Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti-cytotoxic-genotoxic influences of in vitro propagated Bacopa monnieri L. Pennell in cultured human lymphocytes

Bacopa monnieri L. Pennell is an important medicinal plant with antioxidant and neuroprotective role. It acts as an efficient free radical scavenger and has the potential to serve as a phytoremedy in the disease conditions involving reactive oxygen species ( ROS ) and oxidative stress. In addition, the protective role of B. monnieri on tissue antioxidant defense system and lipid peroxidative status in diabetic rats has been reported. B. monnneri used in the experiment was propagated by plant tissue culture techniques. The shoot tip explants of B. monnneri were cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) nutrient medium containing 1.0 mg/L 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP). Genotoxic effects of aqueous extract obtained from B. monnieri in cultured human lymphocytes were determined by chromosome aberration (CA) test. In addition, cytotoxic activities of the extract on the cells were revealed via 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) analysis. Different concentrations (6.25-200 mg/L) of the extract were used in the treatments. It was detected that cytotoxicty was correlated with concentration. Cell viability decreased to 69.64% in the lymphocytes exposed to maximum concentration of the extract. Based on CA/cell test, the results were statistically ( p > 0.05) indifferent from negative control treatment. Overall, obtained data indicated that B. monnieri is a plant that contains natural products that are not causative of cytotoxic and genotoxic damage on human lymphocytes .
The ties that bind: family CEOs, management practices and firing costs

Family firms are the most prevalent firm type in the world, particularly in emerging economies. Although dynastic family firms tend to have lower productivity, what explains their underperformance is still an open question. We collect new data on CEO successions for over 900 firms in Latin America and Europe to document their corporate governance choices and provide the first causal evidence on the negative effect of dynastic CEO successions on the adoption of managerial structures tied to improved productivity. Specifically, we establish two key results and propose a novel mechanism. First, there is a preference for male heirs: when the founding CEO steps down they are 30pp more likely to keep control within the family when they have a son. Second, instrumenting with the gender of the founder’s children, we estimate dynastic CEO successions lead to almost one standard deviations lower adoption of “best practices” managerial structures, suggesting an implied productivity decrease of up to 10%. To guide our discussion on mechanisms, we build a stylized model with two types of CEOs (family and professional) who decide whether to invest in better management practices. Family CEOs cannot credibly commit to disciplining employees without incurring reputation damage. This induces lower worker effort and reduces the returns to investing in management structures. We find empirical evidence that, controlling for lower knowledge and skill levels of managers, reputational costs constrain investment in productivity-enhancing management structures. ∗Corresponding author. We would like to thank CAF, Santander Travel Awards, Nuffield College, PEDL, The IGC, the World Bank and the IADB for funding various parts of this project. We also thank Carlos Lessa and the IBGE staff for access to the Brazilian Industrial Census (PIA). We are indebted to Abi Adams, Morten Bennedsen, Steve Bond, Ian Crawford, Dave Donaldson, Katarzyna Habu, Bob Gibbons, Simon Quinn, Kalina Manova, Meg Meyer, Anna Sanktjohanser, Margaret Stevens and seminar audiences in Oxford, Stanford, UNSW, Empirical Management Conference, CSAE Conference, RES Conference, RES Junior Symposium, Barcelona GSE Summer Forum, CCC at Bocconi, PacDevRiverside, University of Toronto, Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, University of Georgia, Cornell University and Duke University for very helpful comments and discussions. We particularly thank Nick Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen for their support over the years. A previous version of this paper has been circulated as “All in the family? CEO choice and firm organization. ”
Definitive management of acute cardiac tamponade secondary to blunt trauma

Blunt cardiac injuries are a leading cause of fatalities following motor‐vehicle accidents. Injury to the heart is involved in 20% of road traffic deaths. Structural cardiac injuries (i.e. chamber rupture or perforation) carry a high mortality rate and patients rarely survive long enough to reach hospital. Chamber rupture is present at autopsy in 36–65% of death from blunt cardiac trauma, whereas in clinical series it is present in 0.3–0.9% of cases and is an uncommon clinical finding. Patients with large ruptures or perforations usually die at the scene or in transit – the rupture of a cardiac cavity, coronary artery or intrapericardial portion of a major vein or artery is usually instantly fatal because of acute tamponade. The small, rare, remaining group of patients who survive to hospital presentation usually have tears in a cavity under low pressure and prompt diagnosis and surgery can now lead to a survival rate of 70–80% in experienced trauma centres. As regional trauma systems evolve, patients with severe, but potentially survivable cardiac injury are surviving to ED. Two distinct syndromes are apparent – haemorrhagic shock and cardiac tamponade. Any patient with severe chest trauma, hypotension disproportionate to estimated loss of blood or with an inadequate response to fluid administration should be suspected of having a cardiac cause of shock. For patients with severe hypotension or in extremis, the treatment of choice is resuscitative thoracotomy with pericardotomy. Closed chest cardiopulmonary resuscitation is ineffective in these circumstances. Blunt traumatic cardiac injury presenting with shock is associated with a poor prognosis. The majority of survivors of blunt or penetrating cardiac injury present to the ED/trauma centre with vital signs. The main pathophysiologic determinant for most survivors is acute pericardial tamponade. The presence of normal clinical signs or normal ECG studies does not exclude tamponade. In recent years the widespread availability and use of ultrasound for the initial assessment of severely injured patients has facilitated the early diagnosis of cardiac tamponade and associated cardiac injuries. Two cases of survival from blunt traumatic cardiac trauma are described in the present paper to demonstrate survivability in the context of rapid assessment and intervention.
Purification and characterization of carbonic anhydrase from the saliva of the rat.

Carbonic anhydrase purified from the saliva of the rat had kinetic properties identical with those of carbonic anhydrase II from rat red cells, but its molecular properties were distinctly different from the type II isozyme. Kinetic parameters were measured under steady state conditions by stopped-flow spectrophotometry and under equilibrium conditions by an 18O exchange method. The turnover number kcat for hydration of CO2 was 6.5 X 10(4) s-1 and the Michaelis constant was 4.2 mM at pH 7.5 and 25 degrees C, values which are equal to the steady state constants for red cell carbonic anhydrase II from the rat. Inhibition of the salivary isozyme by sulfanilamide (Ki = 3.7 microM) was nearly as efficient as inhibition of the erythrocyte isozyme II (Ki = 1.1 microM). The molecular weight for the salivary isozyme was 46,000 and the isoelectric point was 5.5. Salivary carbonic anhydrase had high mannose oligosaccharide components as measured by concanavalin A binding. The amino acid composition for the salivary isozyme was not similar to rat type II, but it was similar to that reported for membrane-bound carbonic anhydrase from bovine lung (Whitney, P.L., and Briggle, T.V. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 12056-12059). These observations suggest to us that salivary carbonic anhydrase is a secretory product.
Modeling of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Channels in the Presence of Moving Scatterers

In this paper, we derive a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) channel model assuming a typical propagation scenario in which the local scatterers move with random velocities in random directions. The complex channel gain of the proposed V2V channel model is provided. Subsequently, for different scatterer velocity distributions, the corresponding autocorrelation functions (ACFs) are derived, illustrated, and compared with the classical ACF derived under the assumption of fixed scatterers. Furthermore, under specific conditions, highly accurate approximations for the ACFs are provided in closed form. Since the proposed V2V channel model covers several communication scenarios as special cases, including fixed-to-vehicle (F2V) and fixed-to-fixed (F2F) scenarios in the presence of both fixed and moving scatterers, it is obvious that the presented results are important for the designers of cutting-edge vehicular communication systems.
Scanning laser polarimetry with variable corneal compensation: identification and correction for corneal birefringence in eyes with macular disease.

PURPOSE In scanning laser polarimetry with variable corneal compensation (SLP-VCC), the macula is used as an intraocular polarimeter to calculate and neutralize corneal birefringence based on an intact Henle's layer. The purpose of this investigation was to validate this strategy in eyes with macular structural disease. METHODS A nerve fiber analyzer was modified to enable the measurement of corneal polarization axis and magnitude so that compensation for corneal birefringence was eye specific. Normal subjects and patients with a variety of pathologic macular conditions underwent complete ocular examination, SLP-VCC, and direct measurement of the corneal polarization axis (CPA), with a slit-lamp-mounted corneal polarimeter. Macular birefringence patterns were classified as well defined, weak, or indeterminate bow ties. A new "screen" method is described that determines the anterior segment birefringence without relying on the presence of macular bow-tie patterns. RESULTS Forty-seven eyes (20 normal, 27 with maculopathy) of 47 patients (mean age, 59.0 +/- 19.0 years; range, 24-88) were enrolled. The correlation between CPA measured with corneal polarimetry (CPA by P(IV) [fourth Purkinje image]) and SLP-VCC was less in eyes with macular disease (R(2) = 0.22, P = 0.024) compared with normal eyes (R(2) = 0.72, P < 0.0001). Eyes with macular disease had significantly (P = 0.007) more indeterminate macular bow ties (8/27; 29%) than did normal eyes (0/20). The magnitude of difference between CPA by P(IV) and CPA by SLP-VCC was significantly (P = 0.0007) greater in eyes with indeterminate bow-tie patterns than in weak and well-defined patterns. Although no relationship was observed between CPA and 12 retardation parameters obtained with SLP-VCC in normal eyes (P > 0.05), eyes with macular disease showed a significant association between CPA and average thickness (R(2) = 0.27, P = 0.005), ellipse average (R(2) = 0.24, P = 0.0085), superior average (R(2) = 0.24, P = 0.009), inferior average (R(2) = 0.28, P = 0.004), and superior integral (R(2) = 0.37, P = 0.0008), suggesting incomplete corneal compensation. Greater correlation between CPA by P(IV) and CPA derived by SLP-VCC was found by using the screen method (R(2) = 0.83, P < 0.0001) compared with the bow-tie method (R(2) = 0.22, P = 0.024) in eyes with maculopathy. CONCLUSIONS Macular strategies for neutralization of corneal birefringence using SLP-VCC can fail if Henle's layer is disrupted by macular disease. The screen method provides a more robust measure of the anterior segment birefringence in some eyes with macular disease.
Exploring the role of referral efficacy in the relationship between consumer innovativeness and intention to generate word of mouth

Referral marketing plays an important role in promoting new products. When it comes to innovative agricultural products, early adopter’s review or recommendation has a more critical impact on follower’s purchase decision making. Hence, understanding of consumer’s characteristics and needs play more important role in success of innovation. More particularly, other researchers pay attention to the role of consumer innovativeness. This study attempts to fill this gap in knowledge between innovative propensity of consumer and her/his intention to generate positive word of mouth about new agricultural products. Furthermore, in this paper, we adopt Vandecasteele and Geunes’ motivated consumer innovativeness model to investigate consumer innovativeness in extrinsic motive and intrinsic motive level, and examine the moderating role of referral efficacy. For empirical verification, survey method is used for data collection. Partial least square (PLS) is adopted to analyze the data. Finally, several theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.
esponse of bat species to sylvo-pastoral abandonment artin

We assessed the effect of abandonment of sylvo-pastoral practices in chestnut orchards (Castanea sativa) on bats in southern Switzerland to determine practical recommendations for bat conservation. We compared bat species richness and foraging activities between traditionally managed and unmanaged chestnut orchards, testing the hypothesis that managed orchards provide better foraging opportunities and harbour more bat species. Echolocation calls of foraging bats were sampled simultaneously at paired sites of managed and unmanaged orchards using custom made recorders. Vegetation structure and aerial insect availability were sampled at the recording sites and used as explanatory variables in the model. In a paired sampling design, we found twice the number of bat species (12) and five times higher total foraging activity in the managed chestnut orchards compared to the unmanaged ones. Bat species with low flight
Neuroprotective properties of the natural phenolic antioxidants curcumin and naringenin but not quercetin and fisetin in a 6-OHDA model of Parkinson's disease

Although the cause of dopaminergic cell death in Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unknown, oxidative stress has been strongly implicated. Because of their ability to combat oxidative stress, diet derived phenolic compounds continue to be considered as potential agents for long-term use in PD. This study was aimed at investigating whether the natural phenolic compounds curcumin, naringenin, quercetin, fisetin can be neuroprotective in the 6-OHDA model of PD. Unilateral infusion of 6-OHDA into the medial forebrain bundle produced a significant loss of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cells in the substantia nigra (SN) as well as a decreased of dopamine (DA) content in the striata in the vehicle-treated animals. Rats pretreated with curcumin or naringenin showed a clear protection of the number of TH-positive cells in the SN and DA levels in the striata. However, neither pretreatment with quercetin nor fisetin had any effects on TH-positive cells or DA levels. The ability of curcumin and naringenin to exhibit neuroprotection in the 6-OHDA model of PD may be related to their antioxidant capabilities and their capability to penetrate into the brain.
Effects of atherosclerosis on the coronary microcirculation.

We tested the hypothesis that atherosclerosis potentiates coronary vasoconstriction to serotonin and ergonovine. Coronary microvascular pressures and diameters were measured in the beating left ventricle in normal and atherosclerotic cynomolgus monkeys. Pressures were measured in arteries (190-350 microns diam) that were distal to atherosclerotic lesions. Microvascular pressure and simultaneous measurements of aortic pressure and myocardial blood flow were used to calculate segmental vascular resistance (large artery resistance and microvascular resistance) during serotonin, phenylephrine, and ergonovine dosages. Aortic pressure was maintained constant during all interventions. Administration of phenylephrine (50 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 iv) produced a similar increase in microvascular resistance from base line (P less than 0.05) in atherosclerotic and normal animals, 26 +/- 5 and 14 +/- 9 mmHg.min.g.ml-1, respectively. Serotonin (50 micrograms/min) did not influence coronary resistance in normal animals but produced a significant increase in both large artery (8 +/- 3 mmHg.min.g.ml-1) and microvascular resistance (21 +/- 6 mmHg.min.g.ml-1) in atherosclerotic animals (P less than 0.05). A higher dose of serotonin (200 micrograms/min) produced a modest increase in large artery resistance from base line in normal animals (3 +/- 1 mmHg.min.g.ml-1) and a greater increase in atherosclerotic animals (9 +/- 4 mmHg.min.g.ml-1) (P less than 0.05 vs. normals). Ergonovine (10 micrograms.kg-1.min-1 iv) elevated microvascular resistance in both normal and atherosclerotic animals (P less than 0.05) but increased large artery resistance only in atherosclerotic animals (10 +/- 4 mmHg.min.g.ml-1) (P less than 0.05). In summary, coronary vasoconstrictor responses to serotonin and ergonovine were potentiated by atherosclerosis. Because augmented constrictor responses to serotonin were observed in both the diseased arteries and the microcirculation of atherosclerotic animals, we speculate that the pathophysiological consequences of atherosclerosis extend into the microcirculation.
Interspeci fi c variation in leaf pigments and nutrients of fi ve tree species from a subtropical forest in southern Brazil

The purpose of this study was to analyze the seasonal variation in the nutrient and pigment content of leaves from fi ve tree species – of which three are perennial (Cupania vernalis, Matayba elaeagnoides and Nectandra lanceolata) and two are deciduous (Cedrela fi ssilis and Jacaranda micrantha) – in an ecotone between a Deciduous Seasonal Forest and a Mixed Ombrophilous Forest in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Leaf samples were collected in the four seasons of the year to determine the content of macronutrients (N, K, P, Mg, Ca, S) and photosynthetic pigments (Chla, Chlb, Chltot, Cartot, Chla:Chlb and Cartot:Chltot). The principal component analysis showed that leaf pigments contributed to the formation of the fi rst axis, which explains most of the data variance for all species, while leaf nutrient contribution showed strong interspecifi c variation. These results demonstrate that the studied species have different strategies for acquisition and use of mineral resources and acclimation to light, which are determinant for them to coexist in the forest environment.
Preserved Memory Function during Bispectral Index–guided Anesthesia with Sevoflurane for Major Orthopedic Surgery

Background:Memory function under anesthesia is undesired but may arise from light hypnosis as well as stress-enhanced learning during surgery. The bispectral index (BIS, Aspect Medical Systems, Norwood, MA) is a monitor of hypnotic state that can help to avoid light hypnosis (i.e., BIS above 60). This study tested the hypothesis that BIS-guided anesthesia maintaining BIS 50–60 reduces the likelihood of memory function under anesthesia. Methods:After obtaining informed consent, 128 patients scheduled for joint replacement surgery under general anesthesia with sevoflurane were randomly assigned to BIS-guided anesthesia, titrating drugs to BIS 50–60 (BIS group), or a standard practice group in which BIS was recorded but did not guide drug administration. After induction, all patients were repeatedly played a list of 15 words. After recovery from anesthesia, all were interviewed about recall and completed a recognition memory test containing the presented words (targets, 33.3%) and new words (distractors). Preoperatively, patients filled out a stress questionnaire (Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). Results:BIS values above 60 were recorded in both groups, but no patient recalled the presented words postoperatively. Only patients in the BIS group selected targets more often than distractors (37.1% vs. 31.5% hit rate, P = 0.001). Target hit rates correlated poorly to stress scores (P > 0.9), but were associated with the amount of fentanyl received preoperatively (P = 0.01) and pain management technique (P < 0.01). Conclusions:BIS titration to BIS 50–60 does not necessarily curb memory function under anesthesia when BIS values higher than 60 occur. Preoperative analgesia attenuated the likelihood of memory function under anesthesia.
Suppurative intracranial processes in 15 domestic ruminants 1

Câmara A.C. L. , Vale A.M., Batista J.S. , Feijó F.M. C. & Soto-Blanco B. 2014. Suppurative intracranial processes in 15 domestic ruminants. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 34(5):421-426. Hospital Veterinário, Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido, Avenida Francisco Mota 572, BR-110 Km 47, Presidente Costa e Silva, Mossoró, RN 59625-900, Brazil. E-mail: aclcamara@yahoo.com. br In addition to listeriosis which is relatively common in ruminants, there are three other uncommon suppurative intracranial processes (SIP) identifiable in adult ungulates as brain abscess, basilar empyema and suppurative meningitis. The present paper reports the epidemiological, clinical, laboratorial, pathological and microbiological findings of 15 domestic ruminants with SIP. A total of 15 animals were selected (eight sheep, four cattle and three goats); with the definitive diagnoses of basilar empyema (n=3), brain abscess (n=1), listeriosis (n=5) and suppurative meningitis (n=6). Hematology revealed leukocytosis with inversion of the lymphocyte/ neutrophil ratio in 4 cases. In the majority of animals, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) presented light yellow coloration and cloudy aspect due to neutrophilic pleocytosis (15 – 997 leukocytes/μL). Microbiological culture of CSF or central nervous system (CNS) fragments resulted on isolation of Trueperella (Arcanobacterium) pyogenes, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and Stenotrophomonas sp. In a goat with thalamic abscess, microbiological assay was not performed, but Gram positive bacilli type bacteria were observed in histology. The diagnosis of these outbreaks was based on the association of epidemiological, clinical, pathological and bacteriological findings; reiterating that the infectious component remains an important cause of CNS disease in domestic ruminants and also shows the need for dissemination of information about the most effective preventive measures for the ranchers.