Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pyrimethamine treatment does not ameliorate lymphoproliferation or autoimmune disease in MRL/lpr−/− mice or in patients with autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome

Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) is an inherited disorder of lymphocyte apoptosis leading to childhood onset of marked lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, autoimmune cytopenias, and increased risk of lymphoma. Most cases are associated with heterozygous mutations in the gene encoding Fas protein. Prolonged use of immunosuppressive drugs that do ameliorate its autoimmune complications fail to consistently lessen lymphoproliferation in ALPS. A case series had described children with ALPS, whose spleens (SPL) and lymph nodes decreased in size when treated weekly with pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine; parallel in vitro studies showed only pyrimethamine to promote apoptosis. On the basis of that experience, we undertook additional in vitro lymphocyte apoptosis assays, and measured SPL weights, lymphocyte numbers, and immunophenotypes in Fas‐deficient MRL/lpr−/− mice to gain further insights into the utility of combined pyrimethamine/sulfadoxine or pyrimethamine alone. Moreover, seven children with ALPS enrolled in a study of escalating dose of pyrimethamine alone given twice weekly for 12 weeks to determine if their lymphadenopathy and/or splenomegaly would diminish, as assessed by standardized computerized tomography. Neither pyrimethamine alone or with sulfadoxine in the MRL/lpr−/− mice, nor pyrimethamine alone in ALPS patients proved efficacious. We conclude that these drugs do not warrant further use empirically or as part of clinical trials in ALPS Type Ia as a lympholytic agent. Am. J. Hematol. , 2007. Published 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Chronic Rhinosinusitis and the Evolving Understanding of Microbial Ecology in Chronic Inflammatory Mucosal Disease

SUMMARY Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) encompasses a heterogeneous group of debilitating chronic inflammatory sinonasal diseases. Despite considerable research, the etiology of CRS remains poorly understood, and debate on potential roles of microbial communities is unresolved. Modern culture-independent (molecular) techniques have vastly improved our understanding of the microbiology of the human body. Recent studies that better capture the full complexity of the microbial communities associated with CRS reintroduce the possible importance of the microbiota either as a direct driver of disease or as being potentially involved in its exacerbation. This review presents a comprehensive discussion of the current understanding of bacterial, fungal, and viral associations with CRS, with a specific focus on the transition to the new perspective offered in recent years by modern technology in microbiological research. Clinical implications of this new perspective, including the role of antimicrobials, are discussed in depth. While principally framed within the context of CRS, this discussion also provides an analogue for reframing our understanding of many similarly complex and poorly understood chronic inflammatory diseases for which roles of microbes have been suggested but specific mechanisms of disease remain unclear. Finally, further technological advancements on the horizon, and current pressing questions for CRS microbiological research, are considered.
Factors Affecting the Operational Performance of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Projects: Cases in Malaysia

The Implementation of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Programme in Malaysia aims to improve the delivery of infrastructure facilities and services for the public sectors. Hence, it is vital to ensure the success of PPP projects by monitoring the projects’ performance to earn value for money (VFM). However, there are several factors influencing the PPP projects’ performance as deliberated by previous scholars. Among these factors are lack of building facility management, lack of performance measurement systems and low monitoring levels which would affect the success of PPP projects especially at the operational stage. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to determine the factors affecting the operational performance of PPP projects in Malaysia. A qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews from selected case studies was adopted. A purposive sampling technique has been chosen which involves PPP experts as a sample population. The data was analysed using Atlas.ti8© qualitative analysis software. From the findings, authors revealed eight factors contributed to the poor projects’ performance namely; defects occurrence, lack of competency among staff or person in charge in PPP, service delivery failure, lack of strategy in assessing performance, lack of monitoring, lack of experience and understanding of PPP among stakeholders, and poor management. The findings of this study may benefit practitioners to further improve the operational performance by eliminating or minimizing factors that affect the successful implementation of PPP projects in Malaysia.
Diabetes Care in Health Maintenance Organizations

An increasing amount of health care today is directed to the amelioration of chronic diseases for which there are no cures. Technological advances and the aging of the population have increased the costs of that care. In an attempt to control costs and increase the efficiency of health care, it is being increasingly delivered in alternate health-care systems where third-party payors influence the access, use, and quality of that care. This article traces the history of the development of alternative health-care delivery systems and describes how they attempt to deal with the tension between cost and quality in the context of the delivery of health care to people with diabetes. Systems for home health care, health education and dietary counseling, prescriptions and durable medical equipment, medical technology assessment, quality management, peer review, and cost containment in the various alternative health-care settings are described. Theoretically, the health maintenance organization offers an ideal system for delivering care that is accessible, affordable, and of good quality.
Mathematical and Computational Challenges in Population Biology and Ecosystems Science

Mathematical and computational approaches provide powerful tools in the study of problems in population biology and ecosystems science. The subject has a rich history intertwined with the development of statistics and dynamical systems theory, but recent analytical advances, coupled with the enhanced potential of high-speed computation, have opened up new vistas and presented new challenges. Key challenges involve ways to deal with the collective dynamics of heterogeneous ensembles of individuals, and to scale from small spatial regions to large ones. The central issues—understanding how detail at one scale makes its signature felt at other scales, and how to relate phenomena across scales—cut across scientific disciplines and go to the heart of algorithmic development of approaches to high-speed computation. Examples are given from ecology, genetics, epidemiology, and immunology.
The Stock Market Reaction to the CEO successor Announcement in Family Firms

We investigate the determinants of the market reaction to the announcement of the appointment of a CEO successor in French, German and UK listed family firms with an incumbent, family CEO during 2001-2010. Given the strong family control, we conjecture that investors expect a family successor and hence do not react to the announcement of the appointment of the latter. In contrast, the announcement of the appointment of a nonfamily successor is likely to be met by positive cumulative abnormal returns (CARs). In line with our conjecture, we do not find a market reaction to the announcement of the appointment of a family CEO, whereas the announcement of a nonfamily successor elicits positive and significant CARs. We then study the determinants of the market reaction to the announcement of a nonfamily successor. We find that the poorer the past performance of the firm, the more positive are the CARs. Also, the greater the board independence, the less positive are the CARs for poorly performing firms. The latter result is more pronounced when board independence is adjusted for links of so called independent directors to the controlling family. Finally, more positive CARs are observed for poorly performing firms, with a UK or US cross-listing.
The effects of a computer malfunction on subsequent task performance

Although previous research has examined the effects of computer malfunctions on employee frustration, to our knowledge no research has explored computer malfunction's effect on subsequent task performance. It was hypothesised that participants who experience a malfunction would perform worse on a subsequent task than those who experience no malfunction. Participants (n = 204) were randomly assigned to experience either a computer malfunction or not during the first task. Participants then completed a subsequent task. The results confirmed that the Malfunction group performed worse than the Control group on both tasks. Implications for workplace performance are discussed.
India’s outward foreign direct investment: emerging trends and issues

Abstract India is an increasingly attractive destination for foreign investments, and the country is also becoming a significant source of outward foreign investments. The increasing engagement of the Indian corporations in the world markets is an indication of the maturity reached by Indian industries as well as the extent of their participation in an overall globalization process. Indian firms invest across a wide variety of sectors and countries, departing from trading and textiles in developing countries, which has been their major investment focuses. This paper studies Indian outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). Its main highlights are to examine the global and Indian trends in OFDI in the recent years, analyze the sector- and country-wide OFDI from India, and investigate global acquisitions by Indian corporations and their destinations. The analysis shows that Indian OFDI is the highest in Mauritius and Singapore and the least in Hong Kong and Switzerland. By sectors, the highest overseas investments were made in the financial and business services in 2010 and 2011.
Paradoxical thinking as a new avenue of intervention to promote peace

Significance The premise of most interventions that aim to promote peacemaking is that information that is inconsistent with held beliefs causes tension, which may motivate alternative information seeking. However, individuals—especially during conflict—use different defenses to preserve their societal beliefs. Therefore, we developed a new paradoxical thinking intervention that provides consistent—though extreme—information, with the intention of raising a sense of absurdity but not defenses. We examined our hypotheses in a longitudinal field experiment and found that participants who were exposed to the intervention expressed more conciliatory attitudes regarding the conflict, even 1 y after the intervention, which also manifested in their voting (self-report measure) to more dovish parties in the Israeli 2013 elections. In societies involved in an intractable conflict, there are strong socio-psychological barriers that contribute to the continuation and intractability of the conflict. Based on a unique field study conducted in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, we offer a new avenue to overcome these barriers by exposing participants to a long-term paradoxical intervention campaign expressing extreme ideas that are congruent with the shared ethos of conflict. Results show that the intervention, although counterintuitive, led participants to express more conciliatory attitudes regarding the conflict, particularly among participants with center and right political orientation. Most importantly, the intervention even influenced participants' actual voting patterns in the 2013 Israeli general elections: Participants who were exposed to the paradoxical intervention, which took place in proximity to the general elections, reported that they tended to vote more for dovish parties, which advocate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. These effects were long lasting, as the participants in the intervention condition expressed more conciliatory attitudes when they were reassessed 1 y after the intervention. Based on these results, we propose a new layer to the general theory of persuasion based on the concept of paradoxical thinking.
Effects of 72-h of exercise abstinence on affect and body dissatisfaction in healthy female regular exercisers

Abstract In this study, we compared the effects of a 72-h exercise abstinence period and normal exercise on the affect and body dissatisfaction of 58 healthy women (mean age 26.1 years, s = 8.2) who exercised at least four times per week, and explored the relationship between the changes in affect and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the UWIST-MACL and Body Dissatisfaction Scale to assess affect and body image, and were randomized to an abstinence or control group. Affect and body image for both groups were re-assessed following the 72-h abstinence period. Compared with the control group, the abstinence group had a significant decrease in hedonic tone and energetic arousal, and a significant increase in tense arousal and body dissatisfaction from pre-intervention to post-intervention. There were no significant relationships between the changes in body dissatisfaction and the components of affect. A 72-h exercise abstinence period resulted in increased affect disturbance and body dissatisfaction in regularly active women.
Nkombo Island: The Most Important Schistosomiasis mansoni Focus in Rwanda

In Rwanda, the initial school-based mapping of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections was completed in 2008. Despite the classification of low endemicity of intestinal schistosomiasis (Schistosoma mansoni) in Rusizi district, the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) programme has received warnings two years after the mapping on high infection level on Nkombo Island located in this district. This study aims to report on prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni infection in an area which was the last to be investigated in Rwanda and provide some critics on current mapping guidelines. The study was done in January 2011 with a sample of 311 schoolchildren aged 10-19 years. Stool screening was performed by Kato-Katz technique. Overall prevalence of S. mansoni was found to be 62.1% (95%CI: 56.4-67.5), ranging from 28.6% (95%CI: 19.2-39.5) to 77.9% (95%CI: 67.0-86.6) across the schools. The prevalence of S. mansoni among the schoolchildren of Nkombo Island was found to be the highest in Rwanda. These findings confirm the extreme focality of schistosomiasis and the fact that the current mapping guidelines are likely to miss some hotspots. For the validation of schistosomiasis distribution at country level, there is need for new innovative mapping methodology that can provide to control programmes more accurate data for planning and undertaking control interventions at the district and the lowest implementation levels. When mapping units have to be designed they should give more priority to areas surrounding perennial water bodies that are considered high-risk zones.
Gestational Diabetes: The Dilemma of Delivery

A prospective study of 84 patients with gestational diabetes for whom the route of delivery was determined by the double-blind technic is presented. With strict attention to dietary management, it was possible to maintain the basal maternal plasma glucose concentrations below 100 mg/100 ml from the initiation of management until delivery. Under these circumstances, perinatal mortality and morbidity were not increased with advancing gestational age. Neonatal complications were minimal for either route of delivery. Maternal weight gain and weight at delivery were positively correlated with birthweight of the infant, yet the degree of abnormality in the glucose tolerance test had no influence on the outcome of the pregnancy. Postoperative maternal morbidity following cesarean section was of a minor nature. No advantage to preterm delivery by cesarean section was found in this study, since one of the contraindications to vaginal delivery—fetal macrosomia—was averted through maternal dietary control.
The fourth industrial revolution and the future of manufacturing work in Australia: challenges and opportunities

ABSTRACT Many now argue that we are at the beginning of a ‘fourth industrial revolution’ (Industry 4.0) – a time characterised by the convergence of a wide range of mutually reinforcing digital technologies accompanied by great advances in computing power and the ability to network things relatively cheaply. In the Australian context little attention is paid to the implications of the Industry 4.0 for workplaces, workers and society through technology-driven changes. This paper addresses these under-researched dimensions of the debate in Australia, focusing attention on the potential for particular variants of Industry 4.0 to be vehicles for adoption of regressive ‘business models’ that accelerate the growth of precarious, unsafe and alienating forms of employment in the manufacturing sector. We also examine a more optimistic possible outcome by asking how Industry 4.0 might serve as a vehicle for reversing deindustrialisation in Australia, and we present a research agenda to begin working towards this. An industrial relations system equipped for the digital age must be capable of preventing the growth of precarious, exploitative and alienating forms of employment that undermine long held legal, ethical and community standards.
Comparative morphology and distribution of the aduncus and truncatus forms of bottlenose dolphin Tursiops in the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans

Two morphological forms of the bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, are recognised in Indo-Pacific waters; a coastal form referred to as T. cf. aduncus and an offshore form, T. truncatus. The two are distinguished primarily on the basis of ventral spotting, present in adult T. cf. aduncus and absent in T. truncatus. We compared the morphology of specimens obtained from parts of their range where both forms are found; south-east Africa, the East and South China Seas, and eastern Australia. Across its range, T. cf. aduncus has a shorter body and skull length and on average more teeth than T. truncatus from the same areas. No difference in body length was noted between sexes in T. cf. aduncus, while male T. truncatus were larger than females. T. cf. aduncus from tropical waters were distinctly smaller than in subtropical/ temperate regions. Differences in the pattern of the dorsal cape between forms from eastern Australia enabled their geographic distribution to be investigated. T. cf. aduncus was found in estuarine and near-coastal oceanic waters and T. truncatus in near-coastal oceanic and offshore waters. Differences in morphology, and likely niche separation in this partially sympatric distribution of the two forms suggests two species, but there are arguments both for and against the assignment of species status to each morphotype.
Influence Of Orthodontic Treatment On Gingival Condition

Aim of the study was to evaluate gingival modifications occuring in patients during orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances. Materials and methods. After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, in study were included 60 patients (35 girls and 25 boys). Mean age was 13.1 years for girls and 12.8 years for boys. Treatment period was 19.2 months for the upper arch and 21.3 months for the lower arch. There were taken 2 types of measurements ː plaque index (PI) and gingival index (GI), before, during and after treatment. Results. During orthodontic treatment buccal GI was 1.35 ± 0.32 and interpoximal GI was 1.75 ± 0.25. PI was 0.85 ± 0.28. After the appliances were removed, buccal GI was 1.44 ± 0.37, inteproximal GI 1.86 ± 0.22 and PI 1.01 ± 0.29. When PI and GI were measured in individual teeth it was found a statistical correlation in the measured values (p≤0.05). Conclusions. Based on these results we conclude that gingival modifications occur during orthodontic treatment. The most important changes are in the lower arch in molar area. After the treatment is finished, the situations come back in normal parameters.
Patterns of Hand Grip Strength and Detection of Strength Loss in Patients Undergoing Bone Marrow Transplantation: A Feasibility Study.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To determine the feasibility of measuring hand grip strength (HGS) daily in a population of recipients of bone marrow transplantation (BMT), to describe changes in strength measured by HGS, and to describe relationships between laboratory values (hematocrit, hemoglobin, and absolute neutrophil count) and HGS. DESIGN Prospective, longitudinal, repeated measures, within subject. SETTING Inpatient units at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. SAMPLE 33 patients admitted in preparation for BMT or for complications from BMT. METHODS HGS measured on admission and daily. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES HGS, absolute neutrophil count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. FINDINGS Participants found HGS testing to be relatively easy. Average time to complete testing was 7.2 minutes (SD = 1.95). Nineteen experienced 20% or greater decline in HGS during hospitalization, with nine experiencing decline during the conditioning phase. Age, gender, and hemoglobin correlated with HGS. Strength loss was more likely in those undergoing allogeneic compared to autologous BMT. CONCLUSIONS A majority of patients experienced strength decline during BMT, with a subgroup declining during conditioning. A positive relationship existed between HGS and hemoglobin and hematocrit in participants admitted for conditioning for BMT. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING Weakness increases risk for falls. Patients may experience as much as 50% strength loss during the course of hospitalization for BMT. Strength loss occurs in the conditioning phase for some patients.
Exploring Success Factors in the Children's Market

The potential of the child segment offers an immense opportunity for marketers to explore. In the ever more dynamic and ever changing children's market, the identification and ability to optimise the factors that can preserve product dominance are key to product longevity. This paper attempts to identify those factors that can influence the success of products in the children's market. We focus on identifying the antecedents of brand relationship and brand loyalty for the children's market. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the body of knowledge, and build understanding between the factors and their interrelations so that, in the end, product longevity in the children's market is finally achieved.