Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Openness, Government Size and Economic Growth in Nigeria

This paper investigates the relationship among openness, government size and economic growth in Nigeria. The study employed the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration to investigate the relationship among the variables. Empirical estimates revealed that in the long run, financial openness and trade openness had an insignificant negative effect on economic growth while physical capital and government size had significant positive and negative effect on economic growth, respectively. In the short run, financial openness, physical capital and government size had significant negative effects on economic growth while trade openness had significant positive effect on economic growth. The study concluded that openness and government size do not positively contribute to the country's economic growth performance which implies that efforts by the government at removing restrictions to trade and cross-border financial transactions, as well as increases in government size have not yielded the desired economic benefits.
Regulation of cell surface APO‐1/Fas (CD95) ligand expression by metalloproteases

APO‐1/Fas (CD95) ligand (APO‐1L) induces apoptosis in sensitive target cells. Activation‐induced T cell death and Ca2+‐independent cytotoxicity in perforin knockout mice are mediated by APO‐1L. To define whether APO‐1L is expressed on the surface of activated T cells and to investigate the mechanisms leading to the release of a soluble form, we developed rabbit anti‐APO‐1L antibodies (Ab). The purified rabbit Ab detected the mature forms of the human and mouse APO‐1L of approximately 42 and 40kDa. In addition, the Ab recognized the non‐glycosylated form of APO‐1L of approximately 32‐33 kDa. In activated human T cells, the soluble form of APO‐1L was detectable with a moleculas mass of 26 kDa. Immunofluorescence of three human T lymphoblastoid cell lines showed that activation of these cells by phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate/ionomycin induced a significant increase in cell surface APO‐1L only in the presence of metalloprotease inhibitors. Zn2+, but not Ca2+, prevented the increase in surface APO‐1L observed in the presence of 1,10‐phenanthroline. Blocking of other classes of proteases (serine‐ and acid‐proteases, chymotrypsin) had no effect. Increased expression of surface APO‐1L by metalloprotease inhibitors was not dependent on T cell activation, as the metalloprotease inhibitors also modulated the low level of constitutive APO‐1L expression. These results suggest that cell surface expression of human APO‐1L is regulated by Zn2+‐dependent metalloproteases. Cleavage of surface APO‐1L may act as a regulatory mechanism to prevent accumulation of the membrane‐bound form and may cause systemic effects of the APO‐1L.
The role of multifrequency tympanometry in otitis media.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the diagnostic value of multifrequency tympanometry in otitis media with effusion and adhesive otitis media. METHODS We selected 50 patients with long standing or recurrent attacks of otitis media with effusion from the outpatient clinic of the Ears, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department, Sohag Medical School, Egypt between May 2002 and December 2002. A control group was also selected, consisting of 25 patients with normal hearing levels and with no history of ENT problems. We conducted full audiological investigations in the form of pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry and immittancemetry. Immittancemetry included low probe tone frequency and multifrequency tympanometry. Each subject in the study group had undergone myringotomy and examination under microscope to decide if the case had either otitis media with effusion or adhesive otitis media. RESULTS Resonant frequency proved to have the best performance in reflecting middle ear pathology. It was lowest in otitis media with effusion with a mean value of 428 +/- 159 Hz and it was highest in adhesive otitis media with a mean of 1336 +/- 230 Hz. CONCLUSION Multifrequency tympanometry has an efficacy of 100% in the diagnosis of otitis media with effusion and 70% in the diagnosis of adhesive otitis media.
The role of nanotechnology in the treatment of viral infections

Infectious diseases are the leading cause of mortality worldwide, with viruses in particular making global impact on healthcare and socioeconomic development. In addition, the rapid development of drug resistance to currently available therapies and adverse side effects due to prolonged use is a serious public health concern. The development of novel treatment strategies is therefore required. The interaction of nanostructures with microorganisms is fast-revolutionizing the biomedical field by offering advantages in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Nanoparticles offer unique physical properties that have associated benefits for drug delivery. These are predominantly due to the particle size (which affects bioavailability and circulation time), large surface area to volume ratio (enhanced solubility compared to larger particles), tunable surface charge of the particle with the possibility of encapsulation, and large drug payloads that can be accommodated. These properties, which are unlike bulk materials of the same compositions, make nanoparticulate drug delivery systems ideal candidates to explore in order to achieve and/or improve therapeutic effects. This review presents a broad overview of the application of nanosized materials for the treatment of common viral infections.
In vitro transforming effect of the fungicides metalaxyl and zineb.

The cytotoxic effects and the transforming properties of two fungicides, metalaxyl and zineb, whose mutagenic or carcinogenic activity has not been clarified yet, were analyzed in the in vitro BALB/c 3T3 cell transformation test both in the presence and in the absence of an exogenous metabolizing system. Zineb was completely detoxified when the exogenous metabolizing system was added to the target cells to increase their inherent metabolic capacity. Metalaxyl induced cell transformation at any assayed dosage, i.e., 500, 250, and 50 micrograms/ml, in the presence of bioactivation, and at the highest dosage (500 micrograms/ml) in the absence of bioactivation. The transforming effect was detectable only in the level-II transformation cultures and it was likely linked to the induction of additional cell proliferation which allowed obtaining the transformation amplification in these experimental conditions.
Do sentiment indices impact the premium of prominent pricing factors?

Abstract This study investigates whether Google Search Volume Indices (GSVIs) bring shifts in the expected return of prominent pricing factors in comparison to the Volatility Index (VIX). The results show that compared to VIX, GSVIs bring less significant changes in expected premium on Fama–French’s five-factors and q-factors. Pessimistic sentiment indices (Market Crash and Bear Market) predict more significant variation in the premium of prominent pricing factors than optimistic sentiment indices (Market Rally and Bull Market), and also have a significant correlation with VIX representing downside risk. Furthermore, the sentiment indices are better in predicting premium on five-factors than q-factors.
An investigation into traffic analysis for diverse data applications on smartphones

Present day smartphones like iPhone and Andriod based phones have lead to explosive growth in traffic over cellular networks. The growth has occurred both in volume and diversity in terms of traffic characteristics. Among the different types of traffic, there is prominent increase in background type of data due to popularity of applications like Facebook, Skype, Email clients etc which keeps exchanging data with corresponding server, even when the user is not actively using the application. In order to save power consumption of smart phones and for optimal allocation of resources to deserving phones in network by minimum possible signaling traffic, 3GPP LTE specifications have defined mechanisms like connected mode DRX (Discontinuous Reception) which offers two stage of sleep in form of long & short DRX. Since such diverse type of applications are running in smartphone, this work attempts to investigate traffic characteristics of popular applications in Andriod based smartphones. Due to various reasons, such applications, keep consuming precious bandwidth and battery even when not in active use. Main emphasis is thus provided to study the characteristic of these applications when they are running without user intervention. Since, the diverse range of data characteristics is assumed to be causing drain in User Equipment (UE) battery and overhead in NW signaling, we expect that this investigation would help in developing appropriate new power saving mechanisms in future releases of cellular networks.
Influence of Store Atmosphere, Product Knowledge and Brand Image toward Purchase Decision through Word of Mouth

Word of mouth has an important role in improving purchase decision that supported with unique and interesting store atmosphere, good product knowledge and positive brand image. However, some previous studies showed different result that by unique and interesting store atmosphere, good product knowledge and positive brand image to word of mouth and purchase decision for the company. The purpose of this study is to examine the direct influence of store atmosphere, product knowledge, and brand image, on Purchasing Decision and its indirect influence through word of mouth. Sample in this study are 115 consumers in the city of Semarang with sampling incidental sampling technique. The analysis technique used path analysis with SPSS program version 21. The result showed that store atmosphere, product knowledge, and brand image had positive effect and significant on purchase decision with significance direct effect, that store atmosphere of 0.1519 > 0.142, product knowledge of 0.427 > 0.327, and brand image of 0.5185 > 0.513. The conclusions of this study proved that store atmosphere, product knowledge, and brand image had positive effect and significant on purchase decision by direct effect and indirectly through word of mouth.
Multiple volatility real option approach to investment under uncertainty

ii TABLE OF CONTENT . iv LIST OF FIGURES . x LIST OF TABLES . xvii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . xxii LIST OF SYMBOLS . xxiii DEDICATION . xxvi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . xxvii CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW . 1 1.
Conjunctive and mineralization impact of municipal solid waste compost and inorganic fertilizer on lysimeter and pot studies

Objectives of the present study were to investigate the physico-chemical properties of municipal solid waste (MSW)-enriched compost and its effect on nutrient mineralization and subsequent plant growth. The enrichment of MSW compost by inorganic salts enhanced the humification rate and reduced the carbon nitrogen (C/N) ratio in less time than control compost. The chemical properties of compost, C/N ratio, humic acid, fulvic acid, degree of polymerization and humification index revealed the significant correlation amid properties. A laboratory-scale experiment evaluated the conjunctive effect of MSW compost and inorganic fertilizer on tomato plants in a pot experiment. In the pot experiment five treatments, Inorganic fertilizer (T1), enriched compost (T2), enriched compost 80%+20% inorganic fertilizer (T3), enriched compost 60%+40% inorganic fertilizer (T4) were defined including control (T5), applied at the rate of 110 kg-N/ha and results revealed that all treatments significantly enhanced horticultural production of tomato plant; however T4 was most effectual as compared with control, T1, T2 and T3. Augmentation in organic matter and available phosphorus (P) potassium (K) and nitrogen (N) were also observed in compost treatments. The leachability and phytoavailability of phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and nitrogen (N) from sandy soil, amended with enriched, control compost and inorganic fertilizer at rates of 200, 400 and 600 kg-N/ha were evaluated in a lysimeter study. Results illustrated that concentration of mineral nitrogen was elevated in the leachate of inorganic fertilizer than enriched and control composts; therefore compost fortifies soil with utmost nutrients for plants’ growth.
Transdermal nicotine replacement for hospitalized patients: a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND This study was undertaken to assess the safety and efficacy of a treatment involving brief counseling and the nicotine patch among hospital inpatients and to identify variables associated with long-term smoking cessation following hospitalization. METHODS One hundred eighty-five patients were randomly assigned to one of three smoking cessation interventions: (1) A Minimal Care (MC) condition, consisting of a brief physician-delivered motivational message to stop smoking, (2) a Counseling + Active Nicotine Patch (CAP) condition in which patients received the motivational message, a 6-week supply of nicotine patches, and extended bedside and telephone counseling, and (3) a Counseling + Placebo Patch (CPP) condition identical to the CAP condition except the supplied patches contained no nicotine. RESULTS At 6-month follow-up, abstinence rates for the three treatments were 4.9, 6.5, and 9.7% for the MC, CPP, and CAP treatments, respectively. These differences were not statistically significant. Patients admitted for respiratory disease were more likely to quit than patients with any other diagnosis. The nicotine patch was well tolerated by hospital inpatients. CONCLUSIONS The initiation of nicotine patch therapy during hospitalization appears to be safe when used among patients carrying a wide range of diagnoses. Our study provided no evidence of the superiority of nicotine patches versus placebo, but this does not preclude the possibility that future research using larger samples might detect differences between patch groups. Hospital interventions for smoking cessation may be most effective among patients hospitalized for a smoking-related illness such as respiratory disease.
Biology in the Agriculture Classroom: A Descriptive Comparative Study.

Agricultural education can take scientific topics to higher levels, emphasize scientific concepts, involve hands-on learning, and develop interrelationships with the other sciences, thus making the living and non-living world around them relevant for students, potentially supporting a STEM curriculum. As such, in 1996, Utah deemed agricultural biology an adequate substitute for general biology in preparing Utah high school students to meet state biology requirements. The appropriateness of that decision was not tested until this 2014 descriptive comparative post-test only analysis of 2008-2012 data from the Utah State Office of Education Data and Statistics. As seen in this study, not only did agricultural biology students tend to score lower than their general biology counterparts, in multiple cases this difference was significant (p ≤ .05), indicating a potential gap within the agricultural biology curriculum. Further, there were cases where Cohen’s d was ≥ . 2, indicating at least a small effect size. This suggests that reevaluation is needed to ensure that biology standards taught in agricultural biology classes are better aligned with content tested by the biology portion of the Utah end-of-course core biology test standards.
Viral central nervous system disease. An etiologic study conducted at the Los Angeles County General Hospital.

Virologic studies were done on 511 patients with suspected viral disease of the central nervous system. In 368 cases of aseptic meningitis, infections were encountered with a total of 20 different enteroviruses (of which Coxsackie B5 was the most frequent) and with the mumps and herpes simplex viruses. Poliovirus infection was established in 26 of 35 patients (75%) with paralytic illness who had not been immunized, and in 3 of 17 patients (18%) who had received 3 doses of Salk vaccine. Other agents associated with paralytic illness included Coxsackie virus types B2, B3, B5, ECHO 9 virus, and the mumps virus. In 33 of 60 patients with clinical encephalitis, no viral infection was detected; in the remainder, infections with an array of different entroviruses, the mumps, and herpes simplex viruses were encountered.
The organization of projections from the amygdala to visual cortical areas TE and V1 in the macaque monkey

We examined the organization of amygdaloid projections to visual cortical areas TE and V1 by injecting anterograde tracers into the amygdaloid complex of Macaca fascicularis monkeys. The magnocellular and intermediate divisions of the basal nucleus of the amygdala gave rise to heavy projections to both superficial layers (border of I/II) and deep layers (V/VI) throughout the rostrocaudal extent of area TE. Although most of the injections led to heavier fiber and terminal labeling in the superficial layers of area TE, the most dorsal injections in the basal nucleus produced denser labeled fibers and terminals in the deep layers of area TE. Area V1 received projections primarily from the magnocellular division of the basal nucleus, and these terminated exclusively in the superficial layers. As in area TE, projections from the amygdala to area V1 were distributed throughout its rostrocaudal and transverse extents. Labeled axons demonstrated 11.67 varicosities/100 μm on average in the superficial layers of area TE and 8.74 varicosities/100 μm in the deep layers. In area V1 we observed 8.24 varicosities/100 μm. Using confocal microscopy, we determined that at least 55% of the tracer‐labeled varicosities in areas TE and V1 colocalized synaptophysin, a marker of synaptic vesicles, indicating that they are probably synaptic boutons. Electron microscopic examination of a sample of these varicosities confirmed that labeled boutons formed synapses in areas TE and V1. These feedback‐like projections from the amygdala have the potential of modulating key areas of the visual processing system. J. Comp. Neurol. 486:295–317, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Does Fiscal Deficit Affect Current Account Deficit in India? An Econometric Analysis

The aim of this article is to examine the validity of the Keynesian proposition and Ricardian equivalence (RE) theorem for the developing country India over the period 1990–2015. The Mundell–Fleming model and Feldstein chain model which revolve around the Keynesian proposition argues it is budget deficit (BD) which influences current account deficit (CAD), with the increase in interest rate. While as RE theorem states that there is no relationship between BD and CAD, the decrease in tax rates will not increase the consumption because rational agents consider today’s deficit financing as tomorrow’s liabilities. The article initially investigates the theoretical foundation, followed by empirical literature, and uses various methods of econometrics to testify its validity. A co-integration and vector error correction model (VECM) model validates the existence of long-run relationship. The results of Granger causality test reveal the existence of bi-directional causality between BD and CAD and validates Keynesian proposition in India. Our results conclude that instability in macro variables such as inflation, exchange rate, interest rate and money supply (MS) causes CAD and BD which further have been proved by Cholesky decomposition method. However, it has been said in the global economic world that no one can escape the windfall effect of exchange rate volatility and rising prices, and such effects can be minimised but not eliminated. JEL: E12, E31, E52, E62, E63, E41
Marek's Disease Viral Interleukin-8 Promotes Lymphoma Formation through Targeted Recruitment of B Cells and CD4+ CD25+ T Cells

ABSTRACT Marek's disease virus (MDV) is a cell-associated and highly oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that infects chickens. During lytic and latent MDV infection, a CXC chemokine termed viral interleukin-8 (vIL-8) is expressed. Deletion of the entire vIL-8 open reading frame (ORF) was shown to severely impair disease progression and tumor development; however, it was unclear whether this phenotype was due to loss of secreted vIL-8 or of splice variants that fuse exons II and III of vIL-8 to certain upstream open reading frames, including the viral oncoprotein Meq. To specifically examine the role of secreted vIL-8 in MDV pathogenesis, we constructed a recombinant virus, vΔMetvIL-8, in which we deleted the native start codon from the signal peptide encoding exon I. This mutant lacked secreted vIL-8 but did not affect Meq–vIL-8 splice variants. Loss of secreted vIL-8 resulted in highly reduced disease and tumor incidence in animals infected with vΔMetvIL-8 by the intra-abdominal route. Although vΔMetvIL-8 was still able to spread to naïve animals by the natural route, infection and lymphomagenesis in contact animals were severely impaired. In vitro assays showed that purified recombinant vIL-8 efficiently binds to and induces chemotaxis of B cells, which are the main target for lytic MDV replication, and also interacts with CD4+ CD25+ T cells, known targets of MDV transformation. Our data provide evidence that vIL-8 attracts B and CD4+ CD25+ T cells to recruit targets for both lytic and latent infection.
Risk assessment of moderate to severe alcohol withdrawal--predictors for seizures and delirium tremens in the course of withdrawal.

AIMS To develop a prediction model for withdrawal seizures (WS) and delirium tremens (DT) during moderate to severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) in a large cohort of inpatients treated for AWS (n = 827). METHODS Re-analysis of a cohort study population treated between 2000 and 2009. All patients received a score-guided and symptom-triggered therapy for AWS. Multivariable binary logistic regression models with stepwise variable selection procedures were conducted providing odds ratio (OR) estimates. RESULTS In the multivariable regression, significant predictors of WS during AWS therapy were a delayed climax of withdrawal severity since admission [OR/10 h: 1.23; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1-1.4; P < 0.001)], prevalence of structural brain lesions in the patient's history (OR 6.5; 95% CI: 3.0-14.1; P < 0.001) and WS as the cause of admittance (OR 2.6; 95% CI: 1.4-4.8; P = 0.002). Significant predictors at admission for the occurrence of DT were lower serum potassium (OR/1 mmol/l 0.33; 95% CI: 0.17-0.65; P = 0.001), a lower platelet count (OR/100.000 0.42; 95% CI: 0.26-0.69; P = 0.001) and prevalence of structural brain lesions (OR 5.8; 95% CI: 2.6-12.9; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION In this large retrospective cohort, some easily determinable parameters at admission may be useful to predict a complicated course of alcohol withdrawal regarding the occurrence of WS or DT. Using the provided nomograms, clinicians can estimate the percentage likelihood of patients to develop either WS or DT during their course of withdrawal. Prevalence of structural brain lesions in the patient's history does strongly warrant a careful observation of patients.