Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of β-Adrenoceptor Antagonists on Phospholipid N-Methylation Activities of Cardiac Sarcolemma

Background: Some β-adrenoceptor antagonists exert a negative inotropic action by affect ing Ca2+ fluxes in the myocardial cell as a consequence of their interaction with sarcolem mal and sarcoplasmic reticular membranes. This action may be caused by their effects on the cliemicophysical properties of membrane phospholipids. Because phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) N-methylation can influence the chemicophysical properties of membranes, these agents may affect PE N-methylation. This study was undertaken to examine the effects of pro pranolol, acebutolol, and atcnolol on PE N-methylation in rat heart sarcolemma (SL). Methods and Results: Sarcolemmal membrane was isolated from rat hearts by the hypo- tonic shock LiBr method. Incorporation of radiolabeled methyl groups from S-adenosyl-L- methionine was assayed at three catalytic sites involved in the PE N-methylation reaction in the presence and absence of these drugs. A biphasic effect of propranolol at site I was notcd; low concentrations (10-8 M) enhanced the total N-methylation. whereas high con centrations (106 -10-3 M) were inhibitory. Accbutolol (10-9-10 -3 M) depressed methyl group incorporation in SL at site II in a dose-dependent manner, whereas atenolol showed no effect. Propranolol also exerted a biphasic effect on sarcoplasmic reticular (SR) methyla tion at site I, whereas accbutolol depressed the SR enzyme activity at site II and atenolol had no effect. The mitochondrial methyltransferase activities at sites I. II, and III were unal tered by any of these drugs. Conclusions: It is suggested that propranolol and acebutolol alter SL and SR PE N-methyl transferase activity at site I and site II, respectively, either by affecting the enzyme directly or by changing the physicochemical properties of the membrane.
Prediction of Parkinson's disease using speech signal with Extreme Learning Machine

Speech impairments analysis has been used as an efficient tool for early detection of Parkinson's disease (PD). In this paper, we have proposed an efficient approach using Extreme Learning Machine to predict Parkinson's disease accurately utilising speech samples. The performance of the method has been assessed with a reliable dataset from UCI repository. The proposed method distinguishes Parkinson diseased subjects and healthy subjects with an accuracy of 90.76% and 0.81 MCC for the training dataset. When tested with an independent dataset comprising of Parkinson diseased patients, the proposed method gives 81.55% accuracy. The performance of our method is compared with existing techniques such as Neural Network and Support Vector Machine. The results obtained depict that the proffered method is reliable for identifying the Parkinson's disease.
Comparative genomic hybridization of estrogen‐induced ectopic uterine‐like stem cell neoplasms in the hamster kidney: Nonrandom chromosomal alterations

Karyotype and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analyses were performed to identify nonrandom/consistent chromosomal alterations in solely estrogen (E)‐induced primary ectopic uterine‐like stem cell tumors in the kidney (EULTK) of the Syrian hamster, using a criterion of ≥20% frequency for nonrandom occurrence. Employing this criterion, EULTK karyotype analysis showed consistent gains in chromosomes 3, 6, 11, 14, 16, 20, and 21. Consistent trisomies were seen in all of these nonrandomly gained chromosomes. Only chromosomes 3 and 6 exhibited appreciable tetrasomies. Chromosome losses were observed consistently in chromosomes 7, 12, 17, and 19. Employing the same criterion, CGH analysis of primary EULTKs showed nonrandom amplified sequences at 1pa1–a4, 2cen–pter, 3pa1–a4, 6qb2–b4, 20qa1–a4, 21qa1–a2, Xqa3–qter and regional consistent losses at 1qc1‐qter, 2qb1–c1, 3qa2–a7, 11qb5‐qter, 15qa2–a5, 18qa2–a4, and 21pa. Moreover, 88% of the EULTKs examined exhibited amplification of the 6qb2–b4 region, where c‐myc resides. The data presented lend credence to the supposition that chromosomal instability (CIN) is elicited by the upstream overexpression and subsequent amplification of c‐myc by Es in multipotential interstitial uterine stem cells present in the kidney, thus leading to neoplastic development. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A hybrid algorithm for the input/output scheduling problem of multi-shuttle AS/RSs

This paper proposes a hybrid algorithm for the input/output scheduling problem of multi-shuttle automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RSs). This problem is to find a minimum travel route of a multi-shuttle storage and retrieval (S/R) machine to process given storage and retrieval requests for a storage rack. The proposed algorithm is based on the exact algorithm previously proposed by the author. In the first stage of the algorithm, a tabu search is used to improve the solutions obtained while column and cut generation is applied to an LP relaxation of the problem. The tabu search solutions are utilized in the second stage as columns of a set-partitioning formulation of the problem, and it is solved by a general MILP solver. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is examined by numerical experiments.
Personality, Aging Self-Perceptions, and Subjective Health: A Mediation Model

Since the global item of subjective health has emerged as a strong predictor of important health outcomes such as mortality, there have been many attempts to uncover its correlates. In this study, we tested whether personality as assessed via the five-factor model of personality predicted subjective health when physician-rated health and depression were controlled for. We analyzed a cohort of 362 German community-dwelling 60-year-olds from the first wave of the ongoing Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on Aging. We found that neuroticism, but none of the other four personality factors, predicted subjective health. However, the association between neuroticism and subjective health was mediated by aging self-stereotypes (attitudes toward oneself as an aging person), which in recent studies have been shown to influence older individuals' health behaviors and functional health. The results indicate that those high in neuroticism tend to have more negative aging self-stereotypes; these aging self-stereotypes, in turn, seem to affect how those individuals globally perceive their own health. Unlike many predictors of subjective health, such as age, gender, socio-cultural differences, actual health, or personality traits, negative attitudes about one's own aging may be modified through adequate intervention.
Familial perisylvian polymicrogyria: A new familial syndrome of cortical maldevelopment

Two familial X‐linked dominant syndromes of cortical maldevelopment have recently been described: double cortex/lissencephaly syndrome and bilateral periventricular nodular heterotopia. We report on 12 kindreds with familial perisylvian polymicrogyria (FPP) presenting at 10 centers, examine the clinical presentation in these familial cases, and propose a possible mode of inheritance. The clinical and radiological pattern was variable among the 42 patients, with clinical differences among the families and even within members of the same family. Pseudobulbar signs, cognitive deficits, epilepsy, and perisylvian abnormalities on imaging studies were not found in all patients. When present, they displayed a spectrum of severity. The only clear correlation in this study was between bilateral imaging findings and abnormal tongue movements and/or pronounced dysarthria. Most of the families provided evidence suggestive of, or compatible with, X‐linked transmission. On the other hand, the pedigrees of 2 families ruled out X‐linked inheritance. The most likely mode of inheritance for these 2 families was autosomal dominant with decreased penetrance; however, autosomal recessive inheritance with pseudodominance could not be ruled out in 1 family. We conclude that FPP appears to be genetically heterogeneous. However, most of the families probably represent a third previously undescribed X‐linked syndrome of cortical maldevelopment. Ann Neurol 2000;48:39–48
Omeprazole is more effective than cimetidine for the relief of all grades of gastro‐oesophageal reflux disease‐associated heartburn, irrespective of the presence or absence of endoscopic oesophagitis

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated greater efficacy for omeprazole compared with cimetidine in patients with endoscopically verified oesophagitis, but excluded the substantial group of gastro‐oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients with reflux symptoms but without endoscopic abnormality. This prospective, randomized, double‐blind study compared omeprazole and cimetidine in the treatment of GERD‐associated heartburn both in patients with symptomatic non‐ulcerative oesophagitis and in those with heartburn but without oesophagitis.
Do plants modulate biomass allocation in response to petroleum pollution?

Biomass allocation is an important plant trait that responds plastically to environmental heterogeneities. However, the effects on this trait of pollutants owing to human activities remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the response of biomass allocation of Phragmites australis to petroleum pollution by a 13CO2 pulse-labelling technique. Our data show that plant biomass significantly decreased under petroleum pollution, but the root–shoot ratio for both plant biomass and 13C increased with increasing petroleum concentration, suggesting that plants could increase biomass allocation to roots in petroleum-polluted soil. Furthermore, assimilated 13C was found to be significantly higher in soil, microbial biomass and soil respiration after soils were polluted by petroleum. These results suggested that the carbon released from roots is rapidly turned over by soil microbes under petroleum pollution. This study found that plants can modulate biomass allocation in response to petroleum pollution.
Biodistribution, pharmacokinetics and metabolism of interleukin‐1 receptor antagonist (IL‐1RA) using [18F]‐IL1RA and PET imaging in rats

Positron emission tomography (PET) has the potential to improve our understanding of the preclinical pharmacokinetics and metabolism of therapeutic agents, and is easily translated to clinical studies in humans. However, studies involving proteins radiolabelled with clinically relevant PET isotopes are currently limited. Here we illustrate the potential of PET imaging in a preclinical study of the biodistribution and metabolism of 18F‐labelled IL‐1 receptor antagonist ([18F]IL‐1RA) using a novel [18F]‐radiolabelling technique.
Neutron Skin Thickness of 48Ca, 132Sn, and 208Pb with KIDS Density Functional

Neutron skin thickness (Rnp) of the atomic nuclei 48Ca, 132Sn and 208Pb are considered in the KIDS (Korea:IBS-Daegu-Sungkyunkwan) density functional formalism. Model parameters most relevant to Rnp are constrained from standard nuclear data and neutron star properties determined from modern observations. Mean values of Rnp are obtained as 0.161, 0.220 and 0.160 fm for 48Ca, 132Sn and 208Pb, respectively, and the corresponding standard deviations are 0.011, 0.020 and 0.021 fm. Correlations between Rnp of the three nuclei are considered, and we find that Rnp’s are correlated very strongly. We obtain correlation coefficient 0.978 between Rnp of 48Ca and 208Pb, and 0.996 between Rnp of 132Sn and 208Pb. 1 ar X iv :2 11 2. 00 99 6v 1 [ nu cl -t h] 2 D ec 2 02
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND TRUST: A CASE STUDY

According to previous research, an employee’s trust in his/her leader has been linked to: increased individual efficiency and commitment; increased organizational performance; effective team and organizational functioning where the tasks are complex and unstructured. Considering these findings concerning the positive influence of trust on various aspects of organizational performance, we used relevant theories in literature relating to trust in organizational settings and transformational leadership to devise our research framework that aimed at gaining a better understanding of leadership behaviors leading to higher degrees of trust by followers in their leader. The results of our pilot study in a Romanian small-to medium-sized enterprise show that leader’s behaviors such as enforcing observance of organizational rules, professional objectivity in employee appraisal processes, keeping promises and commitments, fairness, as well as leader’s professional competency are essential for achieving higher degrees of trust in intra-organizational relationships. In assuming the inherent limitations of a pilot case study leading to the necessity to f {0> Dezvoltarea metodologică ulterioară, precum si realizarea unor studii follow-up cu finanţare suficientă pentru a permite minimizarea erorilor de esantionare sunt fără indoială necesare pentru a confirma corelaţia dintre cele două abordări, din perspectiva societăţii „deschise” popperiene. Further urther the methodological developments and follow-up studies, our research confirmed obvious relationships between the targeted domains, transformational leadership and trust. Also, our findings confirmed that the trust element in organizational leadership has a critical impact on building long-term employee commitment and drive for achieving higher individual and organizational performance and success.
Collective and critical effects in bosonic transport

The recent progress in the detection and generation of single photons led to a growing interest in the field of cavity quantum electrodynamics. Together with the old idea of counting all photons emitted from a source to characterize its quantum statistics, this naturally leads to the question, if interesting physics can be revealed with the method of Full Counting Statistics applied to bosonic transport setups. As a starting point to this aim, the first part of this thesis is dedicated to the Dicke model. This model describes an effect of increased emission out of an atomic cloud, arising due to the build-up of collectivity mediated via the coupling of the atoms to a cavity field. This effect has been studied in detail in the transient regime. The focus in this thesis is therefore on the steady-state emission that arises if the atoms are additionally pumped collectively. Within the framework of Full Counting Statistics it is possible to show that the transient behavior has its counterpart in the steady-state cumulants of the emission process. Moreover, it can be shown that higher cumulants of the transport process are more sensitive indicators for the collectivity, than the current itself. To measure this effects, a pumped cavity experiment is proposed where the atoms are confined in a nano-cell. The experimental setup should allow the convenient manipulation of all relevant parameters. The second part of the thesis extends the concept to a system showing another purely quantum mechanical effect. The quantum Ising chain in a transverse magnetic field shows a quantum phase transition, a fundamental change in system properties at absolute zero temperature. This regime is obviously not reached in thermal transport experiments. Nevertheless, the question arises if the bosonic current through such a quantum critical system inherits characteristics of the zero-temperature behavior. This question can be answered in a master-equation formulation, leading to expressions for the current of bosons through the system. This current does not only fully inherit all signatures of the zero-temperature behavior, but shows these already at finite temperatures. Due to the many available quantum simulators for the Ising chain, the findings should be addressable with current technology. In the third part of the thesis a conceptually different question is addressed. The first two parts showed, that analytic solutions for higher cumulants are lacking. The application of the equations-of-motion technique within the framework of Full Counting Statistics allows to fill this gap at least partly. For both the Dicke model as well as the quantum Ising chain it is possible to obtain analytic expressions for the noise of the bosonic emissions.
Shareholder Loans and Earnings Smoothing – Empirical Findings from German Private Firms

Abstract This paper analyzes the interplay between shareholder loans and earnings smoothing in German private corporations. Shareholders who grant loans have a dual stakeholder role, being both equity holders and creditors. Those loans could be lost, because bankruptcy law requires their subordination in the event of bankruptcy. We therefore expect shareholder loans to mitigate agency problems of debt. This reduces the need for debt covenants and earnings smoothing. Moreover, the interest payments from shareholder loans tend to lower payout volatility which also reduces the need for dividend and earnings smoothing. We expect and find that private firms with shareholder loans exhibit significantly lower levels of earnings smoothing than other private firms. We find that with a 10 percentage-point increase in the shareholder loans to total assets ratio, earnings smoothing decreases by about 10% of the mean value. We also find that this substitution effect usually occurs in case of managerial ownership and tends to be slightly weaker in the event of dispersed ownership. The results are robust for different econometric specifications, including different measures of key variables and propensity score matching. The paper suggests that financial reporting by private firms responds to the dual stakeholder role of shareholder loans.
Risk for Child Maltreatment Among Infants Discharged From a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Studies suggest that neonatal illness may cause increased risk for child maltreatment (CM), but these findings may be biased by observed and unobserved confounding factors (social, family, and maternal characteristics) including increased surveillance by health care providers. This study expands on previous research by examining and controlling for these potential study biases and confounders using a sibling discordance retrospective cohort study design. Infants born in a Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were matched with non-NICU born sibling controls. Cox proportional hazard models with shared frailty terms were used to account for clustering and heterogeneity in CM survival time (time to CM event). Potentially key covariates were selected using the directed acyclic graph approach, and surveillance reports were identified and systematically included or excluded from analyses. Managing these sources of bias reduced but did not eliminate the association between neonatal illness and CM report risk. Risk was especially high during the first year of the NICU infant’s life and among families with multiple well-known CM risk factors.
Physical characteristics and lipoprotein distribution of liposomal nystatin in human plasma

The physical characteristics and lipoprotein distribution of free nystatin (NYS) and liposomal NYS (L-NYS) in human plasma were investigated. To determine the percentage of NYS that was lipid associated following incubation in human plasma, C18 reverse-phase extraction columns were used. To assess plasma drug distribution, NYS and L-NYS (20 microg/ml) were incubated in human plasma for 5, 60, and 120 min at 37 degrees C. After each interval, plasma was removed and separated into its lipoprotein and lipoprotein-deficient plasma (LPDP) fractions by ultracentrifugation and assayed for NYS by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Further studies evaluated the liposome structure of L-NYS by filtering through a 0.14-microm-pore-size microfilter before and after the addition of human plasma. When reconstituted L-NYS (mean particle diameter +/- standard deviation, 321 +/- 192 nm) was applied to a C18 column, 67% +/- 4% of the initial NYS concentration was associated with the lipid. When plasma samples containing L-NYS that had been incubated for 5 to 120 min at 37 degrees C were applied to C18 columns, 66 to 76% of the NYS was lipid associated. Incubation of NYS in human plasma for 5 min at 37 degrees C resulted in 3% +/- 1% of the initial NYS concentration incubated in the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) fraction, 23% +/- 4% of that in the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) fraction, and 66% +/- 10% of that in the LPDP fraction. In contrast, the distribution of NYS following incubation of L-NYS in human plasma for 5 min was 13% +/- 2% in the LDL fraction, 44% +/- 5% in the HDL fraction, and 42% +/- 5% in the LPDP fraction. Similar results were observed following 60 and 120 min of incubation. In addition, the liposome structure of L-NYS was quickly lost when mixed with plasma. These findings suggest that rapid disruption of the L-NYS structure upon incubation in human plasma is consistent with its rapid distribution in plasma. The preferential distribution of NYS into the HDL fraction upon incubation of L-NYS may be a function of its phospholipid composition.
Identification of candidate tumor‐suppressor genes in 6q27 by combined deletion mapping and electronic expression profiling in lymphoid neoplasms

Deletions in the long arm of chromosome 6 (6q) are among the most frequent chromosome aberrations in lymphoid neoplasms. Recently, the region of minimal deletion (RMD1) in 6q27 was narrowed down to 5–9 Mb. In the present study, we aimed to define the distal border of the commonly lost region in 6q27 more precisely and to identify and investigate tumor‐suppressor genes (TSGs) from this region. Twenty‐nine cases, in which our previous fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) screening that used a set of 36 YAC probes revealed loss in 6q25–27, were further investigated by means of FISH. In all cases, deletions of 6q27 extended from yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) 977e10 spanning the proximal border of RMD1 to the most telomeric YAC 933f7 within the recently established YAC‐contig of this region. An interstitial homozygous deletion, flanked by the telomeric probe TelVysion6q and YAC 971g12, was detected, which substantially narrows down the RMD1. To identify candidate TSGs down‐regulated in malignant lymphomas from this region of homozygous loss, we performed electronic profiling of expressed sequences mapped to this region. This analysis suggested the gene PDCD2 originally thought to be involved in programmed cell death to be probably down‐regulated in malignant B‐cell lymphomas compared to normal B lymphocytes. Nevertheless, mutation analyses failed to identify mutations in the coding region of PDCD2 in nine lymphomas with FISH‐proved 6q27 deletions. Furthermore, epigenetic studies in these nine and an additional 48 lymphomas did not show altered methylation of the PDCD2 locus in these tumors. Possibly haploinsufficiency is effectual in accelerating tumor progression. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tensor-network study of the 3d 𝑶(2) model at non-zero chemical potential and temperature

We present results of tensor-network simulations of the three-dimensional O (2) model at nonzero chemical potential and temperature, which were computed using the higher-order tensorrenormalization-group method (HOTRG). This necessitated enhancements to the HOTRG blocking procedure to reduce the truncation error in the case of anisotropic tensors. Moreover, the construction of the truncated vector spaces was adapted to strongly reduce the effect of systematic errors in the computation of observables using the finite-difference method. Our (improved) HOTRG results for the evolution of the number density with the chemical potential are in agreement with results obtained with the worm algorithm, and both the Silver Blaze phenomenon at zero temperature and the temperature dependence of the number density can be adequately reproduced.
Oxidized low‐density lipoprotein inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor‐induced endothelial progenitor cell differentiation

1. Bone marrow‐derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) in the peripheral blood of adult animals and humans have been shown to be incorporated into neovascularization. In contrast, hypercholesterolaemia impairs angiogenesis and collateral vessel formation in response to regional tissue ischaemia. We investigated whether oxidized LDL (oxLDL) affected human EPC differentiation.