Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The anti-apoptotic protein lifeguard is expressed in breast cancer cells and tissues

Lifeguard (LFG) is an anti-apoptotic protein that inhibits Fas-mediated death in tumour cells. However, the molecular function of human LFG in the carcinogenesis of human breast cells is uncertain. We studied the expression and function of endogenous LFG in four breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, T-47D and HS 578T), a human breast epithelial cell line (HS 578Bst), and in healthy and cancerous breast tissues. Molecular (Western blot and RT-PCR) and immunohistochemical techniques were used to investigate the LFG expression. To investigate the breast cancer cell proliferation in the presence of Fas, we performed fluorescent cell viability assays. The possible association of Fas with LFG was analyzed by immunofluorescence microscopy. In this paper, we provide convincing evidence that LFG is overexpressed in several human breast cancer cell lines. More importantly, we found that the LFG expression correlates with high tumour grades in primary breast tumours. Finally, we demonstrated that Fas sensitivity is reduced in breast cancer cell lines expressing LFG. Our results indicated that LFG is strongly expressed in breast cancer epithelial cells. Moreover, the overexpression of LFG correlated with tumour grade and reduced Fas sensitivity. Our findings support the idea that LFG may have a role in the downregulation of apoptosis in breast cancer cells.
Host Country Benefits of Foreign Investment

This paper reviews the empirical evidence on the very different conclusions that can be drawn about productivity spillovers of foreign direct investment. It explains the concept of host country spillover benefits, describes the various forms these benefits can take, both within and between industries, and summarizes the evidence regarding the relative magnitudes of the various forms of spillovers. Moreover, the paper discusses host country policy measures which can accelerate both the BC affiliates' technology imports and the diffusion of their technology in the host economies.
Dynamic Effects of Corruption on Offshoring

Abstract: For international outsourcing to occur, agents from different jurisdictions must agree on a contract. Using Swedish firm-level data, we analyze offshoring and how a firm’s choice of target country and the dynamics of offshored volumes are affected by corruption. The results suggest that corruption is a deterrent to offshoring and that internationalized firms trading with many countries use their flexibility to avoid corrupt countries. Furthermore, firms that are able to establish long-term contracts do so by starting small and successively deepening their engagements.
Institutional Holding Periods

Using a proprietary database of institutional money manager and pension fund transactions, we find wide dispersion in trade holding periods. For example, all of the institutional funds execute roundtrip trades lasting over a year, and 96% of them also execute trades lasting less than one month. In aggregate over seven percent of volume occurs in trades that are held for less than one month, although short-duration trades have negative returns on average. Our empirical results show mixed support for the idea that institutions make trade holding period decisions based on portfolio optimization, some evidence of persistent information or trading skill in short-duration trades, and no evidence that short-duration institutional trades are driven by the disposition effect or overconfidence. Our results are consistent with the agency problem that arises when clients cannot distinguish when a manager is “actively doing nothing” versus “simply doing nothing. ”
Incidence of AML1/ETO fusion transcripts in patients entered into the MRC AML trials

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) with the t(8;21)(q22;q22) is deemed to be a ‘good‐risk’ disease. 396 patients with AML at diagnosis were screened for the presence of t(8;21) and AML1/ETO fusion transcripts by cytogenetic and RT‐PCR techniques respectively. 32 cases of t(8;21) were detected, all of which were also PCR positive. A further 19 cases were detected at the molecular level, predominantly but not exclusively in M1 and M2 FAB types. Approximately 12% of all new cases of AML are estimated to have AML1/ETO fusion transcripts and it is suggested that molecular screening should be performed in all cases with the possible exception of the M3 FAB type.
Inhaled agonists of soluble guanylate cyclase induce selective pulmonary vasodilation.

RATIONALE Nitric oxide-independent agonists of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) have been developed. OBJECTIVES We tested whether inhalation of novel dry-powder microparticle formulations containing sGC stimulators (BAY 41-2272, BAY 41-8543) or an sGC activator (BAY 58-2667) would produce selective pulmonary vasodilation in lambs with acute pulmonary hypertension. We also evaluated the combined administration of BAY 41-8543 microparticles and inhaled nitric oxide (iNO). Finally, we examined whether inhaling BAY 58-2667 microparticles would produce pulmonary vasodilation when the response to iNO is impaired. METHODS In awake, spontaneously breathing lambs instrumented with vascular catheters and a tracheostomy tube, U-46619 was infused intravenously to increase mean pulmonary arterial pressure to 35 mm Hg. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Inhalation of microparticles composed of either BAY 41-2272, BAY 41-8543, or BAY 58-2667 and excipients (dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, albumin, lactose) produced dose-dependent pulmonary vasodilation and increased transpulmonary cGMP release without significant effect on mean arterial pressure. Inhalation of microparticles containing BAY 41-8543 or BAY 58-2667 increased systemic arterial oxygenation. The magnitude and duration of pulmonary vasodilation induced by iNO were augmented after inhaling BAY 41-8543 microparticles. Intravenous administration of 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), which oxidizes the prosthetic heme group of sGC, markedly reduced the pulmonary vasodilator effect of iNO. In contrast, pulmonary vasodilation and transpulmonary cGMP release induced by inhaling BAY 58-2667 microparticles were greatly enhanced after treatment with ODQ. CONCLUSIONS Inhalation of microparticles containing agonists of sGC may provide an effective novel treatment for patients with pulmonary hypertension, particularly when responsiveness to iNO is impaired by oxidation of sGC.
Serum interleukin-2 and interleukin-6 levels in iron deficiency anemia.

The aim of this study was to investigate the serum levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in children with iron deficiency anemia before and after iron supplementation. Twenty-five children with iron deficiency anemia 6 months to 3 years of age were included in the study. Ten age- and sex-matched healthy children constituted the control group. In the iron-deficiency group the production of IL-2 was found to be significantly lower than that in controls and became normal after iron supplementation (P < .001). But there was no difference in serum levels of IL-6 in iron deficiency anemia before and after iron supplementation (P > .05).
Acceptance and Use of Mobile Payments

This study applies the Technology Acceptance Model to examine factors such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on consumer willingness to use mobile payment services. This study also includes exploratory research on external factors – convenience, security, new technology – that affect mobile payment acceptance and use. The results show that although awareness of mobile payment services is reasonably high, only a small number of New Zealand consumers actually use m-payments. However, consumers acknowledge that mobile payment services can be useful, easy to use and convenient.
Psychological distress among adults admitted to medical and surgical wards of a Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda.

BACKGROUND Physical illness is commonly associated with psychological distress that may be a direct effect of the illness or an adjustment in coping with the physical illness or its treatment. Little is known about psychological distress of patients on general wards in developing countries. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine the extent and associations of psychological distress among adult in-patients on medical and surgical wards of Mbarara hospital in Uganda. METHODS It was a cross sectional descriptive study among 258 adult in-patients. The WHO endorsed self report questionnaire (SRQ-25) was used to assess psychological distress with a cut off of 5/6. The MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) was used to identify specific psychiatric disorders. Cross-tabulations and multivariate analysis was used to analyze the relationship between psychological distress and different factors. RESULTS One hundred and fifty eight individuals (61%) had psychological distress. One hundred and nine (42%) met criteria for at least one major psychiatric diagnosis. Only 6% of these were recognized by the attending health workers. Psychological distress was significantly associated with previous hospitalizations, ward of admission and marital status. CONCLUSIONS There is a high level of psychological distress among the physically ill and it is often unrecognized and untreated.
The application of cognitive-behavioral therapy for psychosis in clinical and research settings.

OBJECTIVE This study compared the practice of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for psychosis across research and routine clinical settings. METHODS An observer-rated adherence measure was used to compare the content of 40 therapy sessions of clients with positive psychotic symptoms. Twenty therapist-client dyads came from a research setting in the United Kingdom and 20 from three clinical settings, two in the United Kingdom and one in the United States. In the research setting CBT was provided by research clinical psychologists and trained local therapists. In the clinical settings CBT was part of a case management service by trained therapists. RESULTS Therapist adherence to CBT for psychosis did not differ between the research and clinical settings. However, clinicians in the research settings scored significantly higher on items for schema work (z=-1.98, p<.05), relapse prevention interventions (z=-2.08, p<.05), and formulating a model of relapse (z=-2.61, p<.01). CONCLUSIONS CBT for psychosis conducted in clinical settings was more strongly characterized by assessment of symptoms and work on coping strategies and less so by relapse prevention and schema-level work. Relapse prevention interventions and schema work could be considered more challenging for therapists to undertake. The findings suggest that therapists working in routine clinical settings are able to establish good therapeutic relationships with people with psychosis and to work on assessing and coping with their psychotic symptoms. However, some therapeutic approaches may be more challenging in this context.
Bringing finance to Pakistan's poor : a study on access to finance for the underserved and small enterprises

Access to financing is now widely acknowledged as a path to meaningful economic inclusion and reduction in poverty. Policy efforts to increase access to finance in Pakistan have taken time to bear fruit, but now access is indeed expanding quickly in certain financial sectors (microfinance, remittances), albeit from a very low base. Nevertheless, policy measures cannot single-handedly increase financial access; financial institution willingness to expand access in Pakistan has been stinted by slow technologic advances, weak legal foundations, and unsuitable financial processes and products. Poor socioeconomic conditions, gender bias, and low levels of basic education and financial literacy remain barriers, but perhaps the single strongest driver of low demand for financial access has been income. Major constraints to financial access, in spite of policy reforms, arise from the high levels of poverty, combined with low awareness of and information about available financial services, as well as gender bias. This report and the attendant pioneering nationwide access to finance survey, part of a considerable donor-supported State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) financial inclusion program, is meant to fill in the gap.
Ocular responses and visual performance after high-acceleration force exposure.

PURPOSE To evaluate ocular responses and visual performance after high-acceleration force exposure. METHODS Fourteen men were enrolled in the study. A human centrifuge was used to induce nine times the acceleration force in the head-to-toe (z-axis) direction (+9 Gz force). Visual performance was evaluated using the ETDRS (Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study) visual chart, and contrast sensitivity (CS) was examined before and after centrifugation. Ocular responses were assessed with biomicroscopy and topographic mapping after gravitational stress. RESULTS Transient visual acuity reduction (0.02 +/- 0.04 logMar vs. 0.19 +/- 0.07 logMar VA; P < 0.05) and temporary ocular anterior segment reactions were observed immediately after centrifugation. These reactions included changes in corneal thickening (553.7 +/- 21.7 mum vs. 591.2 +/- 20.6 mum; P < 0.05), increasing anterior chamber depth (ACD; 3.19 +/- 0.26 mm vs. 4.53 +/- 0.34 mm; P < 0.05), and pupillary enlargement (3.54 +/- 0.73 mm vs. 5.76 +/- 0.61 mm; P < 0.05). The increase in ACD continued for 15 minutes after exposure to acceleration (3.19 +/- 0.26 mm vs. 4.39 +/- 0.27 mm; P < 0.05). Pupillary dilation was noted both 15 (3.54 +/- 0.73 mm vs. 5.56 +/- 0.67 mm; P < 0.05) and 30 (5.47 +/- 0.59 mm, P < 0.05) minutes after the gravitational stress. CS decreased significantly at low and medium spatial frequencies (1.5, 3, and 6 cyc/deg) and did not return to the baseline level by 30 minutes. CONCLUSIONS High-acceleration force may induce transient visual acuity reduction and temporary corneal thickening. Prolonged increase in ACD and pupillary dilation were also observed. The decrease in CS persisted for 30 minutes after centrifugation. The mechanisms underlying these observations are not clear, because there are no previous reports on this topic. Further studies are needed.
Mini‐review Activation‐induced cytidine deaminase: a dual role in class‐switch recombination and somatic hypermutation

Maturation of the antibody repertoire is mediated by two different mechanisms: class‐switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM). These two processes are T cell dependent and occur in the germinal centers of secondary lymphoid organs. CSR leads to the production of antibodies of different isotypes whereas SHM leads to the selection of B cells expressing a BCR with high affinity for antigen. The activation‐induced cytidine deaminase (AID) was recently shown to play a key role in these two mechanisms, demonstrating for the first time that these maturation processes share a common mechanism. There is evidence that AID is involved in the somatic DNA alterations required for CSR and SHM. The mechanism of action of AID is unclear. As AID and APOBEC‐1 display a sequence similarity, AID may act as an RNA‐editing enzyme. However, the immunological abnormalities observed in uracil‐N glycosylase deficiency in a recent study indirectly suggest that AID may edit DNA directly.
Mining binary constraints in the construction of feature models

Feature models provide an effective way to organize and reuse requirements in a specific domain. A feature model consists of a feature tree and cross-tree constraints. Identifying features and then building a feature tree takes a lot of effort, and many semi-automated approaches have been proposed to help the situation. However, finding cross-tree constraints is often more challenging which still lacks the help of automation. In this paper, we propose an approach to mining cross-tree binary constraints in the construction of feature models. Binary constraints are the most basic kind of cross-tree constraints that involve exactly two features and can be further classified into two sub-types, i.e. requires and excludes. Given these two sub-types, a pair of any two features in a feature model falls into one of the following classes: no constraints between them, a requires between them, or an excludes between them. Therefore we perform a 3-class classification on feature pairs to mine binary constraints from features. We incorporate a support vector machine as the classifier and utilize a genetic algorithm to optimize it. We conduct a series of experiments on two feature models constructed by third parties, to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach under different conditions that might occur in practical use. Results show that we can mine binary constraints at a high recall (near 100% in most cases), which is important because finding a missing constraint is very costly in real, often large, feature models.
Pengaruh Sikap Konsumen dan Norma Subyektif terhadap Niat Beli Mobil Toyota Agya di Kota Denpasar

Purchase intention is influenced by factors both internal and external factors (the social environment). Internal factors include consumer attitudes and subjective norms (influence of others) are the external factors. Consumer attitudes shaped by the belief in the object attributes and attribute evaluation to quantify the benefits that consumers want to be perceived. Whereas subjective norms in the purchase formed by faith in the opinions of others and motivation to follow the opinions of others. The research was conducted in the city of Denpasar. Number of samples taken 100 small and medium-sized businesses with non-probability sampling methods, especially purposive sampling. The data was collected using a questionnaire. The analysis technique used is multiple linear regression. Based on the analysis it was found that attitudes toward the attributes of Toyota Agya significant effect on purchase intentions Toyota Agya. This suggests that the better attitudes toward attributes such as car design, brand image or brand, price, and color choices will increase purchase intention. Similarly, subjective norms significantly influence purchase intention Toyota Agya. This indicates the greater subjective norms (influence of others) as influences or opinions of parents, close friends and business associates in a purchase will also increase purchase intention. Keywords : attitudes, subjective norms, purchase intention
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Myocardial Velocity Gradient as a Noninvasively Determined Index of Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction in Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

OBJECTIVES We investigated the utility of the peak negative myocardial velocity gradient (MVG) derived from tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) for evaluation of diastolic dysfunction in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). BACKGROUND Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is characterized by impaired diastolic function with abnormal stiffness and prolonged relaxation. However, it remains difficult to evaluate these defects noninvasively. METHODS Both TDI and conventional echocardiography were performed in 36 patients with HCM and in 47 control subjects. Left ventricular (LV) pressure was measured simultaneously in all HCM patients and in 26 controls. RESULTS The peak negative MVG occurred soon after the isovolumic relaxation period during the initial phase of rapid filling (auxotonic relaxation). It was significantly smaller in HCM patients than in control subjects (2.32 0.52/s vs. 4.82 1.15/s, p 0.0001); the cutoff value for differentiation between all HCM patients and 47 normal individuals was determined as 3.2/s. Both the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) (19.6 6.1 mm Hg vs. 6.5 1.7 mm Hg, p 0.0001) and the time constant of LV pressure decay during isovolumic diastole (tau) (44.0 6.7 ms vs. 32.1 5.5 ms, p 0.0001) were increased in HCM patients compared with controls. The peak negative MVG was negatively correlated with both LVEDP (r 0.75, p 0.0001) and tau (r 0.58, p 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS A reduced peak negative MVG reflects both prolonged relaxation and elevated LVEDP. The peak negative MVG might thus provide a noninvasive index of diastolic function, yielding unique information about auxotonic relaxation in patients with HCM. (J Am Coll Cardiol 2003;42:278–85) © 2003 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation
Manic depression in literature: the case of Virginia Woolf

The steady growth of the discipline of medical humanities has facilitated better understanding of the symptoms and signs of mental health conditions and the feelings of the humans experiencing them. In this project, the arts have been seen as enabling re-engagement of the practitioner with the patient's own perceptions and feelings. With respect to the association between creativity and bipolar disorder in particular, work within medical humanities has meant that mentally ill creative individuals have been subject to scientific scrutiny and investigation, rather than continuing to be viewed as naively romanticised cases of mental illness. This paper is an attempt to supplement traditional literary criticism by examining Virginia Woolf's history of bipolar disorder through a medical humanities lens. I will provide an overview of Woolf's history of manic-depressive episodes, their symptoms and manifestation, look back on her circumstances during their occurrence, and observe the author's losing battle to salvage her identity in the throes of the disease. The aim is to offer further insight into Woolf's psychopathology and to gain some understanding of the causes and progression of the condition that led to her death by suicide.
Profitability in sorghum production in three villages of Kaduna State Nigeria.

Poverty in Nigeria is overwhelmingly a rural problem. In 1985, 86.6 percent of those living below poverty line of US $1 per day were in the agricultural sector. This figure dropped to 66 per cent in 1992. However, of the total population of poor people in 1992, 10 million were living in the rural areas and are engaged in farming. Nigerian small-scale farmers are characterized by the use of unimproved inputs and traditional production tools that are capable of generating only very small incomes. This low income of the farmers leads to vicious cycle of poverty with low levels of savings and investments, which in turn leads to low productivity and low income. In explaining the poverty status of farmers, it is necessary to look into the profitability of their farm enterprise to show the close links existing between productivity and farm income. This study attempts to estimate the profitability of sole sorghum production on small and large scale farms, it uses the gross margin analysis to determine the farm income on small and large scale farms. Empirical results indicate that the farmers are making profits, given the benefits relative to costs involved in sorghum production on both the small and large scale farms. To fully tap the potential of increase productivity and farm income, the study surmises that expanded access to improved technologies on sorghum production should be extended to the farmers through extension services.