Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SMAD3 Is Upregulated in Human Osteoarthritic Cartilage Independent of the Promoter DNA Methylation

Objective. To compare SMAD3 gene expression between human osteoarthritic and healthy cartilage and to examine whether expression is regulated by the promoter DNA methylation of the gene. Methods. Human cartilage samples were collected from patients undergoing total hip/knee joint replacement surgery due to primary osteoarthritis (OA), and from patients with hip fractures as controls. DNA/RNA was extracted from the cartilage tissues. Real-time quantitative PCR was performed to measure gene expression, and Sequenom EpiTyper was used to assay DNA methylation. Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the methylation and expression levels between OA cases and controls. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was calculated to examine the association between the methylation and gene expression. Results. A total of 58 patients with OA (36 women, 22 men; mean age 64 ± 9 yrs) and 55 controls (43 women, 12 men; mean age 79 ± 10 yrs) were studied. SMAD3 expression was on average 83% higher in OA cartilage than in controls (p = 0.0005). No difference was observed for DNA methylation levels in the SMAD3 promoter region between OA cases and controls. No correlation was found between SMAD3 expression and promoter DNA methylation. Conclusion. Our study demonstrates that SMAD3 is significantly overexpressed in OA. This overexpression cannot be explained by DNA methylation in the promoter region. The results suggest that the transforming growth factor-β/SMAD3 pathway may be overactivated in OA cartilage and has potential in developing targeted therapies for OA.
A Conceptual model for total quality management in service organizations

The manufacturing landscape of the corporate world has undergone a quality revolution, resulting in a plethora of research works on the tools, techniques, critical dimensions and other organizational requirements for the effective implementation of total quality management (TQM). But the same cannot be said with certainty of service industry management. Research works on total quality service (TQS) is not exhaustive in the sense that there appears to be a vacuum in the literature as far as a holistic model (from the perspective of the management) is concerned. The present study is an attempt to fill this gap. Based on an extensive review of the vast literature on TQM and TQS, the study has identified 12 dimensions of TQS as being critical for effective implementation of quality management in service organizations. The momentousness of each of these dimensions from the manufacturing and service perspectives has been authenticated. The different roles that these dimensions play in the manufacturing and service milieu have also been discussed. A conceptual model for TQS has been proposed demonstrating the relationships among its dimensions. The present work aspires to provide a basis for a thorough and insightful discernment of TQS and its critical dimensions.
Open‐Space Forced Swim Model of Depression for Mice

This protocol describes a simplified method for inducing a chronic depression‐like state in mice that is based on the repeated open‐space forced swim method originally developed for rats. The method consists of mice swimming daily in lukewarm water in rat tub cages, for 15 min/day for 4 days, and thereafter once per week. This procedure produces a progressive decrease in distance swum and a concomitant increase in immobility (floating) in ∼70% of the mice, both of which persist unaltered for weeks. The model has predictive, face, and construct validity and has a number of advantages over previous methods in that it utilizes very mild stress, is short in duration, and is easily standardized. Moreover, since it utilizes a greater swimming area than the traditional (Porsolt) method it can be used to study interactions of depressive behavior with behavioral flexibility and perseveration. Curr. Protoc. Neurosci. 54:9.36. 1‐9.36. 8. © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Smoking Cessation Related to Improved Patient-Reported Pain Scores Following Spinal Care.

BACKGROUND Smoking is associated with low back pain, intervertebral disc disease, inferior patient outcomes following surgical interventions, and increased rates of postoperative complications. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of smoking and smoking cessation on pain and disability in patients with painful spinal disorders. METHODS We examined a prospectively maintained database of records for 5333 patients with axial or radicular pain from a spinal disorder with regard to smoking history and the patient assessment of pain on four visual analog scales during the course of care. Confounding factors, including secondary gain, sex, age, and body mass index, were also examined. The mean duration of follow-up was eight months. Multivariate statistical analysis was performed with variables including smoking status, secondary gain status, sex, depression, and age as predictors of pain and disability. RESULTS Compared with patients who had never smoked, patients who were current smokers reported significantly greater pain in all visual analog scale pain ratings (p < 0.001). The mean improvement in reported pain over the course of care was significantly different between nonsmokers and current smokers (p <0.001). Compared with patients who had continued to smoke, those who had quit smoking during the course of care reported significantly greater improvement in pain in visual analog scale pain ratings for worst (p = 0.013), current (p < 0.05), and average weekly pain (p = 0.024). The mean improvement in the visual analog scale pain ratings was clinically important in patients in all three groups of nonsmokers. As a group, those who had continued smoking during treatment had no clinically important improvement in reported pain. CONCLUSIONS Given a strong association between improved patient-reported pain and smoking cessation, this study supports the need for smoking cessation programs for patients with a painful spinal disorder.
How Reliable are Cyclically Adjusted Budget Balances in Real Time?

Cyclically adjusted budget balances (CABs) are often used to provide an indication of the structural state of public finances. This paper analyzes the reliability of these figures in real time. In a test of the ability to forecast the “final data,” we find that real‐time CABs are outperformed by a simpler methodology. Furthermore, we find that real‐time CABs have low power in detecting fiscal slippages and in correctly identifying fiscal improvements. Finally, we find that CABs are systematically less reliable under conditions of poor or deteriorating public finances, which means they are at their most unreliable precisely when they are needed most.
Musculoskeletal injuries in physical education versus non-physical education teachers: a prospective study

ABSTRACT Physical education (PE) teachers have a physically demanding job, putting them at a considerable risk for musculoskeletal injuries. To structurally develop tailored injury prevention programmes for PE teachers, a clear understanding of the extent, characteristics and underlying factors of their musculoskeletal injuries compared to referents is necessary. Therefore, the current study prospectively followed 103 PE teachers and 58 non-PE teachers, who registered musculoskeletal injuries and time of exposure to sports participation during one school year. Pearson χ2-tests and independent samples t-tests determined significant differences between PE and non-PE teachers regarding demographics and variables possibly related to injury occurrence. PE teachers had 1.23 and non-PE teachers 0.78 injuries/teacher/school year. This difference was significantly different after adjustment for hours spent weekly on intracurricular teaching during the career and for injury history during the preceding six months (P = 0.009; OR = 0.511; 95% CI = 0.308–0.846). PE teachers’ most affected body parts were the knee and the back. PE teachers had a more extensive injury history (P < 0.001), a higher work- (P < 0.001) and sport index (P < 0.001), practiced more sports (P < 0.002) and taught more extracurricular sports (P = 0.001). Future injury prevention programmes should take account for the great injury history and heavy physical load in PE teachers.
Promoting the purchase of low-calorie foods from school vending machines: a cluster-randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND Vending machines account for food sales and revenue in schools. We examined 3 strategies for promoting the sale of lower-calorie food products from vending machines in high schools in the Netherlands. METHODS A school-based randomized controlled trial was conducted in 13 experimental schools and 15 control schools. Three strategies were tested within each experimental school: increasing the availability of lower-calorie products in vending machines, labeling products, and reducing the price of lower-calorie products. The experimental schools introduced the strategies in 3 consecutive phases, with phase 3 incorporating all 3 strategies. The control schools remained the same. The sales volumes from the vending machines were registered. Products were grouped into (1) extra foods containing empty calories, for example, candies and potato chips, (2) nutrient-rich basic foods, and (3) beverages. They were also divided into favorable, moderately unfavorable, and unfavorable products. RESULTS Total sales volumes for experimental and control schools did not differ significantly for the extra and beverage products. Proportionally, the higher availability of lower-calorie extra products in the experimental schools led to higher sales of moderately unfavorable extra products than in the control schools, and to higher sales of favorable extra products in experimental schools where students have to stay during breaks. Together, availability, labeling, and price reduction raised the proportional sales of favorable beverages. CONCLUSION Results indicate that when the availability of lower-calorie foods is increased and is also combined with labeling and reduced prices, students make healthier choices without buying more or fewer products from school vending machines. Changes to school vending machines help to create a healthy school environment.
Liver transplantation for the sequelae of intra-operative bile duct injury.

BACKGROUND Intra-operative bile duct injuries (IBDI) are potentially severe complications of the treatment of benign conditions, with unpredictable long-term results. Multiple procedures are frequently needed to correct these complications. In spite of the application of these procedures, patients with severe injuries can develop irreversible liver disease. Liver transplantation (LT) is currently the only treatment available for such patients, but little information has been published concerning the results of LT. METHODS Eight patients with LT for end-stage liver disease for IBDI were studied retrospectively. They had failure of multiple previous treatments and experienced recurrent episodes of cholangitis, oesophageal variceal bleeding, severe pruritus, refractory ascites and spontaneous peritonitis. RESULTS Mean recipient hepatectomy time was of 243 minutes (range 140-295 min), the complete procedure averages 545 minutes (260-720) and intraoperative red-blood-cells consumption was 6.5 units (1-7). One patient required reoperation due to perforation of a Roux-en-Y loop, and three developed minor complications (2 wound infections, I inguinal lymphocele). One patient died due to nosocomial pneumonia (mortality rate 12.5%). One patient required retransplantation due to delayed hepatic artery thrombosis. At follow-up 75% of patients are alive with normal graft function and an excellent quality of life. CONCLUSIONS LT represents a safe curative treatment for end-stage liver disease after IBDI, albeit a major undertaking in the context of a surgical complication in the treatment of benign disease. The complications of the surgical procedure and the long-standing immunosuppression impart a high cost for resolutions of these sequelae but LT represents the only long-term effective treatment for these selected patients.
On gaps in gentrification theory

Abstract Relations between rent gap and value gap explanations of gentrification have not been subjected to close analysis, though they have occasionally been presented as incongruent. This article argues for an integration of the two theories — that value gaps and rent gaps do not contradict or exclude each other but are on the contrary best perceived within a common theoretical framework. The case of gentrification in Sweden is examined from this perspective. In Swedish cities, value gaps were probably negligible before the 1970s, but have become an increasingly potent force of change since then, primarily in central locations. This however precludes neither instances of rent gap‐induced gentrification nor the more general presence of rent gaps as one important force behind reinvestment in the built environment.
ANOTHER LOOK AT THE CAPM IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE INFLUENCE OF BULL AND BEAR MARKETS

Several studies of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) in South Africa find that beta cannot explain returns. However, these studies do not consider the effect of bull and bear markets, yet over the period 1995-2009, excess market returns were positive in only 98 of 180 months. The influence of market conditions on the risk-return relationship is examined internationally by evaluating the conditional risk-return relationship where risk premiums are allowed to vary in bull and bear markets, and the dual-beta CAPM, which allows for the sensitivity of an asset to the market to vary under the two economic states. In this study, the ability of these two models to explain returns on South African shares is compared to the CAPM using the Fama and MacBeth (1973) and panel data approaches. The dual-beta model is found to be more successful than either the conditional relation or CAPM, as bull- and bear-market betas differ; but the estimates of the risk premiums in this model are significant only after adjusting for market segmentation. The findings thus indicate that asset-pricing models with time-varying risk should be the focus of future asset-pricing tests.
CFHTLenS: the relation between galaxy dark matter haloes and baryons from weak gravitational lensing

We present a study of the relation between dark matter halo mass and the baryonic content of their host galaxies, quantified through galaxy luminosit y and stellar mass. Our investigation uses 154deg 2 of Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) lensing and photometric data, obtained from the CFHT Legacy Survey. To interpret the weak lensing signal around our galaxies we employ a galaxy-galaxy lensing halo model which allows us to constrain the halo mass and the satellite fraction . Our analysis is limited to lenses at redshifts between 0.2 and 0.4, split into a red and a blue sa mple. We express the relationship between dark matter halo mass and baryonic observable as a power law with pivot points of 10 11 h −2
Descriptions of Eumonhystera borealis n. sp., Sphaerolaimus occidentalis n. sp., and a Redescription of S. gracilis de Man 1876 (Nemata) from Bothnian Bay, Baltic Sea.

The free-living nematodes Eumonhystera borealis n. sp. , Sphaerolaimus occidentalis n. sp. , and S. gracilis de Man 1876 from Bothnian Bay in the northern Baltic Sea are described and illustrated. Eumonhystera borealis n. sp. differs from other species by its small body size (314-393 mum), narrow body (a = 37-49), and large anterior amphids. In Sphaerolaimus occidentalis n. sp. the amphids are posterior to the buccal cavity, and it differs from other similar species by having two sclerotized rings in the posterior part of the buccal cavity. An intersex is reported for S. gracilis. Sphaerolaimus gracilis is cannibalistic or a predator of other species, with a preference for E. borealis n. sp. Sphaerolaimus occidentalis n. sp. coexists with S. gracilis at depths of 80 m but not at 12 m.
Dense downtown living more carbon intense due to higher consumption: a case study of Helsinki

Hindering urban sprawl is one of the main goals for contemporary urban planning. Urban density is considered crucial in climate change mitigation since it reduces automobile dependence and decreases unit sizes, for example. This letter analyzes the effect of density in a city context. In the study the Finnish capital Helsinki is divided into two areas of different urban densities: the high density downtown area and the more scarcely populated suburbs. The study is a continuation of a recently published study on the implications of urban structure on carbon emissions, and analyzes further the main finding of the first study—that higher urban density might have negligible or even reverse effect on the per capita carbon emissions. Similarly to the previous study, a consumption based tiered hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is employed in order to produce a comprehensive assessment, free of territorial boundaries and system cutoffs typical of traditional LCAs. Based on the findings of the previous study, it is hypothesized that when assessing city level carbon dioxide emissions from a wider, consumer oriented LCA perspective, increased urban density may not necessarily reduce carbon emissions. Surprisingly, the study finds that carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions are substantially higher in the dense downtown area than in the surrounding suburbs, which is suggested to imply that the increased consumption due to the higher standard of living increases emissions more than the higher density is able to reduce them. The results demonstrate that, while increasing urban density can be justified from a number of ecological, social and economic viewpoints, density is not necessarily a key parameter in the particular case of climate change. In cities like Helsinki, where wealth is concentrated in the downtown area, climate policies should give higher priority to the energy consumption of buildings, to alternative energy production and distribution modes, as well as to low carbon consumption within the city.
Systems engineering management process maturity of South African manufacturing organisations

The National Planning Commission's National Development Plan: Vision for 2030 (NDP) aims to promote economic equality by focussing on innovation within key sectors of the economy. It has been noted that systems engineering has the ability to integrate people, processes and technologies to deliver innovative complex systems. The investigation set out to improve the understanding of systems engineering (SE) with focus on organisations in manufacturing of coke, petroleum, chemical products, rubber or plastic products as it represents the largest income and employment provider in the manufacturing sector in South Africa. Ten process areas were identified to measure systems engineering management (SEM) activities using a Capability Maturity Model (CMM). Data gathering was conducted using a combination of face-to-face and telephonic interviews of six (6) randomly selected organisations in the identified population using a six level Likert Scale. Overall SEM process maturity measured 2.91, indicating a general lack of formal SE procedures.
First-Year Students' Participation And Performance In A Financial Accounting Support Group

The academic performance and retention of first-year students are under scrutiny worldwide. In view of the emphasis on first-year success, a support group was established in a first-year module - Financial Accounting 178 - at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. The article reports on students perceptions of their participation and their pass rates within the support group. Both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from interviews, questionnaires, and an analysis of support group pass rates. The overall conclusion from this study is that students in financial accounting perceived their participation as positive and an increase in pass rates, compared to previous results, was observed. Small-group participation, tutorial classes, and peer student assistance all appear to contribute positively to improved performance of support groups. A number of areas for possible future research were identified from the results.
[Rituximab: a original biotherapy in auto-immune disorders].

SUBJECT After several decades of hegemony of the T lymphocyte, recent work has suggested the importance of the B lymphocyte in auto-immune diseases. As a consequence, there has emerged over the last few years the idea of using anti-B lymphocyte therapy, in particular rituximab (a chimeric anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody). CURRENT TOPICS AND IMPORTANT RESULTS This review addresses various current topics: a) the role of B lymphocytes in auto-immune diseases, notably their capacity to be antigen presenting cells and to be activated by original systems like Blys/Baff; b) the mechanism of action of rituximab (apoptosis, complement-dependent cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity) and the phenomena explaining failures and cases escaping treatment, in particular among lymphoproliferations; c) The results include efficacy and tolerance data for the principal auto-immune affections. Among these, the most promising indications would seem to be for rheumatoid polyarthritis and systemic lupus erythematosis, although some preliminary open studies point to an effect in Goujerot-Sjögren's syndrome, neuropathies, auto-immune cytopenia, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, cryoagglutinins, blistering cutaneous affections. PERSPECTIVES AND PROJECTS Controlled studies will be required to determine the true efficacy and tolerance of this molecule, as it is imperative to validate these new immunotherapeutic strategies, above all when they concern innovative and expensive therapy. Nevertheless, these different observations arouse great hopes and at the same time exciting questions, notably as to the role of B lymphocytes in auto-immune diseases.
Role Overload: A Cause of Diminishing Employee Retention and Productivity

Retaining employees and maintaining a satisfactory level their productivity are crucial concerns in the organizational studies. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of role overload at work place on retention and productivity of layoff survivors. Data comprised of 450 responses from layoff survivors working in two giant organizations in Pakistan. Stratified random sampling was employed with a cross-sectional research design. The results of the Pearson's correlation and regression analysis helped in analyzing the data and reveal that role overload has a strong negative and significant relationship with both dependent variables that are employee retention and productivity. Role overload accounts for 85.3 % change in employee retention and 87.2% change in employee productivity. Additionally it is assessed that whether the difference among male and female layoff survivors with respect to role overload, retention and productivity exists or otherwise. The results are discussed in comparison with previous research studies.
New technologies and journalism practice in Nigeria and Ghana

New technologies are generally perceived as the basic tool for survival in modern society. But the extent of their availability and use, as well as their impact on newspaper journalism practice in West Africa is unknown. This paper presents the results of a study that investigated the impact of new technologies on newspaper journalism practice in two West African countries Nigeria and Ghana. The study, conducted in five newspapers in the two countries, found that, although a majority of the journalists believed the new technologies have improved the quality of their newspapers, fewer than half of the journalists were unimpressed with the level of the technologies available to them in the performance of their duties.