Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extracellular amyloid beta 42 causes necrosis, inhibition of nuclear division, and mitotic disruption under both folate deficient and folate replete conditions as measured by the cytokinesis‐block micronucleus cytome assay

Alzheimer's disease is associated with accumulation of extracellular beta amyloid peptide 42 (Aβ42) which may induce DNA damage and reduce cellular regenerative potential. These effects may be exacerbated under conditions of folate deficiency. The aim of this study was to investigate whether extracellular Aβ42 induces DNA damage and cell death in human peripheral lymphocytes and whether there is an interactive effect between extracellular Aβ42 and folic acid status. Peripheral blood lymphocytes were cultured in medium under conditions of both low and high folate (20 and 200 nM, respectively) and challenged with either Aβ42 or the physiologically normal form Aβ40 (both at 5, 10, 15 µM). Genome stability and cytotoxicity events were investigated using the cytokinesis‐block micronucleus cytome (CBMN‐cyt) assay. Outcome measures scored included the nuclear division index (NDI), necrosis, apoptosis, binucleated cells with micronuclei (MN), nucleoplasmic bridges (NPB), and nuclear buds (NBUD) and abnormally shaped nuclei (circular, (CIR) and horse‐shoe, (HS) that may be indicative of mitotic disruption. Folic acid deficiency significantly reduced NDI (P < 0.001) and increased all the DNA damage biomarkers (MN, NPB, NBUD, HS, CIR), (P < 0.001). In contrast, exposure to Aβ40 had no impact on CBMN cytome biomarkers but Aβ42 significantly reduced NDI (P < 0.01), increased necrosis (P < 0.05) and frequency of cells with circular nuclei (P < 0.01). There was no evidence of an interaction between Aβ42 and folic acid with respect to CBMN cytome biomarkers. Extracellular Aβ42 appears to have cytotoxic and cytostatic effects but its effect on chromosomal instability appears to be small relative to folate deficiency. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 55:1–14, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Dynamic Supply Chain Performance: Assessing the Impact of Information Systems

Outlines cost benefits for information system implementation using electronic data interchange as the enabling tool. Highlights rarely cited on‐cost benefits through the examination of supply chain dynamics, and their relative reductions created through increased stability. Examines two business re‐design strategies, namely lead time reduction via information systems implementation and information integration in the form of actual customer demand fed forward to all supply chain members. Highlights global integrated logistics information systems and describes their role in overall supply chain system optimization.
Counter-brand and alter-brand communities: the impact of Web 2.0 on tribal marketing approaches

Abstract This paper deals with the phenomenon of tribal marketing, which is increasingly fuelled by the development of online groupings utilising Web 2.0 technologies. After having addressed the key concepts of brand community and co-creation of value, the paper analyses new trends in online community behaviour, taking an in-depth look at two specific cases through an ethnographic/netnographic approach: the Warhammer tabletop wargame community and the CouchSurfing travel and accommodation community. It appears that such communities may constitute a significant risk for companies who have thus far based their offering on a ‘market with’ approach. The case study clearly shows that groupings of consumers are capable of developing potentially dangerous opposition and/or competitive offerings with little or no assistance from companies. These online groupings generate alter brands and counter brands that present opportunities and threats for existing brand managers.
CORRELATION BETWEEN PROTEIN nm 23 AND CATHEPSIN D WITH CLINICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF ORAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA Č

1Clinical Department of Pathology and Cytology, Clinical Hospital Dubrava, Zagreb, Croatia; 2Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine and Clinical Hospital Center Zagreb, Croatia; 3Department of Oral Surgery, School of Dental Medicine and Clinical Hospital Center Zagreb, Croatia; 4School of Dental Medicine and Clinical Hospital Center Zagreb; 5Clinical Hospital Dubrava, Zagreb, Croatia; 6Department of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine Zagreb, Croatia
A framework for evaluating the customer wait experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model which defines the psychological processes that mediate the relationship between perceived wait duration (PWD) and satisfaction. This model will provide a framework for evaluating the impact of situational and environmental variables in the servicescape on customer reaction to the wait experience.Design/methodology/approach – The approach included one field study and two laboratory experiments in which subjects participated in a service with a pre‐process wait and evaluated their experience on a survey.Findings – Perceived wasted time, perceived control, perceived boredom, and perceived neglect mediated the relationship between PWD and wait experience evaluation. When tested using filled versus unfilled wait time as the situational variable, the model showed that having something to do during the wait decreased perceived boredom, resulting in a more positive wait experience.Research limitations/implications – The services used in this paper.
MANUFACTURING STRATEGY CONFIGURATIONS, CONTINGENCIES AND PERFORMANCE

The main reasoning in the contingency perspective on manufacturing strategy theory is that context influences manufacturing strategy which in turn influences business performance. The study presented in this paper broadens this perspective by exploring if the business and operational performances are influenced only by manufacturing strategy, if the manufacturing strategyperformance relationship is moderated by the external contingencies, or even if external contingencies influence the performance directly. We use data from the fourth round of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) to study this question. The results show that performance is not exclusively a result of manufacturing strategy choices. Some performance variables result solely from contextual influences, others are the result of manufacturing strategy configuration only, while in several cases the interaction between context and strategic configuration interaction determines performance. An interesting dividend from this research is performance indicators for different strategies.
Relevance of Goodwill Reporting to Post-merger Performance: Case Studies of Technology-driven Multinationals

This study examines issues about reporting of goodwill as an intangible asset with relevance to post-merger performance. It suggests a framework to articulate the financial reporting of goodwill in terms of its usefulness in reflecting post-merger performance under the emerging international standards. A multiple-case study approach is adopted to look into three multinationals with continuing dependency on technological innovation. Their disclosures on goodwill and compliance with their respectively adopted international financial reporting standards during post-merger operations are analysed. The authors argue that regulations on international financial reporting need to be designed and implemented consistently across borders in order to enhance relevance of goodwill reporting to post-merger performance.
Evaluating Combined Assurance as a New Credibility Enhancement Technique

One of the challenges associated with emerging forms of external reporting is finding efficient and effective means to enhance the credibility of these reports (IAASB 2016). This study examines a novel credibility-enhancing mechanism, combined assurance (CA), where the credibility-enhancing processes of the internal auditor, the external auditor, and the effectiveness of risk management and internal controls and processes are publicly reported by the company (audit committee). We identify the most appropriate setting currently available (Integrated Reporting in South Africa) to examine whether there are benefits associated with communicating the details of CA within companies' integrated reports. We find that communicating the details of CA is beneficial in reducing both analysts' forecast errors and dispersion, and also in reducing the bid–ask spread for companies where the information environment is weaker. The implications of these findings for regulators, standard-setters, assurance providers, and users of extended external reports are discussed.
Constitutive PI3‐K activity is essential for proliferation, but not survival, of Theileria parva‐transformed B cells

Theileria is an intracellular parasite that causes lymphoproliferative disorders in cattle, and infection of leucocytes induces a transformed phenotype similar to tumour cells, but the mechanisms by which the parasite induces this phenotype are not understood. Here, we show that infected B lymphocytes display constitutive phosphoinositide 3‐kinase (PI3‐K) activity, which appears to be necessary for proliferation, but not survival. Importantly, we demonstrate that one mechanism by which PI3‐K mediates the proliferation of infected B lymphocytes is through the induction of a granulocyte–monocyte colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF)‐dependent autocrine loop. PI3‐K induction of GM‐CSF appears to be at the transcriptional level and, consistently, we demonstrate that PI3‐K is also involved in the constitutive induction of AP‐1 and NF‐κB, which characterizes Theileria‐infected leucocytes. Taken together, our results highlight a novel strategy exploited by the intracellular parasite Theileria to induce continued proliferation of its host leucocyte.
The Future of Stock Exchanges in Emerging Economies: Evolution and Prospects

We study the determinants of stock market development and the growing migration of capital raising, listing, and trading activity to international exchanges. Economies with better fundamentals have larger and more liquid markets. As fundamentals improve, however, the degree of migration to international exchanges also increases. This leads to gains for corporations in the form of lower costs and more liquidly-traded shares. Fully-fledged local stock exchanges are thus becoming less necessary for many economies. Furthermore, migration can leave too little domestic activity to sustain a local exchange. Therefore, the functions and forms of stock exchanges in many economies need rethinking.
Inhibition of the Expression of the Small Heat Shock Protein αB-Crystallin Inhibits Exosome Secretion in Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells in Culture*

Exosomes carry cell type-specific molecular cargo to extracellular destinations and therefore act as lateral vectors of intercellular communication and transfer of genetic information from one cell to the other. We have shown previously that the small heat shock protein αB-crystallin (αB) is exported out of the adult human retinal pigment epithelial cells (ARPE19) packaged in exosomes. Here, we demonstrate that inhibition of the expression of αB via shRNA inhibits exosome secretion from ARPE19 cells indicating that exosomal cargo may have a role in exosome biogenesis (synthesis and/or secretion). Sucrose density gradient fractionation of the culture medium and cellular extracts suggests continued synthesis of exosomes but an inhibition of exosome secretion. In cells where αB expression was inhibited, the distribution of CD63 (LAMP3), an exosome marker, is markedly altered from the normal dispersed pattern to a stacked perinuclear presence. Interestingly, the total anti-CD63(LAMP3) immunofluorescence in the native and αB-inhibited cells remains unchanged suggesting continued exosome synthesis under conditions of impaired exosome secretion. Importantly, inhibition of the expression of αB results in a phenotype of the RPE cell that contains an increased number of vacuoles and enlarged (fused) vesicles that show increased presence of CD63(LAMP3) and LAMP1 indicating enhancement of the endolysosomal compartment. This is further corroborated by increased Rab7 labeling of this compartment (RabGTPase 7 is known to be associated with late endosome maturation). These data collectively point to a regulatory role for αB in exosome biogenesis possibly via its involvement at a branch point in the endocytic pathway that facilitates secretion of exosomes.
Olfactory projections in a chondrostean fish, Acipenser baeri: An experimental study

The presence of extrabulbar primary olfactory projections has been well established in teleosts. In order to investigate the phylogeny of these projections and to compare their targets with those of the secondary olfactory projections , the connections of the olfactory epithelium and olfactory bulb were studied by means of tract‐tracing methods in a chondrostean, Acipenser baeri. Primary olfactory projections mainly extend to the glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb, but a significant number of extrabulbar efferent fibers course to various telencephalic and diencephalic regions. Both extrabulbar primary and olfactory bulb projections course in diffuse pathways. Extensive overlap was observed between the targets of these extrabulbar primary olfactory fibers and those of the secondary efferent projections of the olfactory bulb, though the latter were more numerous and reached additional targets. Tracer application to the olfactory bulb also revealed a number of bulbopetal neurons in the ipsilateral and contralateral telencephalic areas, as well as crossed interbulbar projections. The presence in a chondrostean of important extrabulbar primary projections and their extensive overlap with secondary olfactory projections suggest that such projections are a derived characteristic of bony fishes. J. Comp. Neurol. 428:145–158, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Corporate Governance and Performance: New Evidence Using Nonlinear Principal Component Analysis

This study revisits the link between corporate governance and performance using a carefully assembled dataset of UK-listed companies. A key aspect of our study is the use of Nonlinear Principal Component Analysis (NLPCA), which is preferred to standard principal component analysis as a more effective method to distill the complex dimensions of corporate governance into reliable summary scores. Our analysis suggests that there are two important dimensions of corporate governance. The first relates to the nature of the internal board processes within a corporation and the incentives of managers to expropriate wealth from shareholders. The second relates to the ability of large/controlling shareholders to exert a monitoring role and provide strong oversight of management performance. Using a GMM-based framework, we find that the first dimension of governance has a modest association with operating measures of performance (i.e. ratio of earnings to total assets, ROA) but not with market-based measures of performance (i.e. Tobin’s Q). On the other hand, the second dimension of governance strongly explains market-based but not operating measures of performance. The empirical findings also indicate that the magnitude of the economic significance of the governance proxies in the performance models, as well as the ranking of firms in terms of corporate governance quality, critically depends on the method utilized to measure corporate governance.
Perception of Bankers and Customers towards Deposit and Investment Mechanisms of Islāmic and Conventional Banking : Empirical Evidence from Bangladesh

Islāmic banking is growing at double digit rate annually. Bangladesh is the third largest Islāmic country in the world in terms of Muslim population. The Islāmic finance industry is growing in Bangladesh as well as its challenges and critiques. It is interesting research question to explore the demand for Islāmic banking in the presence of a strong conventional banking culture in a developing country like Bangladesh. This study is primarily concerned with the theory of Islāmic banking and its practice in Bangladesh. It examines: (a) the Sharī‘ah principles for operation of Islāmic banking in Bangladesh, (b) the genesis of Islāmic banking in Bangladesh, (c) the factors which have led to the emergence of Islāmic banking as well as the growth, development and future of Islāmic banking in Bangladesh, and (d) the deposit and investment mechanisms of Islāmic and conventional banking in Bangladesh. The results show that both the bankers and bank customers have confusing notions about Islāmic banking practices, partly due to lack of proper knowledge about the fundamentals of Islāmic finance and also due to Islāmic banks’ over-reliance on short-term trade financing. The findings also indicate that although Islāmic banks in Bangladesh are competing successfully with their conventional counterparts in an environment where no independent guidelines or Act exist for them, the products and services they provide often seem to resemble with those provided by conventional banking. We suggest that regulatory authorities of Bangladesh should provide a well-defined and explicit legal and regulatory framework that, being consistent with Islāmic Sharī‘ah, should be realistic and flexible enough to meet internationally recognized prudential and supervisory requirements.
Gauge five-brane dynamics and small instanton transitions in heterotic models

We present the first examples of cosmological solutions to four-dimensional heterotic models which include an evolving bundle modulus. The particular bundle modulus we consider corresponds to the width of a gauge five brane. As such our solutions can be used to describe the evolution in one of these models after a small instanton transition. We find that certain properties are generic to these solutions, regardless of initial conditions. This enables us to make some definite statements about the dynamics subsequent to a small instanton transition despite the fact that we cannot microscopically describe the process itself. We also show that an effective description of the small instanton transition by a continuous matching of fields and their first derivatives is precluded by the form of the respective low-energy theories before and after the transition.
Organizational Service Climate Drivers of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and Financial and Market Performance

The climate for service is conceptualized and studied as a correlate of customer satisfaction and corporate financial and market performance, with customer satisfaction as a mediator of the climate-performance relationship. Brief reviews of relevant literatures yield three hypotheses: (1) customer satisfaction will be a significant correlate of organizational financial and market performance, (2) organizational service climate will be a significant correlate of organizational customer satisfaction, and (3) customer satisfaction will mediate the relationship between service climate and financial and market performance. The hypothesized relationships are supported in a 3-year longitudinal study of Fortune 200 service companies (not units within companies) from diverse service sectors with path analyses supporting full mediation for customer satisfaction in the link between service climate and corporate financial and market performance. Management implications for corporate competitive advantage through a focus on service climate are discussed.
Rights Issues, Operating Performance and Management Overconfidence: UK Evidence

Prior studies have reported that companies performing rights issues in the UK exhibit a significant underperformance in the period following the offering. Using a sample of rights issues covering the period 1988-1998, this study suggests that this long-term underperformance is related to a significant post-offering decline in companies' operating performance compared to their industrial benchmarks. These results are mostly robust in the case of fast-growing firms with overoptimistic management. Moreover, an investigation in the pre- and post-offering performance of issuers also indicate that managers issue equity when securities are highly overvalued. This evidence is consistent with both the asymmetry of information and window of opportunities hypotheses.
Epidemiological trends in Merkel cell carcinoma in southern France: a registry‐based study

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a cutaneous malignancy derived from Merkel cells. The crude incidence of MCC has increased from 0.2 to 0.6 per 100,000 persons between 1990 and 2006 in the United States (1). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Clinical risk reclassification at 10 years

Three papers in this issue focus on the role of calibration in model fit statistics, including the net reclassification improvement (NRI) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). This commentary reviews the development of such reclassification statistics along with more recent advances in our understanding of these measures. We show how the two‐category NRI and the IDI are affected by changes in the event rate in theory and in an applied example. We also describe the role of calibration and how it may be assessed. Finally, we discuss the relevance of the event rate NRI for clinical use. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Robustness of synchronization in heterogeneous multi-agent systems

This paper studies robustness of synchronization in heterogeneous multi-agent systems, which is gained by interactions with other agents through the network. In order to effectively deal with the heterogeneous cases, we introduce the concept of the averaged dynamics which is the average of all agents' dynamics, and then claim that two sources enhance the robustness of the group behavior against differences among agents. First, we show that strong coupling among heterogeneous agents makes the trajectories of all agents remain in an arbitrarily small neighborhood of the trajectory of the averaged dynamics. Second, we observe that the amount of individual variation of each agent, that contributes to the averaged dynamics, gets smaller as the number of agents increases, and thus, the averaged dynamics becomes more robust to the differences among agents. Simulation results confirm our claim that a large number of agents with strong couplings have robust synchronization.
EFFECT OF ANNOUNCEMENTS OF WITHDRAWAL FROM SOUTH AFRICA ON STOCKHOLDER WEALTH

In this study, we analyzed investor reaction to corporate announcements of withdrawal from South Africa to determine whether such announcements increased or reduced firms' market value. We also examined the effect of the timing of the announcements on stock valuation. The announcements were associated with a significant drop in the value of the withdrawing firms' stock, particularly for firms withdrawing earlier in the debate surrounding the issue of withdrawal. These results suggest that managers were considering the interests of groups other than stockholders in their decisions to withdraw. Implications of the results for stakeholder theory are discussed.
Early and late radiation-induced skin alterations. Part II: Nursing care of irradiated skin.

Teaching patients how to care for irradiated skin during and after a course of radiation therapy is a major concern of oncology nurses. Part I of this two-part article (ONF 19(5):801-807) focused on the mechanisms of skin injury. Many topical preparations are available for skin care. When these substances are applied, both the active ingredient and the vehicle must be appropriate for the condition being treated. Preparations may be applied to the skin as liquids (e.g., lotions, solutions, tinctures used in wet dressings, soaks, baths) or solids (e.g., powders, creams, ointments). As skin reaction progresses during a course of radiation therapy, recommendations for skin care will change. Healing of injury occurs in three stages: inflammation, proliferation, and maturation. Wound healing proceeds more rapidly in a moist environment, and a variety of occlusive dressings can be used with moist desquamation.