Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tigecycline accelerates staphylococcal-infected burn wound healing through matrix metalloproteinase-9 modulation.

OBJECTIVES We investigated the in vivo efficacy of tigecycline, a new glycylcycline (a tetracycline derivative), in the management of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-infected experimental surgical wounds in rats. The main outcome measures were quantitative bacterial culture, histological examination and immunohistochemical expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and collagen IV. METHODS An animal model was used to compare the in vivo efficacy of teicoplanin and tigecycline in the treatment of burn wound infections by S. aureus. A copper bar, heated in boiling water, was placed on the paraspinal site of each rat, resulting in full thickness burns. A small gauze was placed over each burn and then inoculated with 5 × 10(7) cfu of S. aureus ATCC 43300. To mimic the clinical situation in burn patients, surgical debridement was performed 48 h after the injury. The wounds were left to heal by secondary intention. The study included an uninfected control group that did not receive any treatment, a contaminated group that did not receive any treatment, and two contaminated groups treated with intraperitoneal tigecycline (2 mg/kg) and teicoplanin (7 mg/kg), respectively. RESULTS All antibiotic treatments were significantly effective. Tigecycline showed the highest antimicrobial activity, with a better impact on histological results. Infected rats treated with tigecycline showed a significant decrease in MMP-9 expression both in epithelium and in dermis compared with rats treated with teicoplanin. CONCLUSIONS Tigecycline, besides its antimicrobial activity, exerts an important modulatory effect on MMP-9, accelerating wound healing in staphylococcal-infected burns.
In Situ Raman Spectroscopy of Alumina-Supported Metal Oxide Catalysts

The molecular structures of the surface overlayerers of rhenium(VII) oxide, molybdenum(VI) oxide, tungsten(VI) oxide, chromium(VI) oxide, vanadium(V) oxide, niobium(V) oxide, and titanium(IV) oxide on γ-alumina were determined by in situ Raman spectroscopy under dehydrated conditions. It was found that the dehydrated surface metal oxide structures of all the systems under study, except for supported titanium oxide, are different from those under ambient condition where moisture is present on the surface
The role of technology in health care expenditure in the EU

Total health care expenditure in the EU countries accounts for between 4 and 11% of GDP, out of which between 3 and 9% of GDP is financed from public sources. As it accounts for between 10 and 18 % of total government spending, health care is therefore among the most significant items of social public expenditure. In addition, public expenditure on health care has been growing over most of the second half of the 20th century, not only in absolute terms, but also in relation to the national income.The paper analyses past developments of health care expenditure in EU Member States. The methodology used expands the set of standard explanatory variables, such as demographic structure, income and health status of the population, by a variable characterising the effect of the technological progress on health care spending.Subsequently the paper provides a projection of the long-term development of health care expenditure, with the methodology based on the EC-EPC model extended by the impact of technological development.
Understanding Maltreating Mothers: A Synthesis of Relational Trauma, Attachment Disorganization, Structural Dissociation of the Personality, and Experiential Avoidance

Treatment options are limited for families in which the child has severe and intractable disturbances of emotion and behavior, in which there is suspected or confirmed maltreatment by the mother, and in which the mother has her own history of childhood neglect and abuse. This paper proposes a model for understanding maltreatment in mother–child dyads, drawing upon the developmental psychopathology, behavior, and trauma literatures. At the core of this model is the hypothesis that a mother's maltreating behavior arises from unconscious attempts to experientially avoid the reemergence of an attachment-related dissociative part of the personality that contains the distress arising from her own early experiences of attachment relationships. The implications of this model for therapy are considered.
Looking for Blame: Rape Myth Acceptance and Attention to Victim and Perpetrator

In two studies, the authors examined the influence of rape myth acceptance (RMA) on participants’ attention toward the potential victim versus perpetrator in a rape case. In Study 1 (N = 90), participants selected information that focused on either the male defendant or the female victim. With increasing RMA, participants preferred information that focused on the victim rather than the defendant. In Study 2 (N = 41), participants viewed photographs depicting both victim and defendant while their eye movements were recorded. With increasing RMA, participants spent less time inspecting the defendant relative to the victim. In both studies, higher RMA predicted stronger anti-victim and pro-defendant judgments, replicating previous research. Taken together, these results support the assumption that RMA guides participants’ attention, leading to a focus on the alleged rape victim and away from the alleged perpetrator. Implications of the current research and future directions are discussed.
The Effects of Household Socio-demographics on Restaurant Threshold Prices

OF THESIS THE EFFECTS OF HOUSEHOLD SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHICS ON RESTAURANT THRESHOLD PRICE This study examines the determinants of a household’s threshold price for a restaurant meal cost increase; the level of cost increase that would cause households to either eat in restaurants less frequently or change what they would typically purchase. The design of the study is formulated using a Tobit model to examine the threshold price by differing social, economic and demographic characteristics of households in Kentucky as well as their preferences for restaurant-specific characteristics. The empirical estimates suggest that households that frequently have dinner at restaurants, households with higher incomes and households that strongly prefer fullservice restaurants have a positive threshold price-range; which suggests that such households are more willing to pay an additional cost increase in restaurant meals. Conversely, households that always notice taxes before paying their checks, households close to retirement-age, and households that do not strongly prefer local-food restaurants have negative threshold price-range and are consequently less willing to pay an additional cost increase in restaurant meals.
The changing risk profile of listed property trusts

The listed property trust (LPT) sector has undergone considerable change in recent years, including increased levels of international property, increased levels of debt, incorporating property development activities via use of stapled securities structures and a reduced number of LPTs via mergers and acquisitions. By analysing LPT performance over 1993-2004, the changing risk profile of LPTs is assessed. In 2003-04, there is evidence of increased levels of LPT risk, particularly in the international LPT and stapled securities LPT sectors. LPT correlations with the stockmarket have also increased. This increasing risk profile for LPTs, whilst still off a low base, sees a reduction in the traditional defensive characteristics (ie low risk) and portfolio diversification benefits of LPTs.
Risk factors for postoperative anxiety in adults

We identified risk factors for postoperative anxiety and quantified their effect on 712 adults between 18 and 60 years of age (ASA I–III physical status) undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia, neural blockade or both. The measuring instruments were a structured questionnaire, a pain visual analogue scale, the McGill Pain Questionnaire, the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Montgomery–Äsberg Depression Rating Scale, a Self‐Reporting Questionnaire‐20, and a Self‐Perception of Future Questionnaire. Multivariate conditional regression modelling taking into account the hierarchical relationship between risk factors revealed that postoperative anxiety was associated with ASA status III (OR = 1.48), history of smoking (1.62), moderate to intense postoperative pain (OR = 2.62) and high pain rating index (OR = 2.35), minor psychiatric disorders (OR = 1.87), pre‐operative state‐anxiety (OR = 2.65), and negative future perception (OR = 2.20). Neural block anaesthesia (OR = 0.72), systemic multimodal analgesia (OR = 0.62) and neuroaxial opioids with or without local anaesthesia (OR = 0.63) were found to be protective factors against postoperative anxiety.
Diffraction induced high-order modes of the [2+1] nonparaxial nonlinear Schrodinger equation

It is shown that the generation of high-order modes of the nonparaxial nonlinear Schrodinger equation can be induced by a diffracted beam at circular apertures propagating in a self-focusing medium, and that, under perturbations, they may break up into hot spots. Comparison with classic experiments and those patterns due to modulation instability patterns is discussed. A whole analysis of the phenomena involved is done in detail.
Profit and Loss from the Management Perspective: How Are the Earnings Presented in the Management Reports?

This paper aims to analyze how textual information on company earnings are presented in the Management Reports in alternating periods of profit and loss. The theoretical foundations were based on the agency theory and on impression management. A qualitative-quantitative approach was adopted and the data were analyzed through statistical tests of comparison of means based on content analysis. Management Reports were analyzed from 30 companies listed on BMF ii) in loss periods, the occurrence of terms that express this result is limited and the terms Ebitda and gross margin are highlighted; and iii) there are signs of deviation of the users’ attention from the earnings to other indicators through the selection and repetition of financial terms, reducing the exposure of the negative results and enhancing the positive indicators. These results indicate an environment that reflects the information asymmetry problems, in which regulatory entities should develop policies to monitor the discretionary choices on Financial Statements that can mislead the market participants.
Meta-analysis of the age-related positivity effect: age differences in preferences for positive over negative information.

In contrast to long-held axioms of old age as a time of "doom and gloom," mounting evidence indicates an age-related positivity effect in attention and memory. However, several studies report inconsistent findings that raise critical questions about the effect's reliability, robustness, and potential moderators. To address these questions, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis of 100 empirical studies of the positivity effect (N = 7,129). Results indicate that the positivity effect is reliable and moderated by theoretically implicated methodological and sample characteristics. The positivity effect is larger in studies that do not constrain (vs. constrain) cognitive processing-reflecting older adults' natural information processing preferences-and in studies incorporating wider (vs. narrower) age comparisons. Analyses indicated that older adults show a significant information processing bias toward positive versus negative information, whereas younger adults show the opposite pattern. We discuss implications of these findings for theoretical perspectives on emotion-cognition interactions across the adult life span and suggest future research directions.
Enterprise Social Software: an Empirical Assessment of Knowledge Sharing in the Workplace

Social software has become pervasive including technologies such as blogs, wikis, and social networking sites. Interactive Web 2.0 technology is distinguished from earlier Internet channels, with content provided not only from the website host, but also and most importantly, user-generated content. These social technologies are increasingly entering the enterprise, involving complex social and psychological aspects as well as an understanding of traditional technology acceptance factors. Organizations trying to reap potential benefits of enterprise social software (ESS) must successfully implement and maintain ESS tools. This research develops a framework for assessing knowledge sharing based on reciprocal determinism theory and augmented with technology acceptance, sociological, and psychological factors. Semi-structured interviews with IT professionals, followed by a written survey of employees using ESS are used to collect data. The hermeneutic circle methodology is used to analyze the interview transcripts and structural equation modeling is used to analyze the survey data. Results show technological advantage has no significant effect on the intention to share knowledge, but community cohesiveness and individual willingness significantly affect knowledge sharing intention and behavior. The study offers a synthesized model of variables affecting knowledge sharing as well as a better understanding of best practices for organizations to consider when implementing and maintaining ESS tools for employee knowledge sharing and collaboration.
Adipokines are Associated With Hypertension in Metabolically Healthy Obese (MHO) Children and Adolescents: A Prospective Population-Based Cohort Study

Background The potential mechanism underlying the relationship between the risk of cardiovascular diseases and metabolically healthy obese (MHO) individuals remains unclear. The aim of the study was to prospectively investigate the potential role of the adipokines in the association between the MHO phenotype and hypertension in children and adolescents. Methods A total of 1184 participants at baseline were recruited from a cohort of the Beijing Child and Adolescent Metabolic Syndrome (BCAMS) study. The participants were classified according to their body mass index (BMI) and metabolic syndrome (MS) components. The levels of the adipokines, including leptin, adiponectin, and resistin, were measured. Results MHO individuals had higher leptin levels (11.58 ug/L vs 1.20 ug/L), leptin/adiponectin ratio (1.18 vs 0.07), and lower adiponectin (11.65 ug/L vs 15.64 ug/L) levels compared to metabolically healthy normal-weight individuals (all P < 0.05). Compared to metabolically healthy normal-weight individuals, the prevalence of high leptin levels (26.5% vs 0.4%), low adiponectin levels (17.9% vs 6.3%) and a high leptin/adiponectin ratio (26.0% vs 2.1%) was higher in MHO individuals (all P < 0.01). The MHO individuals with abnormal adipokines were significantly more likely to developing hypertension (high leptin, relative risk 11.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.18–103.35; and high leptin/adiponectin ratio, relative risk 9.88; 95% confidence interval, 1.11–87.97) compared to metabolically healthy normal-weight individuals with normal adipokine levels. Conclusions The abnormal adipokine levels contribute to the increased hypertension risk in MHO children and adolescents. The non-traditional risk factors should be highlighted in MHO children and adolescents in clinical practice and research.
Mechanism of size limitation of bacterial colonies.

A bacterial colony that has stopped growing on an agar surface will prevent a neighboring colony from reaching full size, will resume growth either when transferred to a new plate on a Millipore filter or when the medium beneath it is dialyzed against saline, and will permit a new colony to grow on the same spot when the original is scraped away. These experiments indicate that bacterial colonies stop growing because metabolic inhibitors accumulate both within the colony and in the medium but not because of insufficient nutrients or fall in pH. When the medium is renewed and space is provided, colonies expand indefinitely. This implies that the planar configuration of such a colony would provide sufficient surface area for a bacterial population to eliminate its catabolites into the medium if the medium were frequently renewed to permit optimal diffusion of metabolic products. Therefore, a population of organisms in this configuration cannot regulate its own growth in the presence of unlimited medium and space. These experiments suggest that under these conditions, the growth characteristics of a bacterial colony may be analogous to planar tissue culture but different from growth in three dimensions, where cells form spheroidal configurations and where growth is self regulatory.
Survival and response to chemotherapy for advanced colorectal adenocarcinoma. An eastern cooperative oncology group report

A series of 1,314 cases of advanced measurable colon or rectal cancer were evaluated for objective tumor response and survival. All patients received chemotherapy according to protocols conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group during the period between 1974 and 1977. For those patients who had not received chemotherapy prior to study entry, no therapy program under evaluations was significantly more active than the oral or intravenous 5‐fluorouracil treatment programs with respect to survival or objective tumor response. The survival and response rates therapy programs under study, including methyl‐CCNU, appeared to be comparable. Initial performance status (P < 0.001), weight loss in the six months prior to study entry (P < 0.001), and prior chemotherapy status were shown to be most prognostic for survival, and thus merit inclusion as stratification factors in any comparative trial involving this population. These factors were shown to have a cumulatively greater influence upon survival than the treatment program. Treatment differences were most accentuated within the favorable subgroups of the leading prognostic factors. The location of the primary tumor had a significant effect upon the eventual sites of metastatic disease involvement at the time of study entry (P < 0.001). The consequences of this analysis suggest that investigators need to address characteristics of the population under study. It is also noted that patients with chemotherapy prior to study entry are best suited for survival studies, while patients with no chemotherapy prior to study entry are well suited for both objective tumor response and survival studies.
Declining physical abilities with age: a cross-sectional study of older twins and centenarians in Denmark.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether physical disability reaches a plateau in the oldest age groups. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. PARTICIPANTS A total of 3351 individuals, which included all those living in Denmark who celebrated their 100th anniversary during the period from 1 April 1995 to 31 May 1996 (276 subjects) and all Danish twins aged 75-94 registered in the Danish Twin Register (3075 subjects). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The ability to perform selected items of basic activities of daily living independently. RESULTS The prevalence of independence in each of six selected activities of daily living was significantly lower in both men and women centenarians compared with octo- and septuagenarians. The sex difference in independence in all six selected activities of daily living was larger for each advancing age group, with women being most disabled (P < 0.001). In centenarians 20% of women and 44% of men were able to perform all selected activities of daily living independently. CONCLUSION Compared with individuals aged 75-79 years, physical abilities of men and women gradually diminished in age groups 80-84, 85-90 and 90-94, with the lowest levels among 100-year-olds. Although women have lower mortality, they are more disabled than men, and this difference is more marked with advancing age.
Sequential analysis of staphylococcal colonization of body surfaces of patients undergoing vascular surgery

Slime-producing coagulase-negative staphylococci are pathogens in vascular surgery by virtue of their ability to adhere to and persist on prosthetic graft material. Inguinal and abdominal skin sites were cultured in 41 patients upon hospitalization, and slime production and antimicrobial susceptibility were assessed in all recovered staphylococcal isolates. Twenty-one patients eventually underwent lower-extremity revascularization. In the operative population, cultures were also obtained on the day of surgery and fifth postoperative day. All 21 patients received perioperative cefazolin. Of 327 coagulase-negative staphylococci recovered, Staphylococcus epidermidis (47%), S. haemolyticus (21%), and S. hominis (10%) were the predominant isolates. Slime-producing coagulase-negative staphylococci were recovered from 17 of 21 patients at admission but only from 8 of 21 patients on day 5 postoperation (P less than 0.05). S. epidermidis isolates demonstrated increasing multiple resistance from admission to 5 days postoperation to methicillin, gentamicin, clindamycin, erythromycin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (P less than 0.05). All coagulase-negative staphylococcal isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin and vancomycin. Slime-producing capability was not associated with increased methicillin resistance for the recovered isolates. The data demonstrate that patients enter the hospital colonized with slime-producing strains of coagulase-negative staphylococci and that during hospitalization the staphylococcal skin burden shifts from a predominately susceptible to a resistant microbial population, which may enhance the importance of slime production as a risk factor in lower-extremity revascularization.
Primary Synovial Sarcoma Kidney: A Rare Case Report

Primary synovial sarcoma (PSS) of the kidney is a rare entity. Since morphologic differentiation from other tumors like metastatic sarcoma, sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma, retroperitoneal liposarcoma may be difficult, other diagnostic modalities like immunohistochemistry, cytogenetic & advanced molecular analyses need to be employed. Despite its rarity & non specific presentation, pathologist and clinicians should consider synovial sarcoma in the differential diagnosis of renal masses for the proper management of patients, especially when histopathological examination shows malignant spindle cell neoplasm of kidney.
The Audit Mandatory Rotation Rule: The State of the Art

Mandatory audit rotation imposes periodical breaks to audit engagements and is intended to avoid excessively long relationships between the auditor and the client. The E.U. has finally introduced mandatory rotation for the audit firm in addition to the already existing audit partner rotation rules. The U.S., however, has for now decided to retain the partner rotation rule without introducing mandatory audit firm rotations. After an overview of the experience of a number of countries, we summarize the pros and cons of a compulsory change in the audit firm. Moreover, we focus on the empirical evidence collected on the benefits and costs of the rule. So far, investigations into the impact of the rule at corporate and market level have not been able to prove that the benefits outweigh the costs.