentiated cells surrounding a central zone of cells that have patterns of expression and behavioural characteristic of stem cells. This zonal organization facilitated analysis of stem cell formation and loss. Cells in the central stem cell zone undergo rapid symmetric divisions but expansion of this population is partially limited by their peripheral transition into amplifying cells. A striking feature of central zone cells is their enhanced apoptotic susceptibility and stem cell expansion limited by consistently high background rates of apoptosis. This occasionally reaches catastrophic levels with elimination of the entire central zone. Conclusion: In vitro amplification of stem cells for the generation of engineered tissue has tended to focus on control of asymmetric division but these findings suggest that development of mechanisms protecting stem cells from apoptotic changes are also likely to be of particular value.
Triumphant capitalism and the future of human, social and economic progress in the post‐Cold War era

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to show that there could still be the possibility of a complementary relationship between capitalism and socialism (effective state), so that a higher human, social and economic order is realised. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is a meta-analytical study, which relied on secondary sources of information. It is a qualitative study that is based on conceptual analysis, theory building and “emic” perspective (authors' viewpoint). Findings - With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1998 and the fall of the famous Berlin Wall, the final victory or triumph of capitalism over its alternatives was heralded. This development saw nations, most especially the developing ones, rushing to infuse themselves into the capitalist global system, which is reflected by the opening of borders to the capitalist onslaught. However, soon after this euphoric capitalist triumphalism, capitalism seems to be heading to another cross-road, which is capable of undermining the aforesaid euphoria. As capital is now set to continue its accumulation, expansion and profitability, unemployment is on the rise, as government ability to create lasting employment has become ineffective due to the privatisation of the public sectors, retrenchment by private business, etc. The state of affairs is exacerbating the crime rate (both within nations and globally), ethnic and global tension, poverty and ill-feeling. Hence, there could be other better global alternatives to the current single capitalist triumphant orthodoxy. Practical implications - Socialism has failed and capitalism is in the process of failing. Therefore, the only hope left to resurrect socialism and resuscitate capitalism, is a complementary and comprehensive ideological order. In that sense, there is a need to complement the positive aspects of both ideologies. Originality/value - This paper is original, since no other paper has taken up the topic of “Triumphant capitalism and the future of human, social and economic progress in the post-Cold War era”. The suggestion given in the paper could help to achieve a higher level of human, social and economic progress in the post-Cold War era, most especially in the developing nations.
Soft regulation and the subtle transformation of states: the case of EU employment policy

This article studies the soft regulation developed in the field of EU employment policy from the late 1990s onwards, a type of policy co-ordination that has been termed the ‘Open Method of Coordination’. It focuses on particular regulatory mechanisms, in the section entitled ‘Discursive regulatory mechanisms’, built into this ‘soft’ system of governance, which are related to language use and knowledge making. These include: joint language use (Eurodiscourse); the building of a common knowledge base (including collection and standardization of statistics); the strategic use of comparisons and evaluations; the systematic editing and diffusion of knowledge, combined with social pressure and time pressure. It is argued that these measures together constitute a systematic system of governance with the potential to transform the practices of the member states and thus add to the integration process, albeit by a partly different kind of dynamic than regulation and integration by hard law.
Development and trends of China’s automobile market: evidence from urban household ownership of cars, bicycles, motorcycles and motorbikes

This paper first examines the development, trends, and regional disparities of China's automobile production and ownership, then presents a quantitative analysis of urban household ownership of cars, bicycles, motorcycles, and motorbikes (similar to European mopeds), and finally discusses the potential global impacts of China's emerging automobile market. While the trend analysis of the most recently available time-series data indicates that both production and demand for automobiles, especially cars, in China have increased rapidly since the late 1990s and that China is likely to remain the world's largest or second largest national automobile market, demand analysis using the urban household survey data by income groups from 1997 to 2008 suggests that the ownership of cars is most elastic with respect to real disposable income, followed by motorbikes and motorcycles, and that the ownership of bicycles has shown a negative but insignificant response to income changes.
The Sociocultural Impact of Technology on Adult Immigrant English as a Second Language Learners

For immigrant adult learners, learning English is not only for survival and functioning in the target language (TL) culture, but it is also a means of being able to successfully deal with the inequitable power structures in place in the larger society which deny them access to the culture’s social, economic, and political resources (Norton, 2000). In the United States, the computer is a culturally valued resource and tool used by TL speakers, yet this valued resource is not easily accessible to immigrant adults due to their limited language ability, lack of experience with computers, and/or financial reasons; thus, putting them at an immediate socioeconomic disadvantage in this country. Nevertheless, researchers have argued that today’s language learners must know how to read, write and communicate through electronic mediums due to the computer’s prevalence in many aspects of modern life (Warschauer, 2005). The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of technology on adult immigrant learners as they learn how to use computers formally for the first time within an English as a Second Language curriculum. Specifically, the study seeks to discover which factors contribute to successful computer literacy acquisition, the impact of computer literacy acquisition to their identities, and which pedagogical practices are best suited for this population. The research project took place at a local community college and looked at 25 students, focusing in on five case-profile learners. Using Lave & Wenger’s (1991) Situated Learning Theory and Norton’s (1995) Theory of Investment, Social Identity and Power as a means of examining the above issues, the findings provide evidence that teachers need to consider learners’ identities when designing and
Energy Efficiency Maximization for Device-to-Device Communication Underlaying Cellular Networks on Multiple Bands

As green communication becomes an inevitable trend for future 5G wireless networks, how to maximize the energy efficiency (EE) of device-to-device (D2D) communication has drawn extensive attention recently. However, most of existing works only optimize the EE in the single-cell scenario, while little attention is paid to maximizing the EE of the whole cellular network underlaid with D2D communication with randomly distributed users on multiple bands. In this paper, we first consider the whole cellular network underlaid with D2D communication on multiple bands and derive the exact expressions of the successful transmission probabilities, the average sum rate and the EE based on stochastic geometry theory. Then, we formulate the optimization problem of maximizing the EE subject to four constraints regarding to transmission power and outage probabilities, and the non-convexity of this problem is also verified. After that, by exploiting the objective function property of being the sum of several functions, we propose a derivative-based algorithm to solve this non-convex optimization problem. Our theoretical analysis shows that the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is significantly lower than that of the conventional branch and bound algorithm. Finally, simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve the near-optimal EE with much better performance than the conventional algorithm.
Estimating Suicide Risk Among Attempted Suicides

Summary We predicted that the closer the resemblance of attempted suicide to completed suicide, the greater the risk of patients later killing themselves after an unsuccessful attempt. Using two risk scales, one of 6 and the other of 18 socio-demographic and clinical items, weighted according to their value in discriminating between suicides and attempted suicides, and a rating of intent to die during the index suicide attempt, we followed up 1263 attempted suicides for two years. Ten of the twelve suicidal deaths in the first year occurred in patients scoring in the top quartile on the 6-item scale; and among high-risk scorers there was an excess of those defined as ‘failed suicides' at the index attempt. The 18-item scale was superior to the shorter one, but both scales were improved by taking into account the rating of intent-to-die. The potential value of these findings is discussed in the light of some inherent problems of predicting suicide in the clinical setting.
Staff transfer and management in the government health sector in Balochistan, Pakistan: problems and context.

Despite the existence of rigid civil service systems in many developing countries providing relative stability of public officials, staff posting and transfers are often based on short-term political criteria. This means high staff circulation in key government posts, leading to a situation of ‘instability within stability’. This article analyses high staff circulation in the government health services in Balochistan, Pakistan. The analysis is based on literature review, a small pilot study and authors' experience in the province. The article notes that high staff turnover and, more specifically, circulation are context-specific. Four issues are raised. Firstly, the extent of staff turnover is analysed and references are made to its frequency, the organization and cadre. Secondly, the social and political underpinning of high staff circulation is outlined: political patronage, low implementation of rules, staff preferences and public sector control. Thirdly, the problems of staff turnover are raised with specific reference to the problems of continuity, change and participation. Fourthly, the issue of solutions is raised at two levels: structural change to lessen high staff turnover, and dealing with it on a day-to-day managerial level. Lastly, substantive and methodological issues are raised with respect to taking the analysis further. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Characteristics and treatment of vascular injuries: a review of 387 cases at a Chinese center.

OBJECTIVE To assess clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with vascular injuries. MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 378 consecutive patients with vascular injuries treated at our hospital from January 2000 to December 2012. Basic characteristics (such as gender; age; cause, site, and type of injury; and concomitant injuries) were recorded, and efficacy was compared between treatments for same type/site injuries. RESULTS Vascular injuries occurred most frequently in patients aged 19-50 years, secondary to trauma, and in extremities (73%, 63%, and 84% of cases, respectively), particularly lower ones. Amputation was more common in popliteal artery injury (52.6% of cases); overall, inappropriate diagnosis or treatment or poor vascular anastomosis led to amputation in 17 cases. Extremity vascular patency, while comparable at 12 months, was significantly lower at 24 months after artificial blood-vessel implantation than autogenous vein grafting. Treatment of femoral artery pseudoaneurysm secondary to drug abuse yielded similar amputation but significantly lower limb ischemia rates after bypass graft surgery than arterial ligation. CONCLUSION Initial and temporal outcome differentiation reported here for treatments for peripheral vascular injuries according to type and site underscores the importance of further defining treatment choice consequences, particularly long term ones because most affected patients are aged 19-50 years old.
Alterations in amounts of different forms of inhibin during follicular atresia.

An inhibin immunoblot procedure was validated for measurement of inhibins (alpha beta) and inhibin alpha subunits in bovine follicular fluid (bFF) from individual follicles. Bovine FF was removed from nonovulatory follicles (> or = 6 mm in diameter) of cows during early diestrus. Ratio of progesterone (P) to estradiol (E) concentrations was used to classify follicles into three different stages of differentiation and atresia: estrogen-active (EA; PE ratio < 1), atretic (PE = 1-100), and highly atretic (PE = > 100). Bovine inhibin (bINH) was analyzed by an immunoblot procedure, an RIA that cross-reacts with inhibin alpha beta dimers and alpha subunits, and a two-site alpha beta dimer-specific immunoradiometric assay (IRMA). Immunoblots consistently detected 9 different bINH forms in bFF of each follicle. The average molecular mass for the bINH forms ranged from 29 to > 160 kDa, which was similar to those for purified bINH and bINH alpha subunits. The predominant bINH forms were > or = 122 kDa. Amounts of most bINH forms decreased several fold during atresia of EA follicles. However, the 34-kDa form increased 1.9-fold. To examine whether amounts of each bINH form varied independently during atresia, proportion of total bINH immunoblot activity represented by each bINH form was statistically analyzed. The results indicated that the proportion of total immunoblot activity for the 34-, 68-, and > 160-kDa bINH forms increased during atresia, whereas proportions for the 48-, 49-, and 122-kDa forms decreased. Alterations in amounts of most bINH forms were positively correlated with intrafollicular concentrations of E and negatively correlated with P. In contrast, the 34-kDa bINH form was negatively correlated with E, but positively correlated with P. Total bINH concentrations determined by RIA decreased 3-fold during atresia. However, amounts of most forms of bINH, except the 29-kDa form (r = 0.72), were relatively weakly correlated (r < 0.41) or not correlated with the RIA results. In contrast to RIA results, concentration of dimeric forms of bINH measured by IRMA increased 2.5-fold during atresia, but only the 34-kDa form of bINH was correlated (r = 0.77) with IRMA results. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
The Patchwork text assessment - an integral component of constructive alignment curriculum methodology to support healthcare leadership development

Background: A responsive and innovative postgraduate programme curriculum that produces an effective and competent multi professional healthcare leader whom can lead within the United Kingdom (UK) and international healthcare context offers a promising approach to contributing towards the challenging global healthcare agenda. Aims: The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of utilising constructive alignment curricular methodology incorporating the Patchwork Text Assessment on the healthcare leadership development of UK and international postgraduate students. Design: Case study design, incorporating Kirkpatrick's Five Levels of Evaluation Model. Settings and Participants: 12 post graduate students (multi-professional, UK and international) studying on a healthcare leadership and management programme at one UK University in the North West of England. Methods: Retrieval of the critical commentary produced and submitted by students as part of the Patchwork Text Assessment process. Data Analysis: Thematic content analysis approach. Results: Four key themes emerged demonstrating how the success of constructive alignment and the Patchwork Text Assessment in promoting deep learning for UK and international postgraduate healthcare leadership students is underpinned by principles of good practice and these include: a) Curriculum planners incorporating work based learning activities into the generated learning activities b) Curriculum planners creating the best learning environment so the student can achieve the learning activities c) Providing the learning activities that reflect the real world of healthcare leadership d) Providing students with opportunities to contextualise theory and practice through relevant patchwork activity and learning activities e) Equipping students with the transferable postgraduate skills (through learning activities and patch working) to embark on a journey of lifelong learning and continuous professional development f) Targeting the postgraduate programme /module intended learning outcomes and assessment patches against contemporary leadership qualities frameworks g) Providing students with opportunities to reflect in multi- professional groups that remain constant in terms of facilitator and supervisor h) Creating the learning opportunities for students to apply their learning to their own healthcare organisation
AMINO ACID METABOLISM IN RAT BRAIN STUDIED WITH 14C‐LABELLED GLUCOSE

FOLLOWING the studies of KILLAM and BAIN (1957) in which they showed that seizures induced by several hydrazide compounds could be prevented by administration of pyridoxine or y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) together with the finding that levels of free GABA were lowered in the brain and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activity was depressed, many other workers have studied the effect of a wide variety of drugs on the levels of free amino acids in the brain. Although in certain instances definite changes in the levels of some free amino acids in the brain did occur, it is difficult to correlate such changes with the altered behaviour of the animal such as convulsions or depressed activity (DE ROPP and SNEDEKER 1961 ; KAMRIN and KAMRIN 1961 ; SOEP and JANSSEN 1961). Neither has it been possible to show an unequivocal relationship between the level of free GABA in the brain and the behavioural response of the animal (BAXTER and ROBERTS 1961). Some measure of the rate of formation and utilization of the amino acids in the brains of animals treated with neurotoxic agents compared with normal animals might yield further information about brain metabolism accompanying gross changes in behaviour. BELOFF-CHAIN, CANTAZARO, CHAIN, MAW and POCCHIARI (1955) using brain slices incubated in vitro with [U-14C]glucose were the first to demonstrate the rapid formation of certain free amino acids from glucose. A similar rapid labelling of amino acids in brain from [U-14C]glucose has been shown to occur in vivo after an intravenous injection of isotopically labelled glucose (BUSCH, FUJIWARA and KEER 1960; VRBA 1962; VRBA, GAITONDE and RICHTER 1962) and in brains of cats perfused in situ with a simplified blood containing [U-14C]glucose (GEIGER, KAWAKITA and BARKULIS 1960). In the present work the aim was to measure the specific activity of the amino acids which quickly become labelled from [14C]glucose in normal animals and to study the effect of neurotoxic compounds on this labelling. The study was divided into three parts encompassing measurements of the levels and degree of labelling of amino acids in brain tissue with [U-14C]glucose as the radioactive source in (i) brain cortex slices incubated in vifro with and without added drugs (ii) whole brains of control and intoxicated rats given [U-14C]glucose intravenously and (iii) slices of brain cortex prepared from rats intoxicated in vivo and the slices incubated with [U-laC] glucose in vitro. The neurotoxic compounds chosen for comparative studies with control animals were two organo-metal compounds, triethyltin and triethyl-lead. Previous studies on these two substances have shown them to bring about very different behavioural
The Hidden Face of Endogenous Growth Theory: Analytical and Ideological Perspectives in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization

The endogenous growth models are generally presented as (1) a macrodynamic version of Walras's general equilibrium, with microeconomic bases; (2) a break with Solow's representation, which proved incapable of explaining growth; (3) identifying present motors of technical progress and growth by mobilizing notions of knowledge, externalities, and increasing returns; (4) rehabilitating state intervention, particularly in social areas (research, education, etc.); and (5) closing the gap between neoclassical authors and heterodox issues. These positions, on which a consensus has been built, are erroneous. The aim of this article is to contribute to the critique of these models by throwing light on their hidden face, especially on the ambiguities surrounding the state's role in the era of neoliberal globalization.
OUTCOME OF ADOPTIONS: HAVE COUPLES REALISED THEIR DREAM?

Despite the wide use and success rate of ART (assisted reproductive technology) such as in vitro fertilisation, artificial insemination with donor seed, gamete donation, embryo transfer and surrogate motherhood, these technologies are not an option for many couples (for technical/biological/financial reasons and ethical/moral objections). As Grinion (2007:134) states: “The irony is that, on the one hand, reproductive technologies offer hope where previously none existed, while on the other hand they introduce a series of complex, expensive, and often morally troubling treatment modalities. ” After having contemplated all alternatives from either a moral, ethical, economic or all-encompassing point of view, adoption is often the only remaining alternative to couples who want a child and live the dream of being a family. South Africa has a long practice and well-researched history of adoption (De Bruyn, 1976; De Bruyn, 1989; De Vos, 1995; Lombard, 1976; Mouton, 1976; Pakati, 1984; Van Delft, 1983).