Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeting cannabinoid receptor CB2 in cardiovascular disorders: promises and controversies

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, which can be largely attributed to atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammation of the arteries characterized by lesions containing immune and smooth muscle cells, lipids and extracellular matrix. In recent years, the lipid endocannabinoid system has emerged as a new therapeutic target in variety of disorders associated with inflammation and tissue injury, including those of the cardiovascular system. The discovery that Δ‐9‐tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9‐THC), the main active constituent of marijuana, inhibited atherosclerotic plaque progression via a cannabinoid 2 (CB2) receptor‐dependent anti‐inflammatory mechanism, and that certain natural and synthetic cannabinoid ligands could modulate the myocardial or cerebral ischaemia–reperfusion‐induced tissue damage, have stimulated impetus for a growing number of studies investigating the implication of CB2 receptors in atherosclerosis, restenosis, stroke, myocardial infarction and heart failure. The aim of this review is to update on recent findings and controversies on the role of CB2 receptors in cardiovascular disease. Particular emphasis will be placed on novel insights in the potential cellular targets of CB2 stimulation in cardiovascular system (e.g. endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells, cardiomyocytes, infiltrating and/or resident monocytes/macrophages and leukocytes, etc.), their interplay and intracellular signalling mechanisms identified, as well as on experimental and clinical studies.
Trade liberalization and child labor in selected SAARC and ASEAN countries

iv ABSTRAK . vi TABLE OF CONTENTS . viii LIST OF TABLES . xiii LIST OF FIGURES . xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS / ACRONYMS . xv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Chapter Overview . 1 1.2 Introduction . 1 1.3 Research Background . 4 1.4 Definitions of Child Labor . 8 1.5 Child Labor in SAARC and ASEAN . 9 1.6 Trade and Child Labor . 12 1.7 New Trade Theory and Child Labor . 16 1.8 Problem Statement . 18 1.9 Objective of the Study . 22
Excessive Tryptophan Catabolism Along the Kynurenine Pathway Precedes Ongoing Sepsis in Critically Ill Patients

It has recently been shown that an increased plasma level of the tryptophan catabolite kynurenine is an early indicator for the development of sepsis in major trauma patients. We examined the predictive value of kynurenine pathway activity for ongoing sepsis in patients being admitted to a surgical intensive care unit for different reasons. In addition, we asked whether an accumulation of kynurenines in patients’ plasma depends on reduced renal clearance. We conducted a prospective observational study including 100 consecutive patients and monitored laboratory variables, physiological and adverse events, sepsis and outcome. Using tandem mass spectrometry, we quantified the five indoleamines tryptophan, serotonin (5-HT), kynurenine, quinolinic acid and kynurenic acid at baseline and twice a week during the intensive care unit stay. Among the patients enrolled, 50 did not develop sepsis in the intensive care unit (non-septic), 18 patients did not have sepsis at baseline but developed sepsis later on (preseptic) and 32 patients already fulfilled the criteria of severe sepsis and septic shock at baseline (septic). In general, non-septic critically ill patients showed activation of the kynurenine pathway, but septic shock coincided with an exacerbation of kynurenine pathway activity even in the absence of renal failure. Importantly, plasma concentrations of quinolinic acid (area under the curve 0.832 [95% confidence interval 0.710 to 0.954]) and the Quin/Trp ratio (area under the curve 0.835 [95% confidence interval; 0.719 to 0.952]) showed the best discrimination between non-septic and pre-septic patients at baseline. These findings open new avenues for further investigations on the pathophysiology of sepsis.
Occurrence of anti‐retinal ganglion cell antibodies in patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung

This report describes a patient with small‐cell carcinoma of the lung associated with blindness. The serum of this patient was tested for immunoreactivity with retinal sections because there was no evidence of tumor metastasis to the central nervous system and because neuroendocrine cells of the lung share common antigens with retinal neurons. The immunoglobulins in the sera from this patient, from two other patients with small‐cell carcinoma, from two patients with multiple sclerosis and from three controls were reacted with 8 μm thick sections of retina. Dog, cat and human retinal sections were used. Antihuman immunoglobulins that were conjugated to horseradish peroxidase were used as the second antibody to identify the cells which bound the patients' immunoglobulins. A high titer (1:500) antibody level against retinal ganglion cells was found in the patient with small‐cell carcinoma and blindness; the antibody reaction was similar with retina from the three species. The large ganglion cells bound the immunoglobulins of the patients with small‐cell carcinoma and blindness while the immunoglobulins from the control and multiple sclerosis subjects did not bind these cells selectively at high dilutions. It remains to be shown whether these antibodies have an etiologic significance in the development of blindness.
Intravertebral clefts in osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.

OBJECTIVE To describe the characteristics, radiographic appearance, and significance of intravertebral clefts in vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) of patients with osteoporosis presenting for vertebroplasty. METHODS This was a prospective radiographic study of 50 consecutive patients with 82 VCFs who underwent vertebroplasty at a tertiary referral center. Patients underwent imaging preoperatively with standing lateral and supine cross-table lateral radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Standing lateral radiographs were also obtained postoperatively. Clefts were defined at the time of vertebroplasty as confluent reservoirs for polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). Postoperatively, all images were reexamined for the presence and characterization of intravertebral clefts. RESULTS Twenty-four of 50 patients (48%) had clefted VCFs, and 30 of 82 VCFs (37%) contained clefts. Clefted VCFs were severe, dynamically mobile, and occurred primarily in the thoracolumbar junction. Clefts were detectable by standing lateral radiography in 14%, by supine cross-table radiography in 64%, and by MRI in 96% of fractured vertebrae. Clefts occurred primarily in the anterosuperior portion of the vertebral body, and cleft margins appeared increasingly sclerotic in persistently mobile VCFs. PMMA fill patterns of clefted and unclefted VCFs were distinct. CONCLUSION Intravertebral clefts occur frequently in osteoporotic VCFs of patients who present for vertebroplasty. The radiographic characteristics of clefts evolve over time and can be indistinguishable from Kümmell's disease in severe, persistently mobile, clefted osteoporotic VCFs.
Influence of subject age on the inhibition of oxidative metabolism by ciprofloxacin

Case reports suggest that the magnitude of inhibition of oxidative metabolism produced by ciprofloxacin may be greater in elderly subjects. We examined the effect of oral ciprofloxacin on antipyrine disposition in 13 young (ages, 23 to 34 years) and 9 elderly (ages, 65 to 82 years) healthy volunteers. Ciprofloxacin decreased antipyrine oral clearance in young and elderly subjects (P less than 0.05), with the average decreases being similar in both groups (23.3% for the young subjects and 27.9% for the elderly subjects). Ciprofloxacin concentrations in serum were significantly higher (mean, 57%) in the elderly. The formation clearance of 4-hydroxyantipyrine and 3-hydroxymethylantipyrine was also significantly decreased in both groups of subjects; however, norantipyrine formation, accounting for 15 to 20% of antipyrine clearance, was reduced only in the elderly. These results suggest that elderly subjects are not more sensitive to the inhibitory effect of ciprofloxacin on antipyrine metabolism. However, careful clinical monitoring is necessary with all patients, irrespective of age, taking ciprofloxacin concomitantly with drugs primarily eliminated by the cytochrome P-450 system.
Aging Effect on Audiovisual Integrative Processing in Spatial Discrimination Task

Multisensory integration is an essential process that people employ daily, from conversing in social gatherings to navigating the nearby environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of aging on modulating multisensory integrative processes using event-related potential (ERP), and the validity of the study was improved by including “noise” in the contrast conditions. Older and younger participants were involved in perceiving visual and/or auditory stimuli that contained spatial information. The participants responded by indicating the spatial direction (far vs. near and left vs. right) conveyed in the stimuli using different wrist movements. electroencephalograms (EEGs) were captured in each task trial, along with the accuracy and reaction time of the participants’ motor responses. Older participants showed a greater extent of behavioral improvements in the multisensory (as opposed to unisensory) condition compared to their younger counterparts. Older participants were found to have fronto-centrally distributed super-additive P2, which was not the case for the younger participants. The P2 amplitude difference between the multisensory condition and the sum of the unisensory conditions was found to correlate significantly with performance on spatial discrimination. The results indicated that the age-related effect modulated the integrative process in the perceptual and feedback stages, particularly the evaluation of auditory stimuli. Audiovisual (AV) integration may also serve a functional role during spatial-discrimination processes to compensate for the compromised attention function caused by aging.
The Level of Disclosure in Annual Reports of Banks: The Case of Slovenia

Abstract Background and Purpose: Many studies have explored the disclosures in annual reports of companies. Annual reports of banks differ significantly from annual reports of other business entities, particularly in terms of disclosed items. The aim of this article is to investigate the level of disclosures and which factors influence the level of disclosure in the annual reports of banks in Slovenia. Design/Methodology/Approach: We have observed disclosures of all banks in Slovenia for year 2012 and 2015. The factors as used in the study are age, size, the government share, profitability and complexity of a bank. Our disclosure checklist consists of 144 voluntary and mandatory items. Statistical analysis is performed using linear regression analysis. Results: The average score for banks in Slovenia is near 94 points or 63% of all possible disclosures. The results of analyses indicated positive associations and statistical correlations between the level of disclosure in annual reports and the size of a bank, the share of government ownership and negative statistical influence of the age of bank on the level of disclosure. Our results do not show statistically significant correlation between the level of disclosure and a bank’s profitability and complexity, which is against theory and findings from other similar research. Conclusion: In our opinion, results well reflect the Slovenian banking system and how banks reveal their information. Our finding is that banks in Slovenia provide less information to the public compared to the average companies in other branches or banks in similarly developed countries. The paper’s main contribution is to deepen our knowledge about disclosures in the bank’s annual reports and the answers what are the influential factors of disclosures for banks.
Coronary circulation in arterial hypertension.

Arterial hypertension is the most common cause of congestive heart failure and an important risk factor in coronary artery disease (CAD). However, even in the absence of CAD, coronary reserve is frequently impaired in hypertensive patients. To study whether the reduced coronary reserve is due to the degree of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) or is a consequence of primary vascular alterations, coronary reserve was determined in 31 hypertensive patients (age of 56 +/- 10 years; systolic/diastolic blood pressure of 167 +/- 18/98 +/- 9 mm Hg) with angina pectoris and normal coronary angiogram. Coronary reserve was determined by measuring coronary resistance before and after dipyridamole (0.5 mg/kg of body weight i.v.). Coronary blood flow was measured quantitatively by the gas chromatographic argon method. LV muscle mass was measured by ventriculography. Twelve normotensive patients (age of 52 +/- 8 years) were studied for comparison. Coronary resistance was 20% higher in hypertensive than in normotensive patients, whereas coronary blood flow at rest was not significantly different. The maximal coronary blood flow after dipyridamole was 40% lower in hypertensive than in normotensive patients; accordingly, minimal coronary resistance was significantly increased by 112% in hypertensive patients (p less than 0.0005). Coronary reserve was reduced by 37% (p less than 0.001) in hypertensive patients compared with normotensive patients. Between the impairment in coronary reserve and left ventricular muscle mass, no significant correlation (r = 0.024, n.s.) was found. The impaired coronary vasodilator reserve is reflected by episodes of transient myocardial ischemia during ST-segment monitoring.
Preoperative Predictors for Residual Tumor after Surgery in Patients with Ovarian Carcinoma

Objectives: Suboptimal debulking (>1 cm residual tumor) results in poor survival rates for patients with an advanced stage of ovarian cancer. The purpose of this study was to develop a prediction model, based on simple preoperative parameters, for patients with an advanced stage of ovarian cancer who are at risk of suboptimal cytoreduction despite maximal surgical effort. Methods: Retrospective analysis of 187 consecutive patients with a suspected clinical diagnosis of advanced-stage ovarian cancer undergoing upfront debulking between January 1998 and December 2003. Preoperative parameters were Karnofsky performance status, ascites and serum concentrations of CA 125, hemoglobin, albumin, LDH and blood platelets. The main outcome parameter was residual tumor >1 cm. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was employed for testing possible prediction models. A clinically applicable graphic model (nomogram) for this prediction was to be developed. Results: Serum concentrations of CA 125 and blood platelets in the group with residual tumor >1 cm were higher in comparison to the optimally cytoreduced group (p < 0.0001 and <0.01, respectively). Serum albumin and hemoglobin levels were lower in the group with residual tumor (p < 0.0001 and <0.05, respectively). The frequency of preoperative ascites was higher in the group with residual tumor (p < 0.0005). The prediction model, consisting of CA 125 and albumin, for remaining with residual tumor showed an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.79. A nomogram for probability of residual tumor >1 cm based on serum levels of CA 125 and albumin was established. Conclusion: Postoperative residual tumor despite maximal surgical effort can be predicted by preoperative CA 125 and serum albumin levels. With a nomogram based on these two parameters, probability of postoperative residual tumor in each individual patient can be predicted. This proposed nomogram may be valuable in daily routine practice for counseling and to select treatment modality.
The Impact of Access to Electricity on Education and Other Essays in Spatial Economics

of ”The Impact of Access to Electricity on Education and Other Essays in Spatial Economics” by Timothy L. Squires, Ph.D., Brown University, May 2015 The first chapter examines how district size affects the bargaining power of teachers unions and the allocation of school resources. Our identification strategy exploits the fact that 33 states mandate collective bargaining while 5 states prohibit it. In states that mandate collective bargaining, we find that beginning salaries and the premium paid to experienced teachers increase with district size while the teacher-pupil ratio declines with district size. In contrast, in states that prohibit collective bargaining we find a negative relationship between district size and the premium paid to experienced teachers. The second chapter examines malaria’s impact on economics activity. Previous research estimating the impact of malaria on economic activity has been inconclusive and has struggled with certain estimation problems. Specifically, there are concerns that previous results have been driven by country specific characteristics, poor measures of malaria, or the presence of other diseases. This paper addresses each of these concerns. I introduce a novel and more accurate measure of malaria at the grid square level to reduce the measurement error problem. By using this geographically finer measure of malaria, combined with nighttime lights and population data as a proxy for economic activity, I am able to control for country fixed effects. The results suggest that reducing malaria prevalence by 20% would increase GDP by 20%. The third chapter estimates the effect of access to electricity on school attendance and educational attainment. I take advantage of individual level data matched with community level electrification dates, allowing me to study the effect of access to electricity on completed education as well as the age-specific hazard of dropping out of school. Contrary to expectations, I find that access to electricity reduces educational attainment. The reduction in education was accompanied by an increase in childhood employment, suggesting that improved labor market opportunities, due to electricity access, led to the increased dropout rates.
Measuring the Level of Community Participation in a Demand Driven Development Project: Case of Hazina Ya Maendeleo Ya Pwani Approach in Coastal Kenya

While active participation of beneficiary communities in development initiatives is often considered critical, its value however, cannot be empirically determined without a good measure of the level of community participation. The objective of this study was to determine the level of community participation in the implementation of projects financed through a community grant facility referred in Kiswahili as Hazina Ya Maendeleo Ya Pwani (HMP). The HMP project adopted a Community Driven Development (CDD) approach in engaging coastal communities in development initiatives. The research was carried out at the Kenya coastal region comprising six counties namely, Mombasa, Taita Taveta, Kwale, Kilifi, Lamu and Tana River. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive (frequencies, standard deviation and mean) with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The study revealed that there was a high (2.81) Community Participation Index (COPI) in the overall implementation of the HMP projects signifying a high level of participation. There was a relatively lower COPI during proposal development stage—an indication of lack of skill in proposal development probably due to the high illiteracy level among coastal communities. The study concludes that the CDD approach is effective in actively engaging communities in the implementation of development initiatives. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the CDD approach can be used to develop contextualized strategies of enhancing community participation in development projects. The study also recommends that to optimize community participation in development initiatives, the twin challenge of high levels of illiteracy and inadequate skill in proposal writing among coastal communities needs to be addressed by the County Governments, Non Governmental Organizations and other agencies involved in development work.
Increasing human leg motor cortex excitability by transcranial high frequency random noise stimulation.

PURPOSE Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) can increase the excitability of hand area of the primary motor cortex (M1). The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of tRNS and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the leg motor cortex. METHOD Ten healthy subjects received anodal, cathodal tDCS, tRNS and sham stimulation for 10 min using 2 mA intensity during separate experimental sessions. Single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) induced motor evoked potential (MEP) measurements were used to assess motor cortical excitability changes after the stimulation. RESULTS Similar to the hand area, we found that both tRNS and anodal tDCS induced an increase of the amplitude of the MEPs. Anodal tDCS induced a constant gradual increase of corticospinal excitability until 60 min post-stimulation, whereas the effect of tRNS was immediate with a duration of 40 min following stimulation. The cathodal tDCS induced decrease in MEP amplitude did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that although the leg area has a deeper position in the cortex compared to the hand area, it can be reached by weak transcranial currents. Both anodal tDCS and tRNS had comparable effect on cortical excitability.
Biodegradation of organic wastes containing surfactants in a biomass recycle reactor

The microbial biodegradation of simulated graywater, containing 21.5 mg of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate liter-1, was investigated with a continuous-flow bioreactor with 100% biomass recycle. Low concentrations of organic matter in the ultrafiltration eluate were achieved by hydraulic residence times as short as 1.6 h and for periods of up to 74 days at a hydraulic residence time of 6 h. Upon a shift from the chemostat to the biomass recycle mode, the increase in biomass with time approximated a linear rather than an exponential function. Biomass densities as high as 6.8 g of cell protein liter-1 were reached; this was 50-fold higher than the steady-state biomass level in chemostats fed the same medium. We assessed physiological changes in the microbial community after a switch from the chemostat to the biomass recycle mode. Over 150 h, there was a two- to fourfold decrease in the respiratory potential of the microbes. After this decrease, respiratory potentials were relatively constant up to 74 days of operation. A decline in reactivity was also indicated by increasing lag periods before growth in response to organic nutrient inputs and by a decrease in the proportion of cells able to reduce tetrazolium dye. However, the bioreactor system was still capable of rapidly metabolizing inputs of organic matter, because of the very high biomass concentrations. It appears that < 10% of the organic carbon inputs accumulate as biomass.