Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Therapeutic Potential of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Peritonitis Induced by Polymicrobial Insult in Sprague-Dawley Rats

Objectives: Peritonitis is a life-threatening disease that is associated with high mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine if cerium oxide nanoparticles can be used to diminish intra-abdominal infection-induced mortality and systemic inflammatory response syndrome in the laboratory rat. Design: Randomized, controlled animal study and cell culture study. Setting: University research laboratory. Subjects: Male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 12 weeks, RAW 246.7 macrophage cell line. Interventions: Intra-abdominal infection or peritonitis was induced by intraperitoneal injection of cecal material (600 mg/kg in 5% sterile dextrose water at a dosage of 5 mL/kg) obtained from healthy donors. Rats in control and peritonitis groups received 200 &mgr;L of sterile deionized water IV via the tail vein, whereas rats in cerium oxide-only group and peritonitis + cerium oxide group received cerium oxide nanoparticles (0.5 mg/kg) IV at the time of polymicrobial injection. Survival rate was monitored for 14 days, while in other experiments, animals were killed at 3 and 18 hours after induction of peritonitis for biochemical analysis. Measurements and Main Results: Administration of a single dose (0.5 mg/kg) of cerium oxide nanoparticles IV to rats in the peritonitis group significantly improved survival rates and functioned to restore core body temperature toward baseline. Treatment-induced increases in animal survivability were associated with reduced systemic and hepatic oxidative stress, diminished serum cytokines, and chemokine levels. Changes in serum inflammatory markers with treatment were accompanied by decreased monocyte and lymphocyte extravasation into the peritoneal cavity along with decreased infiltration of macrophages into liver. In the heart, treatment diminished extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 mitogen-activated protein kinase-Stat-3 signaling and attenuated endothelial expression of P-selectin and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1. Conclusions: Cerium oxide nanoparticles attenuate the systemic inflammatory response associated with peritonitis, suggesting potential use as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of severe intra-abdominal infection.
Assortative Matching and Reputation in the Market for First Issues

Using a tractable structural model of the matching equilibrium between underwriters and equity-issuing firms, we study the determinants of value in underwriter–firm relationships. Our estimates imply that high underwriter prestige is associated with 5.3%–14.1% greater equilibrium surplus. According to the structural model, high prestige exhibits a significant certification effect throughout the sample (1985–2010), but there is also a countervailing effect of underwriter prestige that reflects subscriber preferences for more underpricing. Consistent with trading off profits from issuers and subscribers, high-prestige underwriters underprice more in hot markets when rents to catering to subscribers are greatest. This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.
The Effect of Food Safety Education and Work Experience on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of University Students

This study investigates whether food safety education, work experience, and ServSafe® certification affect the food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices of university students. The results showed significant differences in knowledge and attitudes between respondents with higher levels of food safety education and ServSafe® certification than students with less education and no certification. Having three or more years work experience affected knowledge more than attitudes. However, there were very few significant differences in practices based on the three factors thus indicating a continuing need to search for methods of producing food safety behavioral change.
Political risk and corporate investment decisions

This paper analyzes the different definitions and expressions of political risk and proposes a broad and more inclusive definition regarding its origins and effects. Regarding the effects of political risk on corporate investment decisions, this paper shows the multitude of ways by which the different expressions of political risk may influence both positively and negatively the value of investment opportunities and the decisions of firms to invest. Finally, it proposes different lines of research addressing some of the weaknesses identified in the existing literature
Biosynthesis of Menaquinone (Vitamin K2) and Ubiquinone (Coenzyme Q).

Escherichia coli and Salmonella contain the naphthoquinones menaquinone (MK; vitamin K2) and demethylmenaquinone and the benzoquinone ubiquinone (coenzyme Q; Q). Both quinones are derived from the shikimate pathway, which has been called a "metabolic tree with many branches. " There are two different pathways for the biosynthesis of the naphthoquinones. The vast majority of prokaryotes, including E. coli and Salmonella, and the plants use the o-succinylbenzoate pathway, while a minority uses the futalosine pathway. The quinone nucleus of Q is derived directly from chorismate, while that of MK is derived from chorismate via isochorismate. The prenyl side chains of both quinones are from isopentenyl diphosphate formed by the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (non-mevalonate) pathway and the methyl groups are from S-adenosylmethionine. In addition, MK biosynthesis requires 2-ketoglutarate and cofactors ATP, coenzyme A, and thiamine pyrophosphate. Despite the fact that both quinones originate from the shikimate pathway, there are important differences in their biosyntheses. The prenyl side chain in MK biosynthesis is introduced at the penultimate step, accompanied by decarboxylation, whereas in Q biosynthesis it is introduced at the second step, with retention of the carboxyl group. In MK biosynthesis, all the reactions of the pathway up to prenylation are carried out by soluble enzymes, whereas all the enzymes involved in Q biosynthesis except the first are membrane bound. In MK biosynthesis, the last step is a C-methylation; in Q biosynthesis, the last step is an O-methylation. In Q biosynthesis a second C-methylation and O-methylation take place in the middle part of the pathway. Despite the fact that Q and MK biosyntheses diverge at chorismate, the C-methylations in both pathways are carried out by the same methyltransferase.
Foreign Ownership and Local Market Reaction to Changes of the Constituents in the International Stock Index: Evidence from Additions to and Deletions from Msci Taiwan Index

This paper examines local market reactions to the constituent changes in MSCI Taiwan Index. We find that market adjusted returns are significantly positive for additions and significantly negative for deletions on the announcement day, and on the effective day. The price patters following the effective day are asymmetric for additions and deletions. We also find that foreign ownership increases for additions and decreases for deletions. The amount of increased foreign ownership for additions is higher than the amount of decreased foreign ownership for deletions. Our results support the investor awareness hypothesis.
Developmental and Contextual Correlates of Elders' Anticipated End-of-Life Treatment Decisions

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to gain insight into developmental and contextual correlates of the aggressiveness in treatment that community-based elders anticipate they will desire at the end of life. Elders completed questionnaires to measure 4 developmental factors (integrated moral reasoning, self-transcendence, past experience with life-threatening illness, and age) and five contextual factors (education level, gender, ethnicity, current health status, and completion of a living will). The variance in desired aggressiveness in treatment was explained by both developmental and contextual correlates. Integrated moral reasoning emerged as a new variable to consider in gaining understanding of the process of end-of-life decisions.
Wide Area Ontology Integration Scheme for Reasoning Agents in Surveillance Networks

In this paper an efficient and scalable surveillance network providing systematic collection and analysis of social security data based on distributed cooperative ontology framework is proposed. Upon ontology integration system, each reasoning agent can build and process ontology cooperatively. They share context ontology for cooperative combined inference. In the process of reasoning agents not only can get services from a region server but also can form and generate a P2P(peer-to-peer) overlay network to provide services to each other in wider bandwidth. Structured P2P overlay network forms useful substrate because it provides extendable, scalable, self-organizing and reliable framework. For efficient ontology integration the data weighting and similarity measure is incorporated and shows better performance.
Analysis of MIMO-OFDM using different Modulation Techniques

MIMO-OFDM system is fast growing new wireless broadband technology which has capability of high data rate transmission and advantages like inter carrier interference (ICI) reduction; high reliability; and better performance in multi-path fading. The major effect to be considered at receiver is fading effects which must be mitigated at receiver using equalization technique. In this paper we demonstrated the BER performance of the OFDM system with two different equalizers (ZF and MMSE). Proposed OFDM system is demonstrated using various modulation techniques that is BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM and 64-QAM using multipath fading channels that is AWGN (Additive White Gaussian Noise) and Rayleigh channel.
Advances in ancient DNA studies

The first aDNA studies used bacterial cloning to amplify small sequences retrieved from skins of animal and human mummies, and revealed the inefficient reaction kinetics of this technique (Higuchi et al., 1984; Paabo 1985, 1989). These studies demonstrated that the genetic material surviving in ancient specimens was often principally microbial or fungal in origin. Endogenous DNA was generally limited to very low concentrations of short, damaged fragments of multi-copy loci such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) made it possible to routinely amplify and study even single surviving molecules, allowing the number and range of aDNA studies to diversify rapidly (Paabo 1989; Paabo & Wilson 1988; Paabo et al., 1989; Thomas, 1989). However, the enormous amplifying power of PCR also means that contamination from modern DNA becomes a major problem. Contamination is especially likely when previously amplified PCR products are present. False positives from intra-laboratory contamination remain a major problem in aDNA research. The large number of PCR cycles used to amplify aDNA means that it is actually quite difficult not to obtain positive (although not authentic) results. Many of the most extravagant aDNA reports have since been either disproved or effectively disregarded including early, spectacular claims of DNA sequences surviving for millions of years (Myr) in plants (Golenberg et al., 1990; Soltis et al., 1992, although see Kim et al., 2004), dinosaur bones (Woodward et al., 1994) and amber inclusions (Cano et al., 1992a, b, 1993; DeSalle et al., 1992, 1993; Poinar et al., 1993; DeSalle, 1994). Despite this somewhat tarnished history, recent have improved standards, and aDNA is now emerging as a viable scientific discipline. A series of large scale studies have begun to reveal the true potential of aDNA to record the methods and processes of evolution, providing a unique way to test models and assumptions commonly used to reconstruct patterns of evolution, population genetics and palaeoecological change.
Developing sustainable corporations in Australia

In the wake of the environmental degradation, social inequality and injustice, and the incidents of corporate frauds and mismanagement reported in Australia, domestic business organisations have been asked increasingly by Australian governments and people to pursue sustainable business practices. As prime movers of creating wealth and employment, business organisations have an important and legitimate role to play in sustainable development, which is defined as a notion that meets the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations. Corporate sustainability, which is a subset of the concept of sustainable development, involves integrating financial, social, and environmental values into business policy, planning, and decision-making requiring changes in organisational values, perspectives, culture, structure, and performance measures. Many Australian businesses are wary of meeting financial, social, and environmental objectives simultaneously claiming the agenda as contradictory and almost unattainable, but the demand for achieving corporate sustainability seems inescapable. Since Australian businesses are facing a fierce competition in domestic market as a result of reducing trade barriers, globalisation, and market deregulation, demanding them to contribute more to sustainable development may appear to be unreasonable. Furthermore, business managers are often wary of any organisational changes, as several of them have failed in creating organisational value. As a consequence, business managers are cautious of engaging in sustainable business practices. In an attempt to unravel the above dilemma, this study mainly examined how to enhance organisational value by sustainable business practices. It examined the two dominant strategic management theories, i.e. Barriers to Entry theory and the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory. It collected the data from 102 Australian business organisations using a survey method. Based on its findings, this study makes
The Role of Self-Brand Overlap in Consumer Evaluations of Brand Portfolio Management Decisions

ii Acknowledgements iii List of Tables x List of Figures xi List of Appendices xii Chapter 1: Background 1 1.1 The Value of Brands 1 1.2 Consumer Brand Attitudes and Attitude Functions 1 1.3 Brands and the Self 3 1.4 What is The Self? 4 1.5 Brands as a Component of the Self 7 1.6 Self-Other Overlap and Altered Cognition 8 1.7 Self-Esteem Needs 15 1.8 Self-Serving Cognitive Biases 17 1.8. 1 Self-Enhancement 18 1.8. 2 Self-Protection 22 1.9 Summary 26 1.10 Research Questions 27 Chapter 2: Self-Brand Overlap Extends to Brand Portfolios 29 2.1 Overview of the Chapter 29
An empirical analysis of e‐service implementation: antecedents and the resulting value creation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents and perceived value associated with e‐business implementation in service firms. E‐business has enabled the development of e‐services and thus introduced a new vehicle for customer and supplier transactions.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from top managers in 231 Belgian business‐to‐business service firms crossing a broad spectrum of industries. The statistical techniques employed included a confirmatory factor analysis, and hierarchical regression analyses.Findings – The findings of the study suggest that technical infrastructure and external drivers influence e‐business implementation. Additionally, e‐business was found to create value for firms through efficiency, novelty, lock‐in, and complementarities.Research limitations/implications – The results imply that a firm's behavior, while driven in part by external factors (e.g. shareholders, competitors, customers, etc.), is largely contingent upon a firm's internal infras.
Environmental Factors Affecting Mobile Commerce Adoption- An Exploratory Study on the Telecommunication Firms in Jordan

Around the world, mobile commerce (m-commerce) is being rapidly adopted as the latest trend to do business. This study aims to explore the environmental factors affecting m-commerce adoption by telecommunication firms in Jordan. A framework was developed based on the literature review, consisting of nine factors that are used to examine their effect on the m-commerce adoption level. The quantitative approach is adopted in this study using a survey conducted among managers in three telecommunication firms in Jordan: Zain, Umniah, and Orange. With a response rate of 60%, 102 questionnaires were collected and analyzed using SPSS. The results of the analysis revealed the important factors that significantly affect m-commerce adoption in Jordan. These include competitive pressure, regulatory environment, social influence, support industries, customer pressure, and government pressure, respectively. The analysis revealed that starting initiatives from telecommunication firms expect to lead the market toward m-commerce services and simultaneously enhance customer readiness and investments in mcommerce supportive industries. in addition, suitable tax laws, clear regulatory frameworks, and improving the infrastructure by the government are considered essential issues that affect m-commerce adoption directly.
Analysis of Experiences in Trade and Investment between LAC and Korea: The Case of Member Countries of the Pacific Alliance

Trade and investment have been the main drivers of economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and in the member countries of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) in particular, which are the focus of this study. The results of the trade policy reforms made by these four countries are impressive. Exports have increased considerably and a path toward diversification has been forged. Liberalization and foreign investment facilitation efforts also posted outstanding results. To better understand the member countries of the Pacific Alliance, it is necessary to examine their trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) openness, which contributed to average year-on-year growth of 6.3% in gross domestic product (GDP) over the last two-plus decades (1990-2013) compared to the rest of LAC, which posted an average of 5.3%. The member countries of the Pacific Alliance have posted better economic fundamentals and performance than 20 years ago and this put them in good stead to benefit from the various trade agreements that they have signed with many other countries in the world, including Korea. Three of the four countries of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia and Peru) have free trade agreements (FTAs) with Korea, the only such agreements that Korea has signed with LAC countries. Mexico does not have an FTA with Korea but is the main importer of its products in the Latin American region. Therefore, Mexico represents the missing link to complete Korea's set of FTAs with the member countries of the Pacific Alliance.
Knowledge management and the JSE-listed construction sector companies

The construction industry represents a significant part of any country's economic activity and knowledge management is considered vital for the survival of organizations. If construction companies made more effective use of their knowledge as their source of competitive advantage, their long-term survival and competitiveness would remain intact. The objective of the research was to assess the extent to which those construction companies who at the time of the research were listed on the South African Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) (Aveng, Basil Read, Concor, Group 5, Murray and Roberts, and WBHO) were using knowledge management, based on a set of criteria in the research instrument. The findings of the research were that the sector as a whole displayed a relatively low level of maturity in the deployment of knowledge management and a number of recommendations were made to improve the performance of the sector in that regard.
The re-design of the Dutch CPI

Statistics Netherlands has decided to re-design the Consumer Price index (CPI). The aim is to improve its quality and bring the CPI more in line with a cost of living index. This article provides background information on the (total survey) re-design. It focuses on the bottle-necks in the methodology and the production process of the current Dutch CPI, and discusses the changes planned for 2007.
Glomerulonephritis associated with arteritis in marmosets infected with hepatitis A virus.

Seven of 8 marmosets (Saguinus oedipus and Saguinus labiatus) injected i.v. with different inocula of hepatitis A virus isolated from patients in the acute phase of disease developed proliferative glomerulonephritis associated with arteritis. The glomerulonephritis was characterized by immunofluorescent and electron-dense deposits and hypercellularity. Although no antigenic component of the glomerular immune complex was detected, this glomerulonephritis and arteritis may be diagnosed morphologically as an immune complex disease. These findings show the possibility of the appearance of exohepatic disease as an immunologically mediated disease in human hepatitis A virus infection.
Are Members of Long-Lived Families Healthier Than Their Equally Long-Lived Peers? Evidence From the Long Life Family Study.

BACKGROUND The Long Life Family Study (LLFS) is a multicenter longitudinal study of exceptional survival among members of long-lived sibships (probands), their offspring, and spouses of either group. For these four "roles", we asked: Does membership in a long-lived family protect against disease? METHODS We used 2008-2010 Beneficiary Annual Summary Files from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to compare prevalences of 17 conditions among 781 LLFS participants in Medicare with those of 3,227 non-LLFS matches from the general Medicare population. Analyses accounted for nesting within LLFS families. RESULTS Seven conditions were significantly less common among LLFS probands than their matches: Alzheimer's, hip fracture, diabetes, depression, prostate cancer, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. Four diseases not strongly linked to mortality (arthritis, cataract, osteoporosis, glaucoma) were significantly more common for LLFS probands. Despite fewer people and less disease in those roles, LLFS offspring and LLFS spouses of either generation also had significantly lower risk for Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart failure. CONCLUSIONS Common, severe mortality-associated diseases are less prevalent among LLFS probands and their offspring than in the general population of aging Americans. Quality-of-life-limiting diseases such as arthritis and cataract are more prevalent, potentially through more diagnosing of milder forms in otherwise healthy and active individuals. LLFS spouses are also relatively healthy. As the younger cohorts age into Medicare and develop more conditions, it will be important to see whether these tentative findings strengthen.
Age Differences in Women’s Anger Experience and Expression

Research on women’s anger is relative scarce. In this study the authors examined differences in anger experienceand expression in women across three distinct age groups: 18-30, 31-49, and 50 and above. The authors used theState-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) to survey a sample of 239 women in the United States andCanada. The groups were established according to hypothesized transitional life stages of changingresponsibilities and expectations. A MANCOVA was used to test the effect of age and covariates of education,employment, relationship status, and country of residence on participants’ experience and expression of anger.The authors discuss limitations relative to sampling strategies as well as sample demographics and size, anddiscuss implications the implications of the findings for practice and future research.