Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
GPR30 mediates estrone, estriol, and estradiol to suppress gonadotropin-releasing hormone-induced luteinizing hormone secretion in the anterior pituitary of heifers

Recent studies demonstrated that G-protein-coupled receptor 30 (GPR30) on the plasma membrane of gonadotroph cells mediates picomolar, but not nanomolar, levels of estradiol (E2) to rapidly suppress gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-induced luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion in the anterior pituitary (AP). While estrone (E1) and estriol (E3) are considered “weak” estrogens that exert suppressive effects through estrogen receptors α and β, it is conceivable that they also strongly suppress GnRH-induced LH secretion via GPR30. Both E1 and E3 are likely present within the blood at picomolar or nanomolar concentrations, indicating that such concentrations are sufficient to suppress GnRH-induced LH secretion. To evaluate this possibility, bovine AP cells were cultured under steroid-free conditions and then incubated with various concentrations (0.01 pM to 10 nM) of E2, E1, or E3, prior to stimulation with GnRH. Notably, GnRH-induced LH secretion from AP cells was inhibited by 1–100 pM E2, 1–10 pM E1, and 1–100 pM E3. GnRH-induced LH secretion from AP cells was not inhibited by lower (0.01–0.1 pM) or higher (1–10 nM) concentrations of E2, E1, and E3. These suppressive effects were inhibited by pre-treatment of AP cells with the GPR30 antagonist G36, but not with the estrogen receptor alpha antagonist. Treatment with E1 or E3 also yielded decreased cytoplasmic cAMP levels in cultured AP cells pre-treated with dopamine and phosphodiesterase inhibitors. Therefore, these results suggest that GPR30 mediates the suppressive effects of E1, E3, and E2 on GnRH-induced LH secretion from bovine AP.
Intergenerational support as a reaction to socio-economic crisis: alteration of solidarity within precarious Romanian households

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the tensions arising from the intersection of norms and practices of support in situations in which intergenerational support is the main household strategy for coping with precariousness in Romania. This paper describes competing meanings of solidarity and reveals gendered experiences of ambiguity with respect to the sustainability of help exchanges within the context of economic vulnerability. Romania displays high public acceptance of intergenerational support, while the country’s deficient social welfare system prompts families to intensify their help exchanges. Findings based on in-depth interviews suggest that private arrangements are compounded by unbalanced help exchanges among generations. With the state and the community support directed towards lower social strata, these arrangements give rise to many tensions. Parents become excessively burdened by the constant obligation to help their adult children, while the children’s dependence upon their parents limits the opportunities to reciprocate.
Does Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Firm Performance? Empirical Evidence from Harare, Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT The influence of the dimensions of corporate social responsibility on firm performance are tested in Harare, Zimbabwe using perceptual data from a sample of 155 firms over a period of three years. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. The study found that employee relations, customer relations, community relations and investor relations all had a positive effect on firm performance. Environmental relations, diversity relations and supplier relations all did not influence firm performance. The study has implications on theory, policy and practice, and future research.
Digestibility, apparent mineral absorption, and voluntary intake by horses fed alfalfa, tall fescue, and caucasian bluestem.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), low-endophyte (< 5%) tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), and caucasian bluestem (Bothriochloa caucasica [Trin.] C.E. Hubbard) were fed as chopped hay to six Arabian geldings (BW 441 kg; SE 2) in intake and digestibility experiments to determine nutritional value for horses at maintenance. Each experimental design was a replicated Latin square. Alfalfa was higher in DM and CP digestibility, IVDMD, apparent absorption of Ca, K, and S, and voluntary intake than the grasses (P < .05). Caucasian bluestem was higher in Zn but was lower in CP, TNC, Mg, P, K, S, and Cu concentrations than tall fescue. Crude protein digestibility and apparent absorption of Mg, K, and S were higher (P < .05) for tall fescue than for caucasian bluestem. Geldings fed alfalfa for ad libitum intake had higher serum concentrations of vitamin A, blood urea nitrogen, P, S, and Cu than geldings fed grass hays. Serum Zn was higher (P < .05), whole blood Se tended to be higher (P < .06), and BUN was lower (P < .05) in geldings fed caucasian bluestem than in those fed tall fescue. All forages met requirements for CP, Ca, Mg, K, and Fe when fed for ad libitum intake but were deficient in Cu for horses at maintenance. Caucasian bluestem was borderline in CP and was deficient in P but was the only forage that met the Zn requirement for the horses. Based on these results, caucasian bluestem could be a useful hay for horses but may require supplementation of CP and P.
The Influence of State‐Ownership on Eco‐Innovations in Russian Manufacturing Firms

This paper studies drivers for eco‐innovation in Russian manufacturing firms on a sample of 2,212 innovative firms, of which over 600 introduced eco‐innovations. The companies in our sample specifically mention environmental regulation as a reason for engaging in eco‐innovations. Furthermore, we show that those firms who engage in eco‐innovations are motivated even stronger by the desire to increase resource efficiency. Companies under state ownership are especially prone to a higher likelihood to invest. We conclude that regulations are mostly relevant to the late comers who are obliged to follow minimum standards. On the other hand, the state uses its controlling influence to press companies under their control to exceed these minimum standards. Thus, we argue, state ownership does indeed have an influence on both the likelihood to eco‐innovate and on the levels of spending. Eco‐innovative state‐owned companies are only prone to invest in eco‐innovations, if they get additional money.
Urinary Tract Infections with Antibiotic Resistant Organisms in Catheterized Nursing Home Patients

Abstract Long-term use of indwelling urinary catheters in nursing home (NH) patients is a potential cause of significant morbidity. We retrospectively studied 10 NH patients with chronic indwelling urinary catheters. Sixty-four percent of all 84 antibiotic courses prescribed were for bacteriuria alone without clinical infection. Seventy percent of 63 antibiotic courses were followed by bacteriuria with organisms resistant to the antibiotic administered. Bacteria isolated from NH patients often displayed greater resistance to specific antibiotics than those isolated from hospitalized patients. Four of the 20 urinary tract infections were associated with bacteremia. Three episodes of bacteremia were with highly-resistant organisms and one was fatal. Use of urinary catheters and inappropriate use of antibiotics in NH patients results in urinary tract colonization and infection with resistant bacteria and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality.
Incidence of severe dementia in an urban sample followed from 70 to 79 years of age

ABSTRACT– The incidence of severe dementia between the age of 70 and 79 years was studied in a representative urban sample. The study comprised 385 subjects at 70 and sufficient information was obtained in 94.5 ck in the age interval 70–75 and in 89.2 % in the age interval 75–79. A case was defined by absence of symptoms of severe dementia at the beginning of the interval and by disorientation and/or severe memory impairment in psychiatric interviews at the age of 75 or 79, or the same signs noted in case records from the intervals studied. In all, 43 subjects developed severe dementia. When mortality was taken into account the annual incidence rates were 17.7 ± 10.7/ 1,000 in the 5‐year interval between 70 and 75 and 32.3 ± 16.9/1,000 in the 4‐year interval between 75 and 79 in men compared with 5.0 ± 4.9/1,000 and 25.3 ± 11.3/1,000 respectively in women. There were no significant differences between men and women with regard to the incidence rates of all severe dementias or of etiological subgroups. There was a high degree of institutionalization. Most studies from Scandinavian countries have reported lower incidence figures.
Using timed automata to check space mission feasibility in the early design phases

According to the model-based systems engineering paradigm, all engineers contribute to a single centralized data model of the system. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) develops a software tool Virtual Satellite which enables the engineers to store, exchange and alter their corresponding subsystem data on base of a distributed system model and thus contribute to the overall mission design during concurrent engineering (CE) sessions. Each engineer has their own scope of responsibilities, e.g. satellite trajectory, communication, or thermal analysis. Tracking implications of design changes on the whole system and feasibility aspects of the design is not trivial. Having an automated feasibility checking mechanism as a part of CE which would run iteratively after each design change provides a useful feedback mechanism for engineers and for the spacecraft client. For the purpose of mission feasibility checking a domain specific language (DSL) has been implemented using the Xtext Java framework. The extended parametric data model defined in the DSL serves as an executable representation of the spacecraft mission. The idea to use such an executable model to create a preliminary mission plan and hence confirm missions feasibility during conceptual study has already been introduced by Schaus et al. at the DLR. However, the vector of values of system variables was assumed to be equivalent with the currently active component, implying that component activities are mutually exclusive. This led to over-constraining of the execution model. Our work argues that concurrency considerations are critical from the earliest design phases. Since satellite is coupled with its environment and concurrency is an intrinsic property of the physical nature, considering concurrency allows for more realistic mission plans. The contributions of this paper are the introduction of concurrency considerations at the early space mission design phases and the use of timed automata tool (UPPAAL) for the mission feasibility check during concurrent engineering sessions. As a result, with almost no overhead, the planned mission can be analyzed in a more realistic way. Furthermore, the run-times of the feasibility check amount to 10-100 milliseconds or less, which is also a significant improvement with respect to the previous work. This allows for more precision and fine granular modeling, and is a promising basis for model refinements in the consecutive mission design phases.
Clinical Parameters Prediction for Gait Disorder Recognition

Being able to predict clinical parameters in order to diagnose gait disorders in a patient is of great value in planning treatments. It is known that \textit{decision parameters} such as cadence, step length, and walking speed are critical in the diagnosis of gait disorders in patients. This project aims to predict the decision parameters using two ways and afterwards giving advice on whether a patient needs treatment or not. In one way, we use clinically measured parameters such as Ankle Dorsiflexion, age, walking speed, step length, stride length, weight over height squared (BMI) and etc. to predict the decision parameters. In a second way, we use videos recorded from patient's walking tests in a clinic in order to extract the coordinates of the joints of the patient over time and predict the decision parameters. Finally, having the decision parameters we pre-classify gait disorder intensity of a patient and as the result make decisions on whether a patient needs treatment or not.
Clinical outcomes of corrective osteotomy for distal radial malunion: a review of opening and closing-wedge techniques.

BACKGROUND Radial corrective osteotomy is an established but challenging treatment for distal radial malunion. There is ongoing discussion over whether an opening or closing-wedge osteotomy should be employed. The purpose of the present study was to retrospectively compare the clinical and radiographic results of conventional opening-wedge osteotomy with those of our closing-wedge technique. METHODS We retrospectively evaluated forty-two patients with extra-articular distal radial malunion who were managed with corrective osteotomy and were followed for a minimum of one year. Twenty-two patients were managed with radial opening-wedge osteotomy and interpositional bone graft or bone-graft substitute, and twenty were managed with simultaneous radial closing-wedge and ulnar shortening osteotomy without bone graft. The selection of the surgical procedure was determined by the surgeon. Each patient was evaluated on the basis of objective radiographic measurements and functional outcomes as determined on the basis of clinical examination, including range of wrist motion, grip strength, pain-rating score, Mayo wrist score, and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score. RESULTS The mean duration of follow-up was thirty-six months (range, twelve to 101 months) for the opening-wedge cohort and twenty-eight months (range, twelve to eighty-seven months) for the closing-wedge cohort. The two techniques were comparable in terms of complications. Postoperative volar tilt and ulnar variance improved significantly compared with the preoperative status in each cohort (p < 0.05). Restoration of ulnar variance to within defined criteria (-2.5 to 0.5 mm) was significantly more frequent in the closing-wedge cohort than in the opening-wedge cohort (p < 0.001). The postoperative mean extension-flexion arc of the wrist (p < 0.001) and Mayo wrist score (p = 0.008) were significantly better in the closing-wedge cohort. Differences between the two cohorts in terms of the pronation-supination arc, grip strength, pain-rating score, and DASH scores were not significant. CONCLUSIONS The closing-wedge osteotomy technique is an effective reconstructive procedure for the treatment of extra-articular distal radial malunion. It is significantly better than the opening-wedge osteotomy technique in terms of the restoration of ulnar variance, the extension-flexion arc of wrist motion, and the Mayo wrist score.
GAIN-SCHEDULING CONTROL WITH DYNAMIC MULTIPLIERS BY CONVEX OPTIMIZATION

In this paper we provide a solution to the gain-scheduling synthesis problem (GSP) for structured parametric and dynamic passive uncertainties, which encompasses an approach for norm-bounded uncertainties as considered in classical structured singular value theory. If compared to known approaches, the distinguishing feature is the use of frequency-dependent multipliers to guarantee stability and performance of the controlled system. On the basis of suitable parameterizations of these multipliers, we develop necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of gain-scheduling controllers and discuss the benefits of this new design methodology.
Occupational physicians' perceived value of evidence-based medicine intervention in enhancing their professional performance.

OBJECTIVES This study evaluated how physicians in a nonclinical setting perceive the value of an intervention with multifaceted evidence-based medicine with regard to enhancing their professional performance. METHODS A qualitative study was conducted using focus groups and face-to-face interviews with 14 of the 48 Dutch occupational physicians who participated in the intervention. The intervention combined a didactic course in evidence-based medicine with recurrent case-method learning sessions. During the sessions, the participants were challenged to discuss their cases and to give one another feedback on how to find information on cases. RESULTS Five main themes and four subthemes were identified: professional behavior and quality of care (subtheme: transparency): occupational physicians associated being up-to-date with quality of care, and evidence-based medicine was associated with improvements in professional standards; critical attitude and improved recommendations: occupational physicians asked themselves more-profound questions and searched more for information; sharing knowledge: the peer-group sessions facilitated the sharing of knowledge; communication (subthemes: colleagues, clients and other specialists): the more soundly based recommendations enhanced self-confidence positively and therefore altered interaction with medical specialists in particular; and satisfaction and barriers: the occupational physicians were especially content with the structured discussion in the peer-group sessions. However, the intervention was very time consuming. CONCLUSIONS The participants regarded the intervention as a useful method for enhancing their professional performance. They stated that they became more up-to-date and more self-confident by searching for and sharing knowledge. These actions resulted in more scientifically based recommendations and improved interaction with clients and other specialists. However, time constraints remain an important barrier.
Local and descending circuits regulate long‐term potentiation and zif268 expression in spinal neurons

Long‐term potentiation (LTP), a use dependent long‐lasting modification of synaptic strength, was first discovered in the hippocampus and later shown to occur in sensory areas of the spinal cord. Here we demonstrate that spinal LTP requires the activation of a subset of superficial spinal dorsal horn neurons expressing the neurokinin‐1 receptor (NK1‐R) that have previously been shown to mediate certain forms of hyperalgesia. These neurons participate in local spinal sensory processing, but are also the origin of a spino‐bulbo‐spinal loop driving a 5‐hydroxytryptamine 3 receptor (5HT3‐R)‐ mediated descending facilitation of spinal pain processing. Using a saporin‐substance P conjugate to produce site‐specific neuronal ablation, we demonstrate that NK1‐R expressing cells in the superficial dorsal horn are crucial for the generation of LTP‐like changes in neuronal excitability in deep dorsal horn neurons and this is modulated by descending 5HT3‐R‐mediated facilitatory controls. Hippocampal LTP is associated with early expression of the immediate‐early gene zif268 and knockout of the gene leads to deficits in long‐term LTP and learning and memory. We found that spinal LTP is also correlated with increased neuronal expression of zif268 in the superficial dorsal horn and that zif268 antisense treatment resulted in deficits in the long‐term maintenance of inflammatory hyperalgesia. Our results support the suggestion that the generation of LTP in dorsal horn neurons following peripheral injury may be one mechanism whereby acute pain can be transformed into a long‐term pain state.
The Productivity of Economics Research in Slovakia

The research productivity of economics departments and tenure-track staff (associate and full professors) in Slovakia is analyzed based on journal publications and citations extracted from the SSCI database. Results suggest that the current university system in Slovakia is ineffective in incentivizing associate and full professors to publish in peer-reviewed journals. The majority of tenure-track staff has done little or no research over the past twenty-six years. The research criteria imposed by the Accreditation Commission for awarding professors’ titles are not fully enforced. Economics faculties have low-quality standards in hiring tenure-track staff. Finally, results suggest that the majority of tenure-track staff (93%) do not have sufficient research skills to supervise Ph.D. students.
Improving mitral valve coaptation with adjustable rings: outcomes from a European multicentre feasibility study with a new-generation adjustable annuloplasty ring system.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the performance and safety of an adjustable semi-rigid annuloplasty ring for mitral regurgitation (MR) in a multicentre study. METHODS Between March 2010 and December 2011, 30 subjects underwent mitral valve (MV) repair using the Cardinal adjustable annuloplasty ring. This device is a semi-rigid ring allowing postimplantation size adjustment, under beating-heart conditions, to optimize leaflet coaptation under echocardiographic guidance. Coaptation length was determined before and after adjustment by transoesophageal echocardiography. RESULTS The study enrolled 21 (70%) male and 9 (30%) female subjects with a mean age of 64 years. The approach was conventional midline sternotomy or mini-invasive right thoracotomy. Leaflet resection was done in 17 subjects, and chordal repair was used in 13. Concomitant procedures included coronary artery bypass grafting in 2 (7%) subjects, atrial ablation in 4 (13%) and tricuspid repair in 4 (13%). There was 1 (3%) early death unrelated to the study device. Intraoperative ring adjustment was performed in 24 of the 30 subjects. Residual MR was detected prior to adjustment in 6 subjects (4 mild and 2 moderate MR). Following adjustment, 5 subjects had no MR and 1 had trace MR. After adjustment, mean coaptation length improved from 7 ± 3 to 10 ± 3 mm (P < 0.0001). All patients who completed 1-year follow-up had less-than-mild MR, with the exception of 1 patient with ring dehiscence (and resultant 2+ MR) and 1 functional MR patient who developed recurrent 2+ MR due to persistent leaflet tethering. CONCLUSIONS MV repair with the Cardinal adjustable annuloplasty ring is a reliable technique that enables the adjustment of the ring diameter on a beating heart under echocardiographic control. Such technology allows the optimization of leaflet coaptation, providing minimal residual MR and durable repair.
Romanian and German Seniors in Quest of Online Health-Related Information: An Exploratory Comparative Study

In the last years a shift in the practice of medical communication has occurred and it leads to a displacement from a paternalistic model of patient-provider information toward a model implying an embeddedness of the medical and human values in the medical interaction and in the decision-taking process of the informed patient. Researches show that older adults respond differently to online communication than younger adults. In this context, seniors face new challenges as regards health-related information and medical communication. The present study deals comparatively with the health-related internet use by the seniors in two European countries: Romania and Germany. Using a qualitative methodology, which involved the in-depth semi-structured interviewing of twenty persons aged 65 years or over who used the internet including for health-related search, we tried to find out which are the similarities and differences between the two samples as concerns health-related online informing and medical communication. Our research has revealed a number of interesting results and inferences. Thus, while between the two samples there are similarities as regards using the internet as a starting point for general information related to health and making informed medical decisions, there exist also a series of differences as regards various aspects, such as the health-related internet use itself – the interest and the ways of searching, the accessed content and websites, the trust in the reliability of the online information, the online feedback and activism etc., as well as the openness to discuss with the physicians about the information gained by the internet consumption.