Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fatty acid composition of achenes of Cirsium taxa (Asteraceae, Carduoideae) from Turkey

Abstract The fatty acid compositions and total oil contents in achenes of 22 Cirsium taxa collected from different natural habitats in Turkey were investigated. The range of total fat in the taxa varied from 1.7% to 13.3%. The taxa contained palmitic (C16:0), stearic (C18:0), oleic (C18:1n-9), linoleic (C18:2n-6), and α-linolenic (C18:3n-3) acid. Polyunsaturated fatty acids had the highest level, ranging from 52.1% to 75.2% (C18:2n-6) and 0.5%–17.3% (C18:3n-3). Total saturated (6.9%–17.4%), monounsaturated (11.7%–28.9%), and polyunsaturated (57.4%–79.9%) fatty acids varied substantially, whereas total unsaturated fatty acids ranged from 70.6% to 91.3%. Considerable variation was observed (P<0.05) within each taxon for these fatty acids, especially α-linolenic acid (C18:3n-3). Fatty acid compositions of the 22 taxa were compared by cluster analysis (UPGMA) and principle component analysis (PCA) based on six major fatty acids. This is the first report on the lipid content and fatty acid composition of achenes of Cirsium taxa growing in different areas of Turkey. Fatty acid profiles, relative proportions and levels of fatty acids can be used as additional biochemical markers in the taxonomy of Cirsium.
Enterprise resource planning systems implementation and upgrade (a Kenyan study)

In recent years there has been an increase in using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in large companies and government corporations mainly in developed countries. While there is wide adoption of ERP systems in Western economies, developing countries lag far behind. However, due to recent economic growth, developing countries such as Kenya are increasingly becoming major targets of ERP vendors. There is an urgent need for under- standing ERP implementation issues in developing countries, as ERP systems are still in their early stages in these countries. They face additional challenges related to economic, cultural and basic infrastructure issues. This research investigates the organisational and national context within which ERP is adopted and used in Kenya, and how the context and ERP influence each other. In general, this research is based on the need to study organisations in their societal contexts and information systems in their organisational settings. The research contributes to the controversial debate on the conflict between standardisation imposed by ERP systems and localisation of business practices. This study provides some key insights into the implementation and use of ERP systems in the public and the private sectors in Kenya. Case study findings suggest that the company sector plays an important role in ERP implementations in several key dimensions. ERP systems with in-built business practices express the tendency toward standardisation. In addition, the study investigates the challenges faced by organisations implementing ERP systems in Kenya and factors influencing ERP upgrade decisions. Findings of this research suggest that ERP implementation and upgrade is influenced by, but not necessarily bound by, existing contextual factors - national and organisational. Two models, namely, the Empirical ERP Implementation Model (EEIM) and the Upgrade Decision Model (UDM), are developed to represent ERP implementation and upgrade practices. The EEIM helps to identify why there will be particularly high variance in potential outcomes and further validates which organisational contexts and ERP implementation configurations create options during ERP implementation and usage. The UDM makes a novel contribution by showing how different forces interact to bring an aggregate of influences to a threshold level where an ERP system upgrade becomes necessary. The findings of this study also aid the management of organisations that are implementing ERP systems to gain a better understanding of the likely challenges they may face and to enable them to put in place appropriate measures to mitigate the risk of implementation failures. This study also proposes an IT strategy framework which can be used by organisations planning to implement ERP to align their business and IT strategy. Finally, the study provides practical guidelines to practitioners on ERP implementation and upgrade based on the experience of the case study organisations and the ERP consultants interviewed.
Future Directions in Research on Psychotherapy for Adolescent Depression

Research over the past 3 decades has shown that psychotherapy can successfully address adolescent depression. Cognitive behavioral models have been most extensively and rigorously tested, with evidence also supporting interpersonal psychotherapy and attachment-based family therapy. However, the vast majority of studies have focused on short-term treatment of depressive episodes, even as evidence accumulates that depression is frequently a recurring condition extending into adulthood. Moreover, treatment studies indicate that better longer term outcomes are attained by adolescents who respond earlier and more completely to intervention. Given what has been learned to date about adolescent depression treatment, future psychotherapy research should adopt a longer term perspective and focus on the following key challenges: (a) preventing relapse and recurrent episodes, while improving speed and thoroughness of initial treatment response; (b) identifying the necessary treatment components and learning processes that lead to successful and enduring recovery from depression; (c) determining whether—and, if so, how—to address comorbid disorders within depression treatment; (d) addressing the dilemma of simplicity versus complexity in treatment models. Given the relatively small number of evidence-based treatment models, newer approaches warrant investigation. These should be tested against existing models and also compared to medication and combined (psychotherapy plus medication) treatment. Advances in technology now enable investigators to improve dissemination, to conduct experimental psychotherapeutics and to expand application of Internet-based interventions to the goals of relapse and recurrence prevention.
Supply Chain Practice, Supply Chain Performance Indicators and Competitive Advantage of Australian Beef Enterprises: A Conceptual Framework

This research focuses on an Australian agribusiness supply chain, the Australian Beef Supply Chain. The definition of the Australian Beef Supply Chain is the chain or sequence of all activities from the breeding property to the domestic or overseas consumers. The beef sector in Australia is undergoing rapid change because of globalisation, a highly competitive beef market (local and export), quicker production cycle and delivery times and consequently reduced inventories, a general speed-up of the rate of change in the business environment, the trend toward more outsourcing of activities, and the rapid development of IT. In this business environment, advanced supply chain systems have the potential to provide significant contributions to Australian beef industry performance. A conceptual framework of the research project has been proposed. There are three elements of conceptual framework. Firstly, supply chain practice of Australian beef industry consists of five sub-elements such as strategic supplier partnerships, customer relationships, information sharing, information quality and a lean system. Moreover, there is an antecedent of cooperative behaviour such as trust and commitment influencing supply chain practice and supply chain performance indicators. Secondly, supply chain performance indicators include four sub-elements such as flexibility, efficiency, food quality and responsiveness. Finally, the competitive advantage framework of the Australian beef enterprises consists of price, quality, export sales growth and time to market. As a further step of the research after developing the conceptual framework, the research project focuses the analysis on how the antecedents of the sub-elements of supply chain practice affect supply chain performance in Australian beef enterprises, how trust and commitment in trading partners affect supply chain performance, how attributes such as flexibility, efficiency, food quality and responsiveness influence the sub-elements of competitive advantage. The research project leads on to further work on how Australian beef enterprises measure their supply chain performance and what the major difficulties are arising when implementing supply chain management in the Australian beef industry and what kind of changes can be made to beef supply chains to enhance their performance.
Asthma–COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) vs ‘pure’ COPD: a distinct phenotype?

Some studies suggest that asthma–COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) is associated with worse outcomes than chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The goal of this study was to further explore the clinical characteristics and survival of patients with ACOS identified in a real‐life cohort of patients with COPD.
PDE 3 and PDE 4 Isozyme-Selective Inhibitors Are Both Required for Synergistic Activation of Brown Adipose Tissue s

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a highly thermogenic organ that converts lipids and glucose into heat. Many of the metabolic and gene transcriptional hallmarks of BAT activation, namely increased lipolysis, uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) mRNA, and glucose uptake, are regulated by the adrenergic second messenger, cAMP. Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) catalyze the breakdown of cAMP, thereby regulating the magnitude and duration of this signaling molecule. In the absence of adrenergic stimulus, we found that it required a combination of a PDE3 and a PDE4 inhibitor to fully induce UCP1 mRNA and lipolysis in brown adipocytes, whereas neither PDE inhibitor alone had any substantial effect under basal conditions. Under submaximal b-adrenoceptor stimulation of brown adipocytes, a PDE3 inhibitor alone could potentiate induction of UCP1 mRNA, whereas a PDE4 inhibitor alone could augment lipolysis, indicating differential roles for each of these two PDEs. Neither induction of UCP1 nor lipolysis was altered by inhibition of PDE1, PDE2, or PDE8A. Finally, when injected into mice, the combination of PDE3 and PDE4 inhibitors stimulated glucose uptake in BAT under thermoneutral and fasted conditions, a response that was further potentiated by the global ablation of PDE8A. Taken together, these data reveal that multiple PDEs work in concert to regulate three of the important pathways leading to BAT activation, a finding that may provide an improved conceptual basis for the development of therapies for obesity-related diseases.
Gestational diabetes mellitus in women with multiple pregnancies: is the metabolic abnormality milder?

Abstract Objective: We aimed to compare maternal characteristics and dysglycemia after delivery in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) according to pregnancy being multiple (MP) or singleton (SP). The hypothesis was that women with GDM and MP would have a milder glycemic abnormality before and after pregnancy than those with SP. Methods: We performed a cohort study of 2908 women giving birth between 1986 and 2009. Logistic regression was performed to discriminate between MP and SP after anamnestic pre-pregnancy characteristics. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses were performed to assess if MP was independently associated with both impaired fasting glucose (IFG)/impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes after delivery. Results: Family history of diabetes was the only independent anamnestic pre-pregnancy characteristic discriminating MP versus SP, OR 2.04 (95% CI 1.12, 3.70, p 0.019). The median time to progress to IFG/IGT was 7.52 years in SP (95% CI 6.92, 8.13) and 7.41 in MP (95% CI 3.84, 10.98), ns and the progression to DM did not differ. In addition, MP was not associated to IFG/IGT or to DM in the Cox regression analysis. Conclusions: In this cohort of women with GDM, those with MP did not demonstrate a lesser degree of dysglycemia after controlling for other pregnancy characteristics and pregnancy-independent factors.
A Meta-Analysis Examining the Influence of Pro-Eating Disorder Websites on Body Image and Eating Pathology.

Previous research has indicated that exposure to pro-eating disorder websites might increase eating pathology; however, the magnitude of this effect is unknown. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effect of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on body image and eating pathology. Studies examining the relationship between exposure to pro-eating disorder websites and eating pathology-related outcomes were included. The systematic review identified nine studies. Findings revealed significant effect sizes of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on body image dissatisfaction (five studies), d = . 41, p = . 003; dieting (six studies), d = . 68, p < . 001, and negative affect (three studies), d = 1.00, p < . 001. No effect emerged for bulimic symptoms (four studies), d = . 22, p = . 73. Findings confirmed the effect of pro-eating disorder websites on body image and eating pathology, highlighting the need for enforceable regulation of these websites.
Novel polymorphisms of the human cholecystokinin A receptor gene: an association analysis with schizophrenia.

The cholecystokinin A receptor (CCK-AR) modulates CCK-stimulated dopamine release in the posterior nucleus accumbens, and its gene is mapped to 4p15.2-15.1 with the dopamine receptor 5 (DR5) gene. We speculated that alterations in the CCK-AR lead to an increase in dopamine release, which may in turn constitute a predisposition in schizophrenia. We investigated genetic variations in the promoter region and the coding region of the CCK-AR gene. An association analysis was conducted between 83 unrelated schizophrenic patients and 80 healthy controls. Novel polymorphisms (201A-->G, 246G-->A in the promoter region, 1260T-->A, 1266T-->C in intron 1 within the 3' mRNA splice acceptor site consensus sequence, and Leu306Leu in exon 5) were found in addition to the variants (608G-->A in intron 1, 3849C-->T [Ile296Ile] in exon 5) reported previously. Significant differences were found in the allele frequencies of the 201A-->G nucleotide substitution in the promoter region between patients and controls (P = 0.0181, odds ratio: 1.972, after Bonferroni correction: P = 0.0543). These differences were also found between the patients with paranoid type and controls (P = 0.0274, odds ratio = 3.667, after Bonferroni correction: P = 0.0822). Our analyses suggest that the 201A allele frequency was higher in the schizophrenic group, especially in the paranoid type, than in the control group at a rate that was not quite significant after Bonferroni correction. Am J. Med Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 96:141-145, 2000.
Why Do Russian Firms Invest Abroad? A Firm Level Analysis

This study examines the motives for Russian outward foreign direct investments (OFDI) around the world. Using firm-level data for Russian firms, home and host country economic, geographical, cultural and institutional drivers of Russian OFDI are analyzed. Findings show that Russian OFDI seems to be motivated by both the push and the pull factors. Results suggest market-seeking to be the main motive behind Russian outward foreign direct investments, followed by resource and technology acquisition, while efficiency-seeking does not appear to be a major objective. Compared with the pre-crisis period, Russian firms have been seeking more foreign investments since 2008. The study helps better understand the economic, geographical, cultural and institutional factors that Russian transnational corporations consider while planning investments abroad.
Longitudinal Comparison of Thyroxine Pharmacokinetics Between Pregnant and Nonpregnant Women: A Stable Isotope Study

The treatment of maternal hypothyroidism presents clinicians with a unique challenge, because dosing regimens previously developed and validated for nonpregnant women cannot be easily extrapolated to dosing in pregnancy. Thyroid hormone requirement increases by 20% to 40% early during pregnancy, persisting throughout gestation. Accordingly, women with treated hypothyroidism need to increase their levothyroxine dose to prevent maternal hypothyroidism and the associated impaired cognitive development and increased fetal mortality. We investigated the pharmacokinetic properties of levothyroxine during pregnancy through the use of a novel, traceable form of levothyroxine. The objective was to conduct a longitudinal study to determine whether levothyroxine pharmacokinetics differ in the pregnant versus nonpregnant state. We used a unique 13C-levothyroxine-tracer method to distinguish between endogenous and exogenous levothyroxine and studied the pharmacokinetics of a single oral dose of levothyroxine using tandem mass spectrometry. Moreover, we were able to detect single dose amounts of the drug, in picogram/mL concentrations. The area under the curve was 23.0 ng*h/mL in pregnancy and 14.8 ng*h/mL in nonpregnant women (P < 0.03) with median serum half-lives of 32.1 hours and 24.1 hours, respectively (P < 0.04). Further research involves the measurement of free thyroxine on these samples using tandem mass spectrometry. Future work should focus on the mechanisms responsible for the gestational differences in pharmacokinetics and whether these should necessitate dose schedule changes in pregnancy.
An assessment of the validity and dimensionality of E-S-QUAL as a measure of internet retail service quality

Despite its acknowledged importance, there are few rigorous empirical studies examining internet retail service quality. An exception is the development of the E-S-QUAL scale by PZM (2005). Whilst E-S-QUAL demonstrates excellent psychometric properties, the scale is in need of external validation. We present a reassessment and validation of the E-S-QUAL in the internet grocery sector. Our results show that there are potential discriminant validity problems with the Efficiency and System Availability dimensions. Our analysis also shows problems of high correlation between Privacy and Fulfilment dimensions. This may be because privacy is less important for frequent users (such as grocery shoppers). Consistent with Parasuraman et al, our results suggests that website related factors are the most important in the overall evaluation of internet retail service quality.
PUBLIC R&D SUBSIDIES AND EMPLOYMENT GROWTH - MICROECONOMIC EVIDENCE FROM FINNISH FIRMS

This study empirically explores whether the public financial support for entrepreneurial R&D affects employment growth at the firm level. The data from the Finnish companies suggests that the firms that have received public R&D funding have not generally witnessed any greater employment growth than other companies. However, we find that the public R&D support targeted to the certain types of R&D activities notably contribute to the creation of new jobs : employment in those firms that have received public funding for the R&D projects targeted to the new business areas has clearly grown relatively more than in other companies. The relationship between the firms total innovation and employment growth is not statistically significant.
Comparative voltammetric study and determination of carbamate pesticide residues in soil at carbon nanotubes paste electrodes

In this investigation, the persistence of carbamate pesticides in soil samples was investigated. A simple and selective differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry was selected for this investigation. Carbon nanotubes paste electrodes were used as working electrodes for differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry. A symmetric study of the various operational parameters that affect the stripping response was carried out by differential pulse voltammetry. Peak currents were linear over the concentration range of 10 -5 to 10 -10 M with an accumulation potential of -0.6 V and a 70 s accumulation time with lower detection limits of 1.09x10 -7 M, 1.07×10 -7 M, 1.09×10 -7 M for chlorphropham, thiodicarb, aldicarb. The relative standard deviation (n=10) and correlation coefficient values were 1.15 %, 0.988; 1.13 %, 0.978; and 1.14 %, 0.987, respectively. Universal buffer with pH range 2.0 - 6.0 was used as supporting electrolyte. The solutions with uniform concentration (10 -5 M) were used in all deter
Stress-Induced Glucocorticoids at the Earliest Stages of Herpes Simplex Virus-1 Infection Suppress Subsequent Antiviral Immunity, Implicating Impaired Dendritic Cell Function

The systemic elevation of psychological stress-induced glucocorticoids strongly suppresses CD8+ T cell immune responses resulting in diminished antiviral immunity. However, the specific cellular targets of stress/glucocorticoids, the timing of exposure, the chronology of immunological events, and the underlying mechanisms of this impairment are incompletely understood. In this study, we address each of these questions in the context of a murine cutaneous HSV infection. We show that exposure to stress or corticosterone in only the earliest stages of an HSV-1 infection is sufficient to suppress, in a glucocorticoid receptor-dependent manner, the subsequent antiviral immune response after stress/corticosterone has been terminated. This suppression resulted in early onset and delayed resolution of herpetic lesions, reduced viral clearance at the site of infection and draining popliteal lymph nodes (PLNs), and impaired functions of HSV-specific CD8+ T cells in PLNs, including granzyme B and IFN-γ production and the ability to degranulate. In knockout mice lacking glucocorticoid receptors only in T cells, we show that these impaired CD8+ T cell functions are not due to direct effects of stress/corticosterone on the T cells, but the ability of PLN-derived dendritic cells to prime HSV-1–specific CD8+ T cells is functionally impaired. These findings highlight the susceptibility of critical early events in the generation of an antiviral immune response to neuroendocrine modulation and implicate dendritic cells as targets of stress/glucocorticoids in vivo. These findings also provide insight into the mechanisms by which the clinical use of glucocorticoids contributes to altered immune responses in patients with viral infections or tumors.
Sustaining traditional food: consumers' perceptions on physical characteristics of keropok lekor or fish snack

Keropok Lekor or frankfurter-like snack has long existed in Malaysia and has been sold in commercial retail shops as well as on the streets. The aims of this study were to analyze consumer's perception and attitude towards keropok lekor and to determine consumer's behavior on the product. Survey questionnaire was employed as a data collection tool. A total of 212 respondents from a university participated in this study. Results showed that more than 70% of the respondents chose to eat keropok lekor because of the taste. Half of the respondents chose black pepper as an innovative supplementary flavor of keropok lekor. This study also explores and analyses preliminary consumer behavior about keropok lekor such as satisfaction level, factors that drive consumption, product's image from consumer perspectives and etc.
Equity Options During the Short Ban of 2008

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2008 emergency order introduced a shorting ban of some 800 financials traded in the US. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the options market around the ban period. Using transaction level data from OPRA (The Options Price Reporting Authority), we study the options volume, spreads, pricing measures and option trade volume informativeness during the ban. We also consider the put–call parity relationship. While mostly statistically significant, economic magnitudes of our results suggest that the impact of the ban on the equity options market was likely not as dramatic as initially thought.