Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emerging drugs for diabetic neuropathy

Importance of the field: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a very common and disabling diabetes-related complication. DN is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) can be painful in the earlier stages of the disease before becoming painless. Most of the currently available therapies are symptomatic (focusing on pain relief) rather than disease-modifying. With the exception of good glycemic control, there is currently no effective treatment to slow the progression of or reverse DPN. Areas covered in this review: In this article, we review the epidemiology, pathogenesis, currently available and future treatments for DPN, and the potential development issues/challenges related to such new therapies. Literature search was performed using PubMed, Medline and Pharmaprojects from 1950 onwards. Search terms include a combination of terms such as diabetic neuropathy, pathogenesis, pathophysiology, mechanisms, treatment, therapy, oxidative/nitrosative stress, anti-oxidants, serotonin, nitrotyrosine, protein kinase C, aldose reductase, sodium channels, taurine, lipoic acid and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. What the reader will gain: The reader will gain an overview of the epidemiology, clinical features and risk factors of DN. In addition, the reader will have a better understanding of the mechanisms that underpin the development of DPN and their relationships to the current and future therapies. The reader will also develop an insight into the limitations of the current approach to DPN treatment and the potential avenues for future research. Take home message: DN is a very common and disabling complication that currently has no effective treatments other than diabetes control. The pathogenesis of DPN is complex and multi-factorial. Several disease-modifying and symptomatic treatments are currently under development. Oxidative and nitrosative stress have been identified as key pathogenic factors in the development of DPN and new treatments target these pathways and/or their downstream consequences. Gene therapy and growth factors have also emerged as potential new therapies that target particular cellular compartments as opposed to being delivered systemically. The recognition of the difficulty in reversing established DN has focused efforts on slowing its progression.
Employment relations and restructuring management in the banking sector in Luxembourg

is article discusses how restructuring during the crisis has a"ected employment relations in the banking sector in Luxembourg. e crisis has reinforced the impact of a series of exogenous factors in#uencing Luxembourg’s banking sector and its continental employment relations system. ese include the automatic exchange of information, rapidly-evolving European and international regulation and the resulting stronger compliance of banks, the mobilisation of external expertise by social partners, as well as stronger skills and professional requirements. It is argued that although these factors challenge the consensus-based and neo-corporatist employment relations framework, coordinated decentralization with strong government involvement in tripartite bargaining arenas has meant that the functioning of the employment relations system has been maintained. Collective bargaining has contributed to a socially-responsible restructuring in the banking sector through the anticipation and management by consenting to legally-based labour agreements and certi$ed training for dismissed employees, as well as impact management through implementing transition support instruments.
Asset Allocation by Investment Professionals: Integration or Segmentation?

This study is the first to consider ``Reuters Global Asset Allocation Poll'' data, which is a monthly survey of recommended global portfolio allocations from many of the world's top investment firms, based in the U.S., UK, Continental Europe, and Japan. We find that balanced portfolio allocations by professional investors, considered in this study, closely align with the traditional 60/40 policy for asset allocation. Furthermore, we provide strong evidence on the existence of an equity home bias for investors from all four regions whereas evidence on the bond home bias tends to be equal to or stronger than for equities, however less robust across considered models. Moreover, we report a negative relation between the level of implied risk aversion and the degree of home bias and conclude that the degree of foreign asset allocation decreases in an increase of risk aversion. Finally, findings in this study indicate that about 80-90% of an investors total return can be attributed to the strategic allocation with a strong impact of economic conditions on the asset class allocation of investment professionals around the world.
Communicating Health Risks To The Public A Global Perspective

Thank you very much for reading communicating health risks to the public a global perspective. As you may know, people have look hundreds times for their chosen novels like this communicating health risks to the public a global perspective, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some harmful virus inside their desktop computer.
Importance of Service Quality in Customer Satisfaction (A Study on Fast Food Restaurants)

Fast food business has become a highly revenue generated industry in all over the world. Service quality plays a vital role to make the customers happy and insists them to revisit the restaurant. This research was carried out to clear the importance of service quality in customer satisfaction in fast food restaurants of Punjab, Pakistan. To clear this idea, five dimensions (tangibility, reliability, empathy, assurance and responsiveness) of service quality have been taken as predictor variables while customer satisfaction was taken as dependent variable. A survey was conducted on customers of fast food restaurants by using cluster sampling. The collected data was transferred to statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) for data analysis. The outcomes revealed that service quality is positively influenced on customer satisfaction in fast food restaurants of Punjab, Pakistan. The results showed how to enhance customer’s satisfaction and make them loyal and also how to increase their revenue by improving service quality.
Simulated impacts of land cover change on summer climate in the Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) is a key region of land–atmosphere interactions with severe eco-environment degradation. This study uses an atmospheric general circulation model, NCEP GCM/SSiB, to present the major TP summer climate features for six selected ENSO years and preliminarily assess the possible impact of land cover change on the summer circulation over the TP. Compared to Reanalysis II data, the GCM using satellite derived vegetation properties generally reproduces the main 6-year-mean TP summer circulation features despite some discrepancies in intensity and geographic locations of some climate features. Two existing vegetation maps with very different land cover conditions over the TP, one with bare ground and one with vegetation cover, derived from satellite derived data, are tested and produce clearer climate signals due to land cover change. It shows that land cover change from vegetated land to bare ground decreases the radiation absorbed by the surface and results in weaker surface thermal effects, which lead to lower atmospheric temperature, as well as weaker vertical ascending motion, low-layer cyclonic, upper level anticyclonic, and summer monsoon circulation. These changes in circulation cause a decrease in the precipitation in the southeastern TP.
The Exploratory Study of Marketing Capabilities and Export Success: an Investigation of Thai's SMEs

This research examines the role of the relationship between marketing capability and export success. Data was collected by mailing questionnaire to small and medium enterprise (SMEs) in Thailand and a total of 89 qualified observations were collected. The marketing capabilities can be classified into four dimensions namely product capability, distribution capability, price capability, and promotion capability. Among the four dimensions of marketing capability, only price capability and promotion capability are significantly and positively related to export success while product capability has a negative significance with export success. On the other hand, distribution capability is not significantly associated with export success in Thai's SMEs. The results appear to concur with some of the previous studies conducted in other developing nations.
Population-based Estimate of the Prevalence of HER-2 Positive Breast Cancer Tumors for Early Stage Patients in the US

ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to estimate prevalence of HER-2 positive tumors in a population-based sample of 1026 women diagnosed in 2005 with early stage breast cancer. We modeled the relationship between patient and tumor characteristics and HER-2. HER-2 positive estimates were 19% for women aged ≤49 years and 15% aged ≥50 years. HER-2 varied by tumor grade and size in women aged ≤49 years but was not significant in multivariate analysis. Tumor grade and race were associated with HER-2 for women aged ≥50 years after controlling for other variables. HER-2 varies by age and by race and tumor in older women.
Handling attrition in longitudinal studies: The case for refreshment samples

Panel studies typically suffer from attrition, which reduces sample size and can result in biased inferences. It is impossible to know whether or not the attrition causes bias from the observed panel data alone. Refreshment samples—new, randomly sampled respondents given the questionnaire at the same time as a subsequent wave of the panel—offer information that can be used to diagnose and adjust for bias due to attrition. We review and bolster the case for the use of refreshment samples in panel studies. We include examples of both a fully Bayesian approach for analyzing the concatenated panel and refreshment data, and a multiple imputation approach for analyzing only the original panel. For the latter, we document a positive bias in the usual multiple imputation variance estimator. We present models appropriate for three waves and two refreshment samples, including nonterminal attrition. We illustrate the three-wave analysis using the 2007-2008 Associated Press-Yahoo! News Election Poll.
Projecting future drug expenditures--2010.

PURPOSE Drug expenditure trends in 2008 and 2009, projected drug expenditures for 2010, and factors likely to influence drug expenditures are discussed. SUMMARY Various factors are likely to influence drug expenditures in 2010, including drugs in development, the diffusion of new drugs, generic drugs, health care reform, drug safety concerns, and comparative effectiveness research. The increasing availability of important generic drugs continues to moderate growth in drug expenditures. Health care reform initiatives, including the potential for biosimilars legislation, will influence drug expenditures in all settings. From 2007 to 2008, total U.S. drug expenditures increased by 1.8%, with total spending rising from $279.6 billion to $284.7 billion. Growth in drug expenditures in clinics declined to the lowest level in a decade, a 1.0% increase from 2007 to 2008. Hospital drug expenditures increased at a moderate rate of only 2.1% from 2007 to 2008; through the first nine months of 2009, hospital drug expenditures increased by 3.0% compared with the same period in 2008. CONCLUSION In 2010, we project a 3-5% increase in drug expenditures in outpatient settings, a 6-8% increase in expenditures for clinic-administered drugs, and a 2-4% increase in hospital drug expenditures.
Towards an Integrated Model of Antecedents and Consequences of Perceived Risk of Investors in Tunisian Stock Market

The study investigates the antecedents and consequences of the risk perceived by investors in the Tunisian Stock Market. In other words, it examines the factors affecting the perceived level of risk towards the stock market and the behavioral responses induced by the perception of risk. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 411 individual investors chosen by 24 brokers? firms present in the Tunis Stock Exchange. The results show that more the investor is optimistic and self-confident; the lower is the perceived level of risk towards the stock market. Similarly, a perception of a good quality of information disclosed as well as the satisfaction with yield re-allocation by listed companies, reduce the perceived risk towards the stock market. Nevertheless, the results prove that the existence of information asymmetry increases, instead of reducing risk perception. Moreover, perceiving risk towards the stock market leads to an intensive search for information (various types and sources of information), a good performance and a strong intention to reinvest. The use of structural equation model allowed us, on one hand, to report the importance of the risk perception in the decision- making process and on the other hand, to emphasise the role of partial mediator played by the investment performance between the risk perception and the intention of reinvestment.
Reliable, highly reproducible plasma injectors for electrothermal and electrothermal-chemical launchers

The plasma injector is a major component within electrothermal (ET) or electrothermal-chemical (ETC) launcher. Soreq NRC has promoted for years the solid-propellant ETC (SPETC) gun concept, where the generated plasma jet serves to ignite the charge and to control its burning rate (for example, to eliminate the effect of the initial charge temperature on the propellant burning rate). From a system engineering point of view, there is an advantage in using small size plasma injectors. Such injectors have been designed, built, and tested in our laboratory in the past few years. We report about "free jet" (the plasma is injected to the atmosphere and not into propellant charge) experiments performed with certain models of such injectors. These injectors were designed for electrical energies in the range of hundreds of kilojoules and several hundred megawatts. The dependence of the mass losses from the ablative capillary and anode on the total electrical energy and power are presented. Although the limited scope of this presentation one can grasp from these data indications regarding the differences between the thermodynamic properties (temperature, density) of plasma jets produced by capillaries with different geometries, operated at various electrical energies and powers. A comparison between the energy carried by the plasma and metal droplets (resulting from anode melting) may give an indication about the relative contribution of these two factors to the propellant ignition.
Identification of a Novel Benzimidazole Pyrazolone Scaffold That Inhibits KDM4 Lysine Demethylases and Reduces Proliferation of Prostate Cancer Cells

Human lysine demethylase (KDM) enzymes (KDM1–7) constitute an emerging class of therapeutic targets, with activities that support growth and development of metastatic disease. By interacting with and co-activating the androgen receptor, the KDM4 subfamily (KDM4A–E) promotes aggressive phenotypes of prostate cancer (PCa). Knockdown of KDM4 expression or inhibition of KDM4 enzyme activity reduces the proliferation of PCa cell lines and highlights inhibition of lysine demethylation as a possible therapeutic method for PCa treatment. To address this possibility, we screened the ChemBioNet small molecule library for inhibitors of the human KDM4E isoform and identified several compounds with IC50 values in the low micromolar range. Two hits, validated as active by an orthogonal enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, displayed moderate selectivity toward the KDM4 subfamily and exhibited antiproliferative effects in cellular models of PCa. These compounds were further characterized by their ability to maintain the transcriptionally silent histone H3 tri-methyl K9 epigenetic mark at subcytotoxic concentrations. Taken together, these efforts identify and validate a hydroxyquinoline scaffold and a novel benzimidazole pyrazolone scaffold as tractable for entry into hit-to-lead chemical optimization campaigns.
An Integrative Model of Alumni Loyalty—an Empirical Validation Among Graduates From German and Russian Universities

ABSTRACT Alumni could be considered a large source of support for their alma maters in such areas as lobbying, volunteering (e.g. mentoring), information, donations, investment, and networking. However, in order to increase alumni contribution, it is necessary to identify key factors that influence alumni loyalty. In this article, the authors develop an integrative model of intention to alumni loyalty (IAL model), which proposes that alumni loyalty is determined by the main model dimensions of relationship quality, philanthropic effect, and discretionary collaborative and student dropout behavior. In order to validate the proposed model structure, the authors test the IAL model using the structural equation modeling approach and empirical data from a survey of leading German and Russian universities. The results indicate that a predisposition to charity, benefits from alumni association, and quality of teaching are crucial for intention to alumni loyalty for both Russian and German universities. Suggestions for the work of alumni associations are derived from the findings.
Regulation-Induced Pollution Substitution

Environmental regulations may cause firms to reoptimize over pollution inputs. By regulating air emissions in particular counties, the Clean Air Act (CAA) gives firms incentives to substitute toward polluting other media, like waterways, and toward pollution from plants in other counties. I test these hypotheses using the EPA Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Regulated plants increase their ratio of water-to-air emissions by 177% (102 log points) and their level of water emissions by 105% (72 log points). Regulation of an average plant increases air emissions at unregulated plants within the same firm by 11%.
Prospects for Developing Perennial Grain Crops

Abstract Perennial plants, growing in mixtures, make up most of the world's natural terrestrial biomes. In contrast, monocultures of annual crops are sown on more than two-thirds of global cropland. Grain and oilseed crops are the foundation of the human diet, but to date there are no perennial species that produce adequate grain harvests. Yet perennial plant communities store more carbon, maintain better soil and water quality, and manage nutrients more conservatively than do annual plant communities, and they have greater biomass and resource management capacity. These advantages provide a base from which to begin hybridization and selection for increased resource allocation to developing seeds, a decades-long process that must overcome or circumvent genetic complications. Breeding programs aimed at developing perennial grain crops have been initiated in wheat, sorghum, sunflower, intermediate wheatgrass, and other species.
Students' Adoption of Social Networks as Environments for Learning and Teaching: The Case of the Facebook

Little is known about the conditions and consequences of using the Facebook in learning. This research attempts to describe such conditions and consequences when teachers experiment using it as students in a second degree course. Fifteen students/teachers aged from 24 to 53 years old participated in the course in which they were required to attend mathematical Facebook sites. The research findings arrived at using the grounded theory show that the conditions which affected the teachers/students' work in the Facebook were: (1) causal conditions: the course's requirement; (2) intervening conditions: the participant's image of the Facebook, the participant's work characteristics and the participant's competence in computers and the internet; (3) contextual conditions: The site's subject and the environment's characteristics or conditions. These conditions influenced students' learning actions and interactions in the Facebook, especially their level of participation. The actions/interactions of the participants, together with the various conditions influenced the consequences of students' educational work in the social networking site. These consequences varied, starting from discovering how to utilize the Facebook for teaching and being aware of the advantages/ disadvantages of doing so, to proceeding with the use of the Facebook in contexts other than those being suggested in the course.
Advanced Vaccine Research Methods for the Decade of Vaccines

Bacteria sense continuous changes in their environment and adapt metabolically to effectively compete with other organisms for limiting nutrients. One system which plays an important part in this adaptation response is the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS). Many proteins interact with and are regulated by PTS components in bacteria. Here we review the interaction with and allosteric regulation of Escherichia coli glycogen phosphorylase (GP) activity by the histidine phosphocarrier protein HPr, which acts as part of a phosphoryl shuttle between enzyme I and sugarspecific proteins of the PTS. HPr mediates crosstalk between PTS sugar uptake and glycogen breakdown. The evolution of the allosteric regulation of E. coli GP by HPr is compared to that of other phosphorylases.
GENETIC ALGORITHMS AND THEIR APPLICATION IN SOLVING SHAPE OPTIMIZATION PROBLEMS IN ELECTROMAGNETICS

1 University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Patre 5, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, E-mail: tymarats@gmail.com 2 University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Patre 5, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, E-mail: bilchy@blic.net Abstract: This paper presents genetic algorithms and one example of their application. It is also a demonstration of combining COMSOL for modeling electromagnetic problems and Matlab for conducting the optimization process. First, an overview of genetic algorithms and motivation for their use is given. As an example, shape optimization of pole rotor face is carried out.
Mastering the Propagation Through Stacked Perforated Plates: Subwavelength Holes vs. Propagating Holes

More insight on the physics underlying the transmission through subwavelength hole arrays prism by comparing it with propagating hole arrays prism is provided. We show the critical role that the size of the holes plays in this electromagnetic propagation, changing the effective index of refraction from negative (backward wave) to positive values (forward wave) as the hole diameter increases. This causes negative refraction for the zeroth order emerging beam in the cut-off holes prism whereas positive refraction in the non-cut-off holes prism. Furthermore, we revisited from the perspective of superposition principle the explanation of these stacks based on the so-called building sub-units: horizontal rods and vertical wires. Our simple analysis reveals the drawbacks of this earlier interpretation, and reinforces the powerful model founded on a inverse transmission line. Experimental results (co- and cross-polar measurements) performed at the V-band of the millimeter-waves in the Fresnel zone are well supported by numerical analyses. As expected, higher order diffracted outgoing beams are recorded for the classical prism but not for the cut-off holes prism.
Serotype Distribution and Penicillin Resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates from Middle Ear Fluids of Pediatric Patients with Acute Otitis Media in Japan

ABSTRACT Out of 175 pneumococcal isolates from middle ear fluids, 26.3% were penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae (PRSP). Serotypes 19F and 23F occurred most frequently among PRSP strains. The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) showed better coverage of PRSP strains (87.0%). The 7-valent PCV may reduce the prevalence of PRSP in Japan.