Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacodynamic markers in the early clinical assessment of otamixaban, a direct factor Xa inhibitor

Summary This manuscript reports the assessment of pharmacodynamic (PD) markers of anti-coagulation in the first-in-man study with the novel direct Factor Xa (FXa) inhibitor, otamixaban, with a brief description of safety and pharmacokinetic (PK) findings. The study comprised ten consecutive parallel groups of healthy male subjects (6 active, 2 placebo per group). Eight groups received escalating intravenous doses of otamixaban as 6-hour infusions (1.7 to 183 μg/kg/h) and two groups received a bolus dose (30 or 120 μg/kg) with a 6-hour infusion (60 or 140 μg/ kg/h, respectively). PD markers included anti-FXa activity and clotting time measurements, i.e. activated Thromboplastin Time (aPTT), ProthrombinTime (PT), Heptest® ClottingTime (HCT), and Russell’s Viper Venom-induced clotting Time (RVVT). In addition, Endogenous Thrombin Potential (ETP) was assessed in the bolus-plus-infusion dose groups. Otamixaban was well tolerated. Otamixaban plasma concentrations increased with escalating dose, were maximal at the end-of-infusion (Ceoi), and decreased rapidly as the infusion was stopped. Anti-FXa activity coincided with otamixaban plasma concentrations and clotting time measurements followed the same pattern. Maximal changes from baseline at Ceoi were 1.9 ± 0.2 for aPTT, 2.0 ± 0.2 for PT, 5.1 ± 0.6 for HCT, and 4.5 ± 1.2 for RVVT. Otamixaban inhibited thrombin generation (24% decrease in ETP) and a delay in thrombin generation was noticed in vitro at high concentrations.
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE, VALUE INNOVATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE AT SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN MALAYSIA

This study aims to define the underlying elements of quality management excellence (QME) that is the best predictors of value innovation and organizational performance. Quality management excellence practices and organizational performance have effectively linking to innovation as suggested by many researchers. Due to the variance phenomenon industries in Malaysia, the questions still remain whether a relationship exists between QME practices and organizational performance, specifically in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in halal market. A survey questionnaire will be used to collect the data and the managerial officers who involved in strategic decision making will be a respondent in the study. The population will be the SMEs in halal market that awarded Quality Management Excellence Award (QMEA) by Malaysian Productivity Corporation under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The main purposes of this paper are to review the literature the relationship between quality management excellence, value innovation and organizational performance and also to develop a research conceptual framework on this relationship. The most recent studies have been reviewed in TQM and innovation relationship in the manufacturing and service organizations. QME practices are discussed more and the conceptual framework is proposed.
Antecedents and consequences of satisfaction with a mass customized Internet apparel shopping site

The interactive nature of the Internet is the key to building a relationship with customers. Interactivity is primarily suited for increasing consumers' satisfaction and retention with a business relationship. Mass customization web sites incorporate a high level of interactivity in the site design. This study was conducted due to the lack of research examining mass customization and satisfaction. The purposes of this study were: 1 ) to investigate consumer satisfaction with a mass customized Internet apparel shopping site varying in degrees of interactivity, 2) to test a consumer satisfaction model on a mass customized Internet apparel shopping site, 3) to find the relationship of beliefs about mass customized Internet shopping to antecedents and consequences of satisfaction, and 4) to examine the relationship of desire for unique consumer products to antecedents and consequences of satisfaction. The expectancy disconfirmation model of satisfaction was used as the framework to examine consumer satisfaction. Among the interactivity characteristics, the concept of choice was applied to develop Internet mass customization shopping sites. A mass customized children's apparel site was modified to have two levels of choice for selection of clothing design options. In treatment one, less interactive customization site, participants were able to customize only print options and size selection. In treatment two, more interactive customization site, respondents were able to choose print options, sleeves (long or short), collar (round or shirt), and pockets (with or without). Adults who had previously purchased children's clothing and shopped via the Internet for any product were participants for this study. Data from 208 respondents were used for the statistical analysis.
Effects of ubiquitin-proteasome system deregulation on the vascular senescence and atherosclerosis process in elderly patients.

BACKGROUND The role of the ubiquitin-proteasome system in the vascular senescence and atherosclerotic progression of elderly patients is unclear. We evaluated ubiquitin-proteasome activity in carotid plaques of asymptomatic elderly and adult patients. METHODS Plaques were obtained from 28 elderly and 18 adult patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy. Plaques were analyzed for ubiquitin levels, proteasome 20S activity, p16 and p53, nitrotyrosine, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and collagen content (immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Serial sections were incubated with specific antibodies anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR, anti CD68 and anti-CD3. RESULTS Compared to plaques obtained from adult patients, plaques of elderly patients had more ubiquitin levels (257.4 +/- 118.9 ng/mg vs 110 +/- 14.4 ng/mg, p <.001), nitrotyrosine (3.8 +/- 0.55 nmol/pg vs 1.1 +/- 0.19 nmol/pg, p <.001), p53 and p16 staining (p <.01), and MMP-9 levels (14.6 +/- 2.5 microg/mg vs 3.2 +/- 0.1.8 microg/mg, p <.001), along with a lesser collagen content (21.9 +/- 4.8% vs 7.1 +/- 2.8%, p <.05) and less proteasome 20S activity (24.2 +/- 6.9 pmol/mg vs 78.4 +/- 10.3 pmol/mg, p <.001). CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that reduction of proteasome activity promotes vascular cell senescence, thereby contributing to the pathogenesis of human atherosclerosis.
Modeling relationship strength across service types in an Eastern culture

This study examines for the first time, antecedents of relationship commitment in service industries in an Eastern cultural context. The study investigates the reasons for customers engaging in long‐term relational exchanges with service firms, as well as the impact of attractive alternatives and switching costs on such relationships. The sample comprised respondents in Bangkok, Thailand, who each completed a series of five questionnaires over a period of two weeks pertaining to their relational behaviour (technical service performance, social bonds and communication) with five predesignated service types. The results indicate that collectivist cultural norms impact the nature of relationships, and that antecedent variables have significantly different impacts across service types. Furthermore, switching costs were identified, which act as powerful inducements to stay in a service relationship. Management implications for relational strategies and future research implications of the findings are discussed.
Reproductive Isolating Mechanisms and Molecular Phylogenetic Relationships among Palearctic and Oriental Brown Frogs

Abstract Crossing experiments were made among various brown frog species and populations collected from Japan, China, Russia and Taiwan. The main purpose of these experiments was to confirm the existence of reproductive isolating mechanisms among Rana pirica from Japan, R. chensinensis from China and R. chensinensis from Russia, and between these three taxa and the other brown frogs distributed in the Palearctic and Oriental regions. It was found that there was no or a slight gametic isolation among the three taxa. While there was a nearly equal number of male and female offspring in the control groups, the hybrid frogs were all males, and completely sterile upon attaining sexual maturity. Thus, each of the Japanese R. pirica and the Russian R. chensinensis is a valid species, distinct from the Chinese R. chensinensis. The phylogenetic tree based on nucleotide sequence data from the mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes of the Palearctic and Oriental brown frogs showed that the three taxa are included in a cluster together with the other species with 2n=24 chromosomes. The present crossing experiments and molecular data support the hypothesis that each of them is a separate but closely related species.
The Effectiveness of Short- and Long-Acting Stimulant Medications for Adolescents With ADHD in a Naturalistic Secondary School Setting

Objective: Stimulant medication is an efficacious and first-line approach to treating ADHD in adolescence. However, less is known about the effectiveness of this approach as a treatment in real-world settings. The complicated nature of the secondary school environment and documented adolescent nonadherence with stimulant medication may undermine the exportability of this approach. Method: This study investigates stimulant medication effectiveness and adherence in a sample of adolescents with ADHD who were observed in their natural secondary school environment. Results: Results indicated that the effect of stimulant medication on adolescent functioning is smaller in naturalistic settings than in previous analogue studies. Long-acting pemoline produced greater adherence than the short-acting methylphenidate (MPH), but parents and adolescents preferred the short-acting MPH. Conclusions: Overall, adolescents reported very low satisfaction with stimulant medication. Findings are discussed.
Wheat Marketing and its Efficiency in India

The study examines the marketing of wheat in India, focusing on the private marketing system, the marketing efficiency and quality. Wheat is now a major food staple in India, crucial to Indiaâ€™s food economy and security. With production reaching 70 to 75 million tons and a large demand, Indiaâ€™s wheat economy is the second largest in the world. The efficiency of marketing is crucial to farmer incomes, consumer welfare, as well as government budgets and the economy. Substantial changes are taking place in the marketing of wheat. The study finds that the farmers now almost invariably sell in the nearby primary markets rather than to village traders. The farmer choice of varieties is now becoming market oriented with quality and market acceptance becoming as important as yield. The typically market intermediary provides hardly any special, value adding or developmental services in return for the commissions and margins. The farmers see considerable scope for improvement in the marketing system. The consumer demand for wheat varies considerably across the country. But wheat has made inroads into food consumption in the east and the south. The retailers are increasingly conscious of consumer demand and quality, and keep a varietiy of wheat and wheat products. Direct buying of wheat grain, storing, and own recourse to processing are common in the north and the west, whereas direct purchase of wheat products such as flour is the norm in the east and the south. The trend is towards direct purchase of processed wheat products, and within this from loose to packaged branded wheat products. The estimated average total marketing cost of wheat is found to be of the order of Rs. 266 per quintal, and in this transport has the largest share of 40 percent, commission and taxes make up 25 percent, and wastage another 15 percent. When compared to the consumerfarmer price spread, the marketing costs account for 74 percent of the spread, leaving 26 percent for margins â€“ this is fairly efficient but there is significant scope for improvement. On an average, the farmers receive 66 percent of what the consumer pays. The government channel marketing cost is reported to be Rs. 309 per quintal, but this does not cover the whole chain and is not strictly comparable. Examination of the question of market integration for wheat is difficult due to data and quality difference problems. Co-integration analysis using monthly price data for eight markets for the period April 1997 to June 2004 indicates that nationally the markets are integrated but the LOP (Law of One Price) does not hold, and the presence of six common stochastic trends implies the absence of full pairwise co-integration. [IIM A WP]
Managing For Successful Customer Acquisition: An Exploration

Given all the recent attention dedicated by academics, consultants and practitioners to customer retention, customer acquisition has become a secondary concern. Yet, customer acquisition is of major importance and demands attention as the first stage of the customer life-cycle. Our research shows that companies are not particularly skilled at managing the customer acquisition process. For example, less than half have a dedicated customer acquisition plan. Only one variable distinguishes companies that excel at customer acquisition – they have a budget dedicated to customer acquisition activities. Other variables examined - the presence of an executive responsible for customer acquisition, an understanding of the economics of customer acquisition, and the deployment of CRM technologies to support customer acquisition - are not associated with excellence at customer acquisition.
IL-1Rrp Is a Novel Receptor-like Molecule Similar to the Type I Interleukin-1 Receptor and Its Homologues T1/ST2 and IL-1R AcP (*)

A novel member of the interleukin-1 receptor family has been cloned by polymerase chain reaction using degenerate oligonucleotide primers derived from regions of sequence conservation, using as template a yeast artificial chromosome known to contain both interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptors and T1/ST2. The new receptor, called IL-1 receptor-related protein or IL-1Rrp, fails to bind any of the known IL-1 ligands. A chimeric receptor, in which the IL-1Rrp cytoplasmic domain is fused to the extracellular and transmembrane regions of the IL-1 receptor, responds to IL-1 following transfection into COS cells by activation of NFκB and induction of IL-8 promoter function.
Strategic HRM Measurement in the 21st Century: From Justifying HR to Strategic Talent Leadership

Measurement will be vital to the evolution of human resource management in the coming century, but in this chapter we propose that it will not be measurement as usual. The future of HRM will require a decision science for talent resources that is as logical, reliable, consistent and flexible as Finance, the decision science for financial resources, and Marketing, the decision science for customer resources. In this chapter we describe the elements of this new decision science, which we call “Talentship,” and its implications for the future of strategic HR measurement. Using this framework, we review leading measurement approaches, describe their contributions, and identify the significant opportunities for improvement in future HR measurement systems.
SURVIVAL OF BUSINESSES USING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS TO COMMERCIALIZE COMPLEX GOODS

Authors with many theoretical and managerial perspectives argue that businesses commercializing technologically complex goods benefit when they collaborate closely with other businesses. Collaboration is viewed as a means for businesses to overcome competency limitations and to achieve the close configuration of components required for complex goods. We predict that collaborative relationships often assist businesses to produce complex goods, but that the relationships might also cause problems for the collaborating businesses. We find that firms using development-oriented and marketing-oriented collaborative relationships in the hospital software systems industry are less likely to shut down than businesses that follow independent approaches when the environment changes gradually, but businesses using collaborative relationships are sometimes susceptible to being acquired by other firms. Following a sudden environmental shock, businesses with collaborative relationships for activities central to the shock became more likely to shut down, while businesses with collaborative relationships for activities outside the focus of the shock became more likely to survive. The study critically evaluates and tests the widely stated but little-tested argument that interfirm collaboration is usually beneficial. The results address the issue of whether organizational choices affect comparative business performance.
Defining Vitamin D Deficiency in Children: Beyond 25-OH Vitamin D Serum Concentrations

It is generally accepted that of the circulating vitamin D metabolites, serum 25-OH vitamin D (25[OH]D) measurements best reflect clinical vitamin D status. In this issue of Pediatrics , Mansbach et al1 address this issue, namely, what serum levels of 25(OH)D in infants and children should be used to define vitamin D sufficiency and deficiency states? Using the 2001–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey's cross-sectional surveys of 25(OH)D serum concentrations in a presumed healthy population of 4558 US children between ages 1 and 11 years, the authors estimate that 320000 US children (95% confidence interval [CI]: 220000–430000) have 25(OH)D levels at <25 nmol/L, 6.3 million children (95% CI: 5.4–7.2 million) have levels at <50 nmol/L, and 24 million children (95% CI: 21–26 million) have levels at <75 nmol/L. Not unexpectedly, the lowest mean values were found in black children, nearly all of whom had levels of <75 nmol/L. If one approximates the total population of US children between 1 and 11 years of age as 40 million,2 the estimated prevalence of 25(OH)D levels of <75 nmol/L would be 60%, and the estimated prevalence with levels of <50 nmol/L would be 16%. Relatively few children (1%) would have serum levels of <27.5 nmol/L, the value used to define the level of deficiency in a 1997 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report.3 However, if one uses a cut-off value of <50 nmol/L, as recently suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics, then this article raises the issue that … Address correspondence to Frank R. Greer, MD, Meritor Hospital, Perinatal Center, 202 S Park St, Madison, WI 53715. E-mail: frgreer{at}pediatrics.wisc. edu
Validation of a high-throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for urinary cortisol and cortisone.

BACKGROUND Urinary free cortisol and cortisone measurements are useful in evaluation of Cushing syndrome, apparent mineralocorticoid excess, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and adrenal insufficiency. To reduce analytical interference, improve accuracy, and shorten the analysis time, we developed a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for urinary cortisol and cortisone. METHODS We added 190 pmol (70 ng) of stable isotope cortisol-9,11,12,12-d(4) to 0.5 mL of urine as an internal standard before extraction. The urine was extracted with 4.5 mL of methylene chloride, washed, and dried, and 10 microL of the reconstituted extract was injected onto a reversed-phase C(18) column and analyzed using a tandem mass spectrometer operating in the positive mode. RESULTS Multiple calibration curves for urinary cortisol and cortisone exhibited consistent linearity and reproducibility in the range 7-828 nmol/L (0.25-30 microg/dL). Interassay CVs were 7.3-16% for mean concentrations of 6-726 nmol/L (0.2-26.3 microg/dL) for cortisol and cortisone. The detection limit was 6 nmol/L (0.2 microg/dL). Recovery of cortisol and cortisone added to urine was 97-123%. The regression equation for the LC-MS/MS (y) and HPLC (x) method for cortisol was: y = 1.11x + 0.03 microg cortisol/24 h (r(2) = 0.992; n = 99). The regression equation for the LC-MS/MS (y) and immunoassay (x) methods for cortisol was: y = 0.66x - 12.1 microg cortisol/24 h (r(2) = 0.67; n = 99). CONCLUSION The sensitivity and specificity of the LC-MS/MS method for urinary free cortisol and cortisone offer advantages over routine immunoassays or chromatographic methods because of elimination of drug interferences, high throughput, and short chromatographic run time.
NF‐KB activity functions in primary pericytes in a cell‐ and non‐cell‐autonomous manner to affect myotube formation

Introduction: Skeletal muscle regeneration following damage relies on proliferation and differentiation of muscle precursor cells (MPCs). We recently observed increased NF‐kB activity in vascular‐associated muscle resident pericytes following muscle damage in humans. We determined how altered NF‐kB activity in human primary pericytes (HPPs) affects their myogenic differentiation (cell‐autonomous effects), as well as proliferation and differentiation of co‐cultured MPCs (non–cell‐autonomous effects). Methods: HPPs were transfected with vectors that increased or decreased NF‐kB activity. Transfected HPPs were co‐cultured with C2C12 myoblasts under differentiation conditions, and HPP fusion to myotubes was measured. We also co‐cultured HPPs with C2C12 myoblasts and measured proliferation and myotube formation. Results: Inhibition of NF‐kB activity increased HPP fusion to C2C12 myotubes. Moreover, enhanced NF‐kB activity in HPPs suppressed differentiation and enhanced proliferation of co‐cultured myoblasts. Conclusions: NF‐kB activity acts cell‐autonomously to inhibit HPP myogenic differentiation and non–cell‐autonomously to promote MPC proliferation and suppress MPC differentiation in vitro. Muscle Nerve, 2013
2D23D: Management and design perspectives on retail branding

The aim of this research is to define the development and boundaries of the retailer brand primarily through the elements of identity and image. Two perspectives are introduced to explain the ways in which three‐dimensional branding and sensory experiences of the retail brand can arise. One approach is marketing led; the other is based on design studies. The study assesses the development of retail branding, the areas in which sensory experience of the retail brand occurs and its implications for retailers. It concludes with new insights into retail branding and proposals for the subject to be studied across disciplinary boundaries.
Enterprise Social Media at Work

This paper discusses the strategic use of social media in political campaigning by investigating the affordances that these technologies enable. A case study of political parties’ use of Facebook in the Danish general election in 2011 shows that the medium is perceived to afford: facilitation of direct communication to promote political interests and enable dialogue, projection of an image of authenticity through informal media and enhancement of interaction and involvement through dynamic relationships with supporters. Comparing these opportunities to the actual use of Facebook indicates that while the majority of the intended affordances are acted out in practice certain are neglected by the parties and yet new types of affordances surface. Our findings contribute insights into the differences between perceived affordances and actual use, which prompts a discussion of what political parties should consider strategically when engaging in social media activities in campaigning.