Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Participation of Different Macrophage Populations and Myofibroblastic Cells in Chronically Developed Renal Interstitial Fibrosis after Cisplatin-induced Renal Injury in Rats

To shed some light on the mechanisms behind renal fibrogenesis, the present study immunohistochemically investigated the participation of different macrophage populations and myofibroblastic cells in rat renal interstitial fibrosis developed chronically after repeated injection of cisplatin (2 mg/kg body weight, once weekly for 7 weeks). During the 19-week recovery period after the final injection, fibrotic lesions progressively developed in the corticomedullary junction, with the greatest level at post-final injection (FPI) week 5, and then the lesions were gradually repaired by PFI week 19, indicative of a healing process. In conformity with the development of fibrotic lesions, the number of myofibroblastic cells reacting with an anti-α-smooth muscle actin antibody was increased, with a peak at PFI week 3, and collagens (types I, III, and IV), fibronection, and laminin were excessively accumulated in these areas. Interstitial cells forming the fibrotic lesions showed mitotic activity at the early stages, whereas they disappeared by apoptosis in the healing process. A large number of cells reacting with an antibody of ED1 (for exudate macrophages), ED2 (for resident macrophages), or OX6 (for major histocompatibility complex class II-presenting macrophages and interstitial dendritic cells) had already appeared at PF1 week 1, and then their numbers increased, with a peak at PFI weeks 7, 3, and 9 in ED1-, ED2-, and OX6-positive cells, respectively. Thereafter, the number of ED1- and ED2-positive cells decreased, whereas the number of OX6-positive cells persisted at a high level until PFI week 19. In the healing process, clusters of lymphocytes were present, the development of which might have been related to OX6-positive cells. The present study demonstrated that chronically developing rat renal interstitial fibrosis might be produced by the complicated mechanisms evoked by interactions between different macrophage populations and myofibroblastic cells, because macrophages show heterogeneous functions depending on microenvironmental factors.
Profiling Bicycle Tourists: A Case of Croatia

Purpose – The purpose of the primary research is to gather information about the behaviour of bicycle tourism demand. Primarily by studying domestic bicycle tourists, the research results were expected to provide valuable market parameters, comparable with the determinants of previous relevant studies. Design and Methodology – Research was carried out by surveying different segments of bicyclists, recognized in earlier conceptual contributions. Electronic data collection techniques were applied. The online questionnaire was distributed to chosen respondents in the form of the link included in a personal message on a certain social network. A personal approach ensured a high response rate. The nature of research design resulted in a descriptive research, although some of its characteristics could be considered as exploratory. Findings – This paper is the first attempt to study the Croatian segment of the bicycle tourism demand. As far as the attributes common to both national and international research are concerned, it is possible to argue the similarities and differences of demand profiles. Value – Until there is a uniform approach to monitoring the phenomenon at the European level, the profiling of demand in bicycle tourism makes it possible to compare the specific findings with current trends. This research applies a somewhat different perspective than the existing ones – enabling more insight into the cycling-related behaviour in the home area and on vacation. As part of the international demand for bicycle tourism, knowledge about the behaviour of one particular national market contributes to the general state of the research.
A New Agent for Atrial Fibrillation: Electrophysiological Properties of Dronedarone

Although originally synthesized as an antianginal compound, amiodarone has emerged as an effective antiarrhythmic for both supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. Over the decades, the properties, the effectiveness, the merits as well as the shortcomings of the compound have been well established. The major limitations of this agent are mainly due to the systemic side effects seen with prolonged therapy. Many of the toxic effects observed are primarily caused by the high iodine content present in the amiodarone molecule. Dronedarone, the first noniodinated amiodarone congener, has been developed largely to obtain the antiarrhythmic efficacy in the control of atrial fibrillation without the known adverse side effects of dronedarone. In this part of the supplement, the focus is the electrophysiological effects of dronedarone with the characterization in normal cardiac cells, in animal models of disease, as well as in human studies.
A multidisciplinary approach to talent identification in soccer

The requirements for soccer play are multifactorial and distinguishing characteristics of elite players can be investigated using multivariate analysis. The aim of the present study was to apply a comprehensive test battery to young players with a view to distinguishing between elite and sub-elite groups on the basis of performance on test items. Thirty-one (16 elite, 15 sub-elite) young players matched for chronological age (15-16 years) and body size were studied. Test items included anthropometric ( n = 15), physiological ( n = 8), psychological ( n = 3) and soccer-specific skills ( n = 2) tests. Variables were split into separate groups according to somatotype, body composition, body size, speed, endurance, performance measures, technical skill, anticipation, anxiety and task and ego orientation for purposes of univariate and multivariate analysis of variance and stepwise discriminant function analysis.The most discriminating of the measures were agility, sprint time, ego orientation and anticipation skill. The elite players were also significantly leaner, possessed more aerobic power (9.0 - 1.7 vs 55.5 - 3.8 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 ) and were more tolerant of fatigue ( P ≪ 0.05). They were also better at dribbling the ball, but not shooting. We conclude that the test battery used may be useful in establishing baseline reference data for young players being selected onto specialized development programmes.
Mapping and Functional Characterization of the TAF11 Interaction with TFIIA

ABSTRACT TFIIA interacts with TFIID via association with TATA binding protein (TBP) and TBP-associated factor 11 (TAF11). We previously identified a mutation in the small subunit of TFIIA (toa2-I27K) that is defective for interaction with TAF11. To further explore the functional link between TFIIA and TAF11, the toa2-I27K allele was utilized in a genetic screen to isolate compensatory mutants in TAF11. Analysis of these compensatory mutants revealed that the interaction between TAF11 and TFIIA involves two distinct regions of TAF11: the highly conserved histone fold domain and the N-terminal region. Cells expressing a TAF11 allele defective for interaction with TFIIA exhibit conditional growth phenotypes and defects in transcription. Moreover, TAF11 imparts changes to both TFIIA-DNA and TBP-DNA contacts in the context of promoter DNA. These alterations appear to enhance the formation and stabilization of the TFIIA-TBP-DNA complex. Taken together, these studies provide essential information regarding the molecular organization of the TAF11-TFIIA interaction and define a mechanistic role for this association in the regulation of gene expression in vivo.
Stochastic Polling Interval Adaptation in Duty-Cycled Wireless Sensor Networks

In past decades, to achieve energy-efficient communication, many MAC protocols have been proposed for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Particularly, asynchronous MAC protocol based on low power listening (LPL) scheme is very attractive in duty-cycled WSNs: it reduces the energy wasted by idle listening. In LPL scheme, a sensor node wakes up at every polling interval to sample the channel. If the channel is busy, the sensor node will stay in wake-up mode for receiving the data packet. Otherwise, it goes to sleep and saves power. However, wrong choice of polling interval in LPL scheme causes unexpected energy dissipation. This paper focuses on the polling interval adaptation strategy in LPL scheme with the aim of maximizing energy efficiency, defined as the number of packets delivered per energy unit. We propose a novel polling interval adaptation algorithm based on stochastic learning automata, where a sensor node dynamically adjusts its polling interval. Furthermore, our simulation results demonstrate that the polling interval asymptotically converges to the optimal value.
Using sentiment analysis to explore the degree of risk in sharing economy

Sharing economy is the new business model of ecommerce that stimulates new thinking in different ways. However, security and privacy are the most criticized problems in sharing economy. The owners on sharing economy need to build trust through online reviews. It may take risks when most people make decisions by reading less reviews. This research considers the emotions of comments in online reviews and discover the positivenegative sentiment ratio based on sentiment analysis. The sentiment ratio will match to the level of risk and customers refer to it for suitable decision making. The results show that the selected rankings were different between the base of sentiment-ratio or the stars of accommodations. In addition, customers of different generations may have different decisions when showing pictures, room information, and the sentiment-ratio of online reviews. Generation Z and generation Y may pay more attention to reviews, cost, and cleanliness. Generation X may pay attention to cleanliness, reviews, and total stars. In conclusion, three generations all show the importance of online reviews on decision-making. On the other hand, the high risk people are more likely to be affected by the negative reviews; that is. they may make different decisions.
Insolvency regimes, zombie firms and capital reallocation

This paper explores cross-country differences in the design of insolvency regimes and their potential links with two inter-related sources of labour productivity weakness: the survival of “zombie” firms (firms that would typically exit in a competitive market) and capital misallocation. New cross-country policy indicators of insolvency regimes are constructed based on countries’ responses to a recent OECD questionnaire, which aimed to better capture the key design features of insolvency which impact the timely initiation and resolution of insolvency proceedings. According to these metrics, cross-country differences in the design of insolvency regimes are significant. Firm level analysis shows that reforms to insolvency regimes which reduce barriers to corporate restructuring and the personal cost associated with entrepreneurial failure may reduce the share of capital sunk in zombie firms. These gains are partly realised via the restructuring of weak firms, which in turn spurs the reallocation of capital to more productive firms. These findings carry strong policy implications, in light of the fact that there is much scope to reform insolvency regimes in many OECD countries and given evidence that rising capital misallocation and the increasing survival of low productivity firms have contributed to the productivity slowdown.
Access to Equity Markets, Corporate Investments and Stock Returns: International Evidence

Recent studies have documented that, in the United States, firms that increase asset investment subsequently earn substantially lower risk-adjusted returns, which is referred to as the investment or asset growth effect. In this study, we document that there exist substantial cross-country differences in the asset growth effect. More specifically, we find a strong asset growth effect among developed countries, but no such an effect among developing countries. Further analysis indicates that, among developed countries, cross-country difference in the asset growth effect can be explained by the ease of access to equity markets in addition to country characteristics such as culture and corporate asset growth. However, the inclusion of these country characteristics does not damper the effect of the ease of access to equity markets on the asset growth effect. Our results appear to be generally consistent with an overinvestment explanation for the investment effect initiated by Titman, Wei, and Xie (2004) and to be inconsistent with the prediction by the q-theory with investment frictions suggested by Li and Zhang (2010).
Studies on Pruning Cuts and Wound Dressings for Oak Wilt Control

Ceratocystis fagacearum causes the destructive tree disease called oak wilt. One means of pathogen spread is by insect vectors (Nitidulidae) that transmit spores into fresh wounds on healthy trees. Experiments were conducted in central Texas on native live oaks (Quercus fusiformis) to test pruning methods and paints on disease development. Three treatment combinations were tested on 30 trees (10 trees/treatment): flush cut unpainted, flush cut painted, and unpainted pruning cuts made according to the Shigo method. Unpainted puncture wounds were made on the lower trunks of an additional 20 trees as controls. C. fagacearum spores were applied to the pruning cuts and half of the puncture wounds (positive controls) after treatment, whereas the other half of the punctures received distilled water as negative controls. Oak wilt symptoms first appeared in the flush cut unpainted treatment 31 days after inoculation. Infection rates, in decreasing order, were; positive control (70%), flush cut unpainted (60%), Shigo pruning method (40%), flush cut painted (20%), and negative control (10%). Pruning wounds, regardless of method, were effective infection courts for the oak wilt pathogen. Fewer trees became infected when pruning cuts were painted, but differences among infection rates for pruning cuts were not statistically significant. Tree diameters and stem aspect ratio had no bearing on infection rates. The Shigo method is recognized as a superior method for pruning, but there is no reason to change current recommendations to paint fresh wounds on susceptible oaks in high-hazard oak wilt areas.
Power versus trust – what matters more in collaborative consumption?

Purpose Collaborative consumption, such as car sharing, specifically implicates customer-to-customer interaction, which must be regulated by service providers (companies, peers and self-regulating communities), comprising different challenges for business organizations. While in conventional business relations, consumers are protected from undesirable customer behavior by laws, regulations (power) in the context of collaborative consumption are rare, so that trust becomes more relevant. It is the purpose of the study to investigate possible mechanisms to prevent undesirable customers in collaborative consumption. Design/methodology/approach In between subject designs, samples of 186 and 328 consumers filled in experimental online questionnaires with vignettes. Analyses were made of differences among car sharing companies, private persons and car sharing communities in terms of the power of providers, trust in providers and trust in other users of the shared goods, undesirable customer behavior and consumer–provider relations. Findings Companies, private persons and self-regulating communities differ in terms of perceived power and trust. Participants specifically perceive mainly coercive power with the car sharing company, but with the private person and the community, reason-based trust in other users is perceived as prevalent. Nevertheless, undesirable customer behavior varies only marginally over the models. Originality/value The present study is the first to investigate measures to prevent undesirable customer behavior over different collaborative consumption models. This enables appropriate identification of market segments and tailoring of services. The study identifies opportunities for companies in contrast to private persons and self-regulating communities and, in doing so, provides important stimulation for marketing strategy and theory development.
IL‐4 and IL‐10 modulate autoimmune haemolytic anaemia in NZB mice

New Zealand Black (NZB) mice spontaneously develop autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA). Here the effect of injecting NZB mice with plasmids encoding IL‐4 (pIL‐4) or IL‐10 (pIL‐10) on NZB disease was tested. Both constructs delayed the development of anaemia as judged by increased haematocrit values as compared with controls, but neither altered the IgG1 to IgG2 red blood cell (RBC) bound autoantibody levels. The increased haematocrit value was associated temporally with increased RBC bound IgG in NZB mice treated with pIL‐10, but not pIL‐4. By contrast, up‐regulation of splenic macrophage FcγRIIb2 mRNA was associated temporally with increased haematocrit values in NZB mice given pIL‐4. However, no such increase occurred in NZB mice that inhaled a peptide containing a dominant T‐cell epitope, although this treatment is known to bias the autoimmune response towards Th2 and to reduce the severity of anaemia. It is considered that IL‐4 treatment, in part, ameliorates NZB anaemia by increasing the expression of the inhibitory FcγRIIb2 and thereby reducing the capacity of splenic macrophages to phagocytose autoantibody coated RBC, but that this mechanism does not explain the beneficial effects of the inhaled peptide.
Constraints analysis of start-up business in Burundi

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are engine of economy both for developed and developing countries. They play a significant role in income generation, job creation, poverty reduction and reducing income inequality. In Burundi, key stakeholders such as policy-makers as well as other international and national actors have made more effort to develop the segment of SMEs. Indeed, many start-ups have been created but are however, exposed to several challenges in their business operations. This paper aimed at investigating main critical barriers to SMEs growth and development in Burundi. The research was based upon a sample survey of small firms in Burundi and 314 small enterprises were surveyed. Rural start-ups’ critical barriers identified are mainly poor management, lack of access to market flow, lack of working capital, inadequate qualified workforce and low selling prices. On the other hand, five severe obstacles for urban SMEs identified are insecurity, access to financing, macroeconomic situation, lack of customers and unfair competition. A better understanding of all these barriers that SMEs are facing is useful to set up best strategies susceptible to increase their growth.
Is transcranial direct current stimulation a potential method for improving response inhibition?☆

Inhibitory control of movement in motor learning requires the ability to suppress an inappropriate action, a skill needed to stop a planned or ongoing motor response in response to changes in a variety of environments. This study used a stop-signal task to determine whether transcranial direct-current stimulation over the pre-supplementary motor area alters the reaction time in motor inhibition. Forty healthy subjects were recruited for this study and were randomly assigned to either the transcranial direct-current stimulation condition or a sham-transcranial direct-current stimulation condition. All subjects consecutively performed the stop-signal task before, during, and after the delivery of anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation over the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-transcranial direct-current stimulation phase, transcranial direct-current stimulation phase, and post-transcranial direct-current stimulation phase). Compared to the sham condition, there were significant reductions in the stop-signal processing times during and after transcranial direct-current stimulation, and change times were significantly greater in the transcranial direct-current stimulation condition. There was no significant change in go processing-times during or after transcranial direct-current stimulation in either condition. Anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation was feasibly coupled to an interactive improvement in inhibitory control. This coupling led to a decrease in the stop-signal process time required for the appropriate responses between motor execution and inhibition. However, there was no transcranial direct-current stimulation effect on the no-signal reaction time during the stop-signal task. Transcranial direct-current stimulation can adjust certain behaviors, and it could be a useful clinical intervention for patients who have difficulties with response inhibition.
The Landscape of Us Generic Prescription Drug Markets, 2004-2016

Since the 1984 passage of the Waxman-Hatch Act, generic prescription drugs have become central to disease treatment and generic drug entry and price competition has been vigorous in the U.S. Nonetheless, recent policy concern has focused on potential supply inadequacy and price increases among selected generic drugs. Details regarding the supply of generic drugs throughout the product life cycle are surprisingly unstudied. Here, we examine manufacturer entry, exit, the extent of competition and the relationship between supply structure and inflation adjusted prices among generic drugs. Our empirical approach is descriptive and reduced form, following recent innovations on the older structure-conduct-performance tradition. We employ quarterly national data on quantities, wholesale dollar sales and manufacturers from QuintilesIMS National Sales Perspective data, 2004Q4–2016Q3. Defining a market as the molecule-dosage-form, we observe that median sizes of drug markets are predominantly small, with annual inflation adjusted sales revenues of less than $10 million but increasing over time. The median number of manufacturers in each market is about two, the mean about four. We find evidence to suggest decreasing numbers of suppliers over our study period, particularly following implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and the Generic Drug User Fee Amendments of 2012, attributable both to more exit and less entry. Approximately 40 percent of markets are supplied by one manufacturer; the share of markets supplied by one or two manufacturers is observed to increase over time and is more likely among non-oral drugs and those belonging to selected therapeutic classes. We find evidence to suggest prices of generic drugs are statistically significantly increasing over time, particularly following the implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act and the 2012 Generic Drug User Fee Amendments. Price increases are positively correlated with reduced manufacturer counts and alternative measures of increased supplier concentration, holding all else constant. Our results suggest the market for generic drugs is largely comprised of small revenue products the supply of which has tended towards duopoly or monopoly in recent years. Therefore, it is surprising generic drug prices have not been observed to be higher and potentially risen more over our study period. This issue merits further study; we suggest several testable hypotheses based in economic theory.