Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transcriptome profiling from adipose tissue during a low-calorie diet reveals predictors of weight and glycemic outcomes in obese, nondiabetic subjects.

Background: A low-calorie diet (LCD) reduces fat mass excess, improves insulin sensitivity, and alters adipose tissue (AT) gene expression, yet the relation with clinical outcomes remains unclear.Objective: We evaluated AT transcriptome alterations during an LCD and the association with weight and glycemic outcomes both at LCD termination and 6 mo after the LCD.Design: Using RNA sequencing (RNAseq), we analyzed transcriptome changes in AT from 191 obese, nondiabetic patients within a multicenter, controlled dietary intervention. Expression changes were associated with outcomes after an 8-wk LCD (800-1000 kcal/d) and 6 mo after the LCD. Results were validated by using quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction in 350 subjects from the same cohort. Statistical models were constructed to classify weight maintainers or glycemic improvers.Results: With RNAseq analyses, we identified 1173 genes that were differentially expressed after the LCD, of which 350 and 33 were associated with changes in body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) and Matsuda index values, respectively, whereas 29 genes were associated with both endpoints. Pathway analyses highlighted enrichment in lipid and glucose metabolism. Classification models were constructed to identify weight maintainers. A model based on clinical baseline variables could not achieve any classification (validation AUC: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.36, 0.64). However, clinical changes during the LCD yielded better performance of the model (AUC: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.87]). Adding baseline expression to this model improved the performance significantly (AUC: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.77, 0.96; Delong's P = 0.012). Similar analyses were performed to classify subjects with good glycemic improvements. Baseline- and LCD-based clinical models yielded similar performance (best AUC: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.60, 0.86). The addition of expression changes during the LCD improved the performance substantially (AUC: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.69, 0.92; P = 0.058). Conclusions: This study investigated AT transcriptome alterations after an LCD in a large cohort of obese, nondiabetic patients. Gene expression combined with clinical variables enabled us to distinguish weight and glycemic responders from nonresponders. These potential biomarkers may help clinicians understand intersubject variability and better predict the success of dietary interventions. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00390637.
Middle Management Work

To be a middle manager is the ambition of hardly anyone. It is regarded as a time of transition, after the escape from routine or technical specialisation and before promotion to the halcyon realms of senior management or even top management. It is therefore a role that is little understood and seldom examined by academics, whose attention is drawn inexorably to the top of the organisational hierarchy. Middle management remains, nonetheless, the destiny of many people who aspire to a management career. Limitations on economic growth and organisational contraction reduce the possibilities for people to pass through the middle management phase, so that for many people middle management is the level at which their career ends. This paper is partly an attempt to delineate the middle role in management, seeing it as a role quite distinct from that of more senior or junior roles and therefore having distinct characteristics and opportunities: not the 'senior management on a smaller scale' that is the operating assumption of most chief executives and most textbooks. A second feature of this paper is to improve our understanding of management work, especially that of middle managers. McCall et at [1] carried out an extensive review of the research about management work and derived a number of conclusions about how management jobs were constituted, yet they identified six issues on which they were unable to draw conclusions: whether managers controlled their work, whether effective managers did things differently, what the content of management work was, the influence of organisational variables, whether managerial work cycled and what caused stress. A further critical review of the evidence is in Hales [2]. In this paper we have some explanations of what middle managers do and the issues they have in common.
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ADOPTION OF ECONOMIC VALUE ADDED (EVA) AS A PERFORMANCE MEASURE IN THE KENYA INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Purpose : The purpose of the study was to assess the adoption of economic value added (eva) as a performance measure in the Kenya insurance industry. Methodology : The researcher targeted the insurance and reinsurance companies otherwise referred to as the ‘underwriters’ who are the main players by virtue of the fact that they carry sectoral risks. The researcher applied quantitative techniques to analyze numerical data, while qualitative techniques were used to analyse subjective data. Results: Findings indicate that the adoption of EVA as a performance measure in the insurance sector in Kenya is low. A positive and significant relationship was established between the level of adoption and the factors stated in the null hypothesis of Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Support System and Social Influence, also summarized as the extent to which the measure has been popularized by its proponents and adopters in the target population. Results also indicated that there was a positive relationship between profitability and adoption of EVA by the insurance firms. Findings also indicated a high potential for increasing adoption of EVA for performance measurement which should be leveraged on by key industry stakeholders to spearhead expectation of use of EVA to evaluate the performance of specific firms. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy : The key industry stakeholders especially investors should spearhead expectation of use of EVA to evaluate the performance of specific firms.
Health-related quality of life following single or bilateral lung transplantation: a 7-year comparison to functional outcome.

OBJECTIVES To compare long-term health-related quality of life (HRQL) in single and bilateral lung transplant recipients independent of the underlying disease, and in a subset of patients with native pulmonary emphysema. METHODS Forty-four lung transplant recipients (mean [+/- SD] age, 44.8 +/- 11.6 years) were followed up for > 2 years after single lung transplantation (LTx) [14 recipients] or bilateral LTx (30 recipients). Data were prospectively collected, before undergoing LTx and annually after undergoing LTx, measuring FEV1, 6-min walk test (6MWT) results, and quality of life using the St. George respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ) and a visual analog scale (VAS). The SGRQ addresses three domains, namely, respiratory symptoms, accomplishment of routine activities, and disease impact on daily life. RESULTS Statistically significant correlation coefficients were found comparing the SGRQ and the VAS (r = 0.812; p < 0.0001), the SGRQ and the 6MWT (r = 0.610; p < 0.0001), and the SGRQ and the FEV1 (r = 0.523; p < 0.0001) in all patients. Significant improvements on the FEV1, 6MWT, and SGRQ were observed after LTx in both single and bilateral LTx recipients. Increased risk for the development of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) [relative risk, 2.86; 95% confidence interval, 1.22 to 6.67; p = 0.03] and significantly lower FEV1 values were observed in patients following a single graft, compared to that in patients following a bilateral graft (p < 0.01). In contrast, the 6MWT and the SGRQ scores were not significantly different between recipients of single and double LTx. The same patterns of results were observed in comparisons between single and bilateral lung recipients with prior pulmonary emphysema. CONCLUSIONS Despite poorer FEV1 recovery and increased risk of BOS after LTx, single lung transplant recipients had comparable long-term exercise tolerance and quality-of-life scores as patients who received bilateral transplants. These results suggest the limited influence of functional performance on objective and subjective markers of HRQL recovery after LTx.
Livelihood Analysis of Ornamental Fish Producers in Mumbai and Thane Districts of Maharashtra State

The present study was conducted to assess the livelihood status of ornamental fish producers in the Mumbai and Thane districts of Maharashtra. A total of 30 ornamental fish producers were taken as the sample out of 90 for present study of which 22 are men and 08 are women. The semi-structured interview schedule was prepared as per the livelihood profile of the Department for International Development (DFID) framework. The socio-economic status indicates that the majorities of the producers were literate, middle-age group and had more than 05 years of experience. The sustainable livelihood framework indicates five type of capital i.e. natural, physical, financial, human and social capital with 05 indicators each. Primary data were collected through surveys using semi structured interview schedules and stakeholder meetings. Altogether 30 ornamental fish producers out of 90 as per MPEDA (2012) from Mumbai and Thane districts were interviewed once during the study. The study revealed that the normalized mean score of natural, physical, human, financial and social capital was 0.31, 0.70, 0.56, 0.39 and 0.49 respectively. Further, the pentagon diagram of the DFID model indicated the higher score of physical and financial capital in the districts signifies that Original Research Article Yadav and Sharma; AJAEES, 17(4): 1-9, 2017; Article no.AJAEES. 33965 2 the location advantage as Mumbai is metropolitan city and Thane is rapidly developing adjacent to Mumbai with high demand for ornamental fishes. It can be seen that natural, human and social capital relatively plays a lesser role in the production activity. For improving social capital, the formation of cooperative societies of the ornamental fish producers as well as SHG’s or producer’s company will be most appropriate measure. Human capital can be improved by organizing training in sector of ornamental fisheries like breeding, feeding, disease management and marketing and export for entrepreneurs, technicians and skilled and unskilled labor which will also increase the income of the producers.
A comparison of severity of illness scoring systems for critically ill obstetric patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To evaluate the predictive ability of three scoring systems, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II), simplified acute physiology score (SAPS II), and mortality probability models (MPM II) in critically ill obstetric patients compared to a control group of non-obstetric female patients of similar age group (range, 17 to 41 years). DESIGN A retrospective medical chart review of obstetric and nonobstetric female patients between 17 and 41 years of age. SETTING Two university hospitals. PATIENTS Ninety-three obstetric patients and 96 nonobstetric female patients were identified from 12,740 consecutive ICU admissions. RESULTS The actual mortality of the obstetric and the nonobstetric group was 10.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.3 to 19.0%) and 12.5% (95% CI, 6.6 to 21.0%), respectively. The observed mortality was not statistically different from the mortality predicted by APACHE II, SAPS II, and MPM II (14.7%, 7.8%, and 9.1% for the obstetric group and 10.9%, 9.0%, and 9.9% for the nonobstetric group). Predictive accuracy was assessed by the c-index, which is equivalent to the area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve. There were no significant differences in the c-index for APACHE II, SAPS II, and MPM II within or between the obstetric group ([mean +/- SE], 0.93 +/- 0.02, 0.90 +/- 0.04, and 0.91 +/- 0.04, respectively) and the nonobstetric group (0.97 +/- 0.02, 0.95 +/- 0.03, and 0.96 +/- 0.02, respectively). CONCLUSIONS We conclude that APACHE II, SAPS II, and MPM II assess the ICU outcome of critically ill obstetric patients as accurately as nonobstetric critically ill female patients of similar age group.
Downregulation of microRNA expression in the lungs of rats exposed to cigarette smoke

Although microRNAs have been investigated extensively in cancer research, little is known regarding their response to noxious agents in apparently healthy tissues. We analyzed the expression of 484 miRNAs in the lungs of rats exposed to environmental cigarette smoke (ECS) for 28 days. ECS down‐regulated 126 miRNAs (26.0%) at least 2‐fold and 24 miRNAs more than 3‐fold. We previously demonstrated that 107 of 4858 genes (2.9%) and 50 of 518 proteins (9.7%) were up‐regulated by ECS in the same tissue, which is consistent with the role of microRNAs as negative regulators of gene expression. The most remarkably down‐regulated microRNAs belonged to the families of let‐7, miR‐10, miR‐26, miR‐30, miR‐34, miR‐99, miR‐122, miR‐123, miR‐124, miR‐125, miR‐140, miR‐145, miR‐146, miR‐191, miR‐192, miR‐219, miR‐222, and miR‐223, which regulate stress response, apoptosis, proliferation, an‐giogenesis, and expression of genes. In contrast, miR‐294, an inhibitor of transcriptional repressor genes, was up‐regulated by ECS. There was a strong parallelism in dysregulation of rodent microRNAs and their human homologues, which are often transcribed from genes localized in fragile sites deleted in lung cancer. Five ECS‐down‐regulated microRNAs are known to be affected by single nucleotide polymorphisms. Thus, changes in microRNA expression are an early event following exposure to cigarette smoke. — Izzotti, A. , Calin, G. A. , Arrigo, P., Steele, V. E. , Croce, C. M. , De Flora, S. Downregulation of microRNA expression in the lungs of rats exposed to cigarette smoke. FASEB J. 23, 806–812 (2009)
Immune response of sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax to Tenacibaculum maritimum antigens

Seawater fishes are affected by a pathology commonly called ‘myxobacteriosis’, caused by Tenacibaculum maritimum (formerly Flexibacter maritimus). The disease is characterized by fin erosion and necrotic ulcers of skin and muscle, and by low but constant mortality in cultured marine fish; in Italy is one of the most important and widely spread diseases affecting sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax, gilthead seabream Sparus aurata, sharp-snouted bream Diplodus puntazzo, white bream Diplodus sargus, and six-tooted bream Dentex dentex. In order to obtain an effective vaccine against the disease, formalin killed cells (FKC), extracellular products (ECPs) and crude lipopolysaccharide (LPS) preparations were obtained from the T. maritimum strain SPVId and injected intraperi-toneally twice into the sea bass. The fish immune response to the preparations was studied: agglutinating antibody titer and in vitro phagocytosis were determined after the first and second injection in order to evaluate whether the preparations are immunogenic or not and if the booster effect took place. The results show that FKC and LPS preparations increased the antibody titer after the first injection when compared to the control sea bass. Moreover, all the preparations stimulated a secondary (booster) response. In vitro phagocytosis of the total blood was significantly higher for all the preparations when compared to the controls, but the crude LPS immunized sea bass showed the highest activity.
Suppression by Fucoidan of Liver Fibrogenesis via the TGF-β/Smad Pathway in Protecting against Oxidative Stress

Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide extracted from various types of brown seaweed, possesses a wide range of pharmacological properties. We investigated the protective effect of fucoidan on dimethylnitrosamine-induced liver fibrogenesis in rats and its mechanism. Liver fibrosis was induced by injecting DMN (10 mg/kg, 3 times per week, I.P.) for 4 weeks, and fucoidan was simultaneously administered (100 mg/kg, 3 times per week, P.O.). The anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of fucoidan were observed by relative mediators. Fucoidan improved liver fibrosis by inhibiting the expression of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1)/Smad3 and the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1), and increasing the expression of metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). Fucoidan also significantly decreased the accumulation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and collagen. These results suggest that fucoidan had an anti-fibrotic effect, which was exerted by inhibiting the TGF-β/Smad pathway, as well as anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects.
Controlled-release nifedipine and candesartan low-dose combination therapy in patients with essential hypertension: the NICE Combi (Nifedipine and Candesartan Combination) Study

Objective To compare the clinical efficacy of low-dose controlled-release (CR) nifedipine (20 mg/day) plus candesartan (8 mg/day) combination therapy with that of up-titrated candesartan (12 mg/day) monotherapy. Design Randomized, double-blind study. Setting Outpatient study. Patients and participants Patients with essential hypertension, who did not achieve their target blood pressure with baseline treatment of candesartan 8 mg/day for 8 weeks. Main outcome measures Blood pressure, pulse pressure, urinary microalbumin excretion. Results Blood pressure was significantly reduced in both groups (P < 0.05), but the reduction was significantly greater in the combination therapy group (12.1 ± 1.4/8.7 ± 0.9 mmHg) than in the up-titrated monotherapy group (4.1 ± 1.4/4.6 ± 0.9 mmHg) (P < 0.0001). The reduction in pulse pressure was significantly greater in the combination therapy group (3.3 ± 1.2 mmHg) than in the up-titrated monotherapy group (0.7 ± 1.2 mmHg) (P = 0.0031). Urinary microalbumin excretion decreased significantly in the combination therapy group (from 61.9 to 40.5 mg/g creatinine; P < 0.05), but not in the up-titrated monotherapy group. Conclusions These findings suggest that the low-dose combination therapy of nifedipine CR and candesartan is superior to the up-titrated monotherapy of candesartan in terms of blood pressure control and renal protection in patients with essential hypertension.
Financial Statement and Auditing Errors Associated with the Lawsuits Against Public Accountants in Australia and Singapore

This paper considers the legal liability regime for financial advisors, namely certified public accountants and auditors, in Singapore and Australia. Examination of the comparative aspects in which lawsuits against financial advisors are commenced provided an analysis of the legal and commercial environment and the regulatory regimes of the two jurisdictions considered. Information was collected from a wide range of sources including articles, texts, government reports and professional body publications. The main basis of the paper however, was a detailed analysis of a number of court cases in Singapore and Australia. A qualitative, legal case-study method was used to meet the following objectives: (i) description of background information for the lawsuit, (ii) explanation of information collected, and (iii) analysis of the information in the context of the research topic. After a wide search on a number of different legal databases in Australia and Singapore, eleven and eight relevant cases were chosen from each jurisdiction respectively. The case analysis was conducted to develop an understanding of the complex reasons that initiated the litigation process against the professional accountant or auditor where many variables are not quantifiable and actual causes for legal action significantly vary from one case to the other. These cases were evaluated to consider a range of issues including the court jurisdiction, main issues contributing to the litigation, types of alleged errors and findings of liability. Consequently it appeared that even though the two countries have similar regulatory regimes for financial advisors, there were a surprising range of differences in the legal and commercial environment in which claims were brought by parties. These differences highlighted the positive and negative aspects of the varying approaches and allowed the paper to make a range of recommendations for Australia, Singapore and the accounting profession at large. These recommendations include a strict approach to legal liability for advisors, enacting measures to limit the liability of advisors and the requirement and importance of good corporate governance approaches.
HMG‐D, the Drosophila melanogaster homologue of HMG 1 protein, is associated with early embryonic chromatin in the absence of histone H1.

We show that HMG‐D, an abundant chromosomal protein, is associated with condensed chromatin structures during the first six nuclear cleavage cycles of the developing Drosophila embryo and that histone H1 is absent from these same structures. As H1 accumulates from nuclear division 7 onwards, the nuclei become more compact and transcriptionally active. This compaction is paralleled by a reduction in size of mitotic chromatin. In addition, we find a striking correlation between the switch in HMG‐D:H1 ratios and the changes that occur between nuclear cycles 8 and 13 that are collectively termed the mid‐blastula transition. This transition is characterized by an increase in the nuclear cycle times, a change in the nucleo‐cytoplasmic ratio, and a 5‐ to 20‐fold decrease in nuclear volume. We propose that this is a direct consequence of a re‐organization of chromatin from a less condensed state with HMG‐D to a more condensed state with H1. We argue that HMG‐D, either by itself or in conjunction with other chromosomal proteins, induces a condensed state of chromatin that is distinct from, and less compact than the H1‐containing 30 nm fibre and that this state of chromatin could facilitate rapid nuclear cycles.
Providing information about the effectiveness of treatment options to depressed people in the community: a randomized controlled trial of effects on mental health literacy, help-seeking and symptoms

Background. Many people who are depressed do not receive any professional help and their beliefs about the helpfulness of treatment do not always correspond with those of health professionals. To facilitate choices about treatment, the present study examined the effects of providing depressed people in the community with evidence on whether various treatment options work. Method. A randomized controlled trial was carried out with 1094 persons selected at random from the community who screened positive for depressive symptoms and agreed to participate. Participants were mailed either an evidence-based consumer guide to treatments for depression or, as a control, a general brochure on depression. Outcomes were the rated usefulness of the information provided, changes in attitudes to depression treatments, actions taken to reduce depression, and changes in depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and disability. Results. Participants rated the evidence-based consumer guide as more useful than the control brochure. Attitudes to some treatments changed. Improvements in symptoms and disability did not differ significantly between interventions. Conclusion. Providing people who are depressed with evidence on which treatments work produces some changes in attitudes and behaviour. However, this intervention may need to be enhanced if it is to produce symptom change.