Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transparency in a Fibrin and Fibrin–Agarose Corneal Stroma Substitute Generated by Tissue Engineering

Purpose: To examine the transparency characteristics at different times of development in the culture of 2 different types of human corneal stroma substitutes generated by tissue engineering using human fibrin or human fibrin and 0.1% agarose, with human keratocytes entrapped within. Methods: The transparency of these artificial corneal stromas was analyzed after 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days of development in culture by determining the scattering and absorption coefficients from the spectral reflectance data of each sample using the Kubelka–Munk equations. Results: The scattering coefficient of both types of bioengineered tissues tended to increase with culture time and wavelength until 550 nm, whereby a slight decrease was observed for longer wavelengths. In general, the spectral distribution of the Kubelka–Munk scattering coefficient of the fibrin–agarose corneal constructs was more stable than that of the fibrin constructs. The absorption coefficient of the human fibrin and fibrin–agarose corneal substitutes tended to decrease with increasing wavelength, and their absolute values were higher for fibrin–agarose than for fibrin scaffolds, especially for short wavelengths. In addition, the spectral transmittance behavior of both types of tissue analyzed was similar to the ones of the theoretical and control corneas, with absolute values above 90% for all wavelengths at 28 days of development. Conclusions: The transparency, scattering, and absorption of both fibrin and fibrin–agarose corneal stroma substitutes indicate that these new biomaterials could be adequate for clinical use.
Understanding and predicting antecedents of mobile shopping adoption: a developing country perspective

The purpose of this paper is to determine the key factors influencing mobile shopping adoption intention and actual usage in the backdrop of the moderating effect of gender and age. ,The study identifies eight independent variables including two relatively new variables, i.e. perceived regulatory support (PRS) and perceived benefits, and proposes an integrated framework to understand mobile shopping behavior. A total of 304 mobile device users were surveyed using a comprehensive questionnaire. The collected data were utilized to analyze the hypothesized relationships through structural equation modeling. ,The results indicated that all the factors considered in the framework were significant in predicting mobile shopping behavioral intention (BI) except for PRS. Demographic variables such as age and gender moderate the effect of factors such as perceived critical mass, personal innovativeness and hedonic motivation on mobile shopping BI. ,The small sample sizes and a possibility to include new variables other than consumer-centric factors are some of the limitations of this study. ,The findings of this paper are of significant use for mobile shopping app developers, mobile payment gateway providers and other institutions involved in facilitation and provision of such mobile shopping services to develop suitable strategies to encourage adoption of mobile devices as a medium of online shopping. ,The study is first of its kind in India and integrates variables from different areas of technology adoption along with two new variables, i.e PRS and perceived benefits to understand mobile shopping behavior.
Auditing Firm Reputation and The Post-Issue Operating Performance in an Emerging Market: Evidence from Turkish IPO Firms

It is a priori belief that the auditing firm reputation provides information about the issuing firm’s true value in the initial public offering (IPO) markets. We analyze the auditing firm reputational role in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). We, in the course of doing so, basically compare the post-issue operating performance of high-reputable auditing firm-backed and low-reputable auditing firm-backed IPOs. We also investigate the relationship between the auditing firm reputation and the post-issue operating performance with regard to underpricing, the management ownership level, and investment banker reputation. In the last section of the study, we explore whether the market recognizes the third party reputational role of the auditing firm in the ISE.
Advances in Brief Antibody Response to the Tumor-associated Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein Survivin in Cancer Patients 1

Antibody reactivity against survivin, a recently identified tumor-associated protein, was determined in sera from patients with lung (n 5 51) or colorectal cancer (n 5 49). The same collection of sera was tested for the presence of antibodies against p53. Eleven sera from lung cancer patients and four sera from colorectal cancer patients reacted with purified recombinant survivin in an ELISA (21.6% and 8.2%, respectively), whereas four sera from lung cancer patients and nine sera from colorectal cancer patients contained anti-p53 antibodies (7.8% and 18.4%, respectively). The increase in prevalence when anti-survivin and anti-p53 antibodies were determined in parallel was statistically significant (29.4%versus7.8%, P 5 0.005 in lung cancer population; 26.6% versus8.2%, P 5 0.015 in colorectal cancer population). The high prevalence of anti-survivin antibodies makes these antibodies an attractive novel marker for the diagnosis of lung and colorectal cancer, particularly in patients lacking anti-p53 antibodies.
A conceptual framework for the implementation process oF Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) in government

Although there have been several studies on Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) in recent years, they only focus upon the initial phase of the implementation process. The implementation literature indicates that there are scant studies regarding the EAI implementation process as a whole. Therefore, this paper fills this gap by presenting a conceptual framework for the implementation process of EAI. The paper not only consolidates, but also extends the existing literature on the technology implementation process for complex organization-wide technologies. Based on a content analysis of the reviewed literature, this paper identifies thirty (30) factors contributing to the implementation process of EAI. These factors are categorized based on the Technology, Organizational and Environmental (TOE) Model. The factors subsequently were mapped to the Lewin’s Change Model, to outline the structure of EAI implementation process framework. The proposed conceptual framework contributes to the understanding of the EAI implementation process, which may support practitioners in implementing the EAI technology in their organizations.
Regulation of neurotoxin and protease formation in Clostridium botulinum Okra B and Hall A by arginine

Supplementation of a minimal medium with high levels of arginine (20 g/liter) markedly decreased neurotoxin titers and protease activities in cultures of Clostridium botulinum Okra B and Hall A. Nitrogenous nutrients that are known to be derived from arginine, including proline, glutamate, and ammonia, also decreased protease and toxin but less so than did arginine. Proteases synthesized during growth were rapidly inactivated after growth stopped in media containing high levels of arginine. Separation of extracellular proteins by electrophoresis and immunoblots with antibodies to toxin showed that the decrease in toxin titers in media containing high levels of arginine was caused by both reduced synthesis of protoxin and impaired proteolytic activation. In contrast, certain other nutritional conditions stimulated protease and toxin formation in C. botulinum and counteracted the repression by arginine. Supplementation of the minimal medium with casein or casein hydrolysates increased protease activities and toxin titers. Casein supplementation of a medium containing high levels of arginine prevented protease inactivation. High levels of glucose (50 g/liter) also delayed the inactivation of proteases in both the minimal medium and a medium containing high levels of arginine. These observations suggest that the availability of nitrogen and energy sources, particularly arginine, affects the production and proteolytic processing of toxins and proteases in C. botulinum.
CGI-58 facilitates lipolysis on lipid droplets but is not involved in the vesiculation of lipid droplets caused by hormonal stimulation Published, JLR Papers in Press, February 17, 2007.

A lipid droplet (LD)-associated protein, perilipin, is a critical regulator of lipolysis in adipocytes. We previously showed that Comparative Gene Identification-58 (CGI-58), a product of the causal gene of Chanarin-Dorfman syndrome, interacts with perilipin on LDs. In this study, we investigated the function of CGI-58 using RNA interference. Notably, CGI-58 knockdown caused an abnormal accumulation of LDs in both 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and Hepa1 hepatoma cells. CGI-58 knockdown did not influence the differentiation of 3T3-L1 adipocytes but reduced the activity of both basal and cAMP-dependent protein kinase-stimulated lipolysis. In vitro studies showed that CGI-58 itself does not have lipase/esterase activity, but it enhanced the activity of adipose triglyceride lipase. Upon lipolytic stimulation, endogenous CGI-58 was rapidly dispersed from LDs into the cytosol along with small particulate structures. This shift in localization depends on the phosphorylation of perilipin, because phosphorylated perilipin lost the ability to bind CGI-58. During lipolytic activation, LDs in adipocytes vesiculate into micro-LDs. Using coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy, we pursued the formation of micro-LDs in single cells, which seemed to occur in cytoplasmic regions distant from the large central LDs. CGI-58 is not required for this process. Thus, CGI-58 facilitates lipolysis in cooperation with perilipin and other factors, including lipases.
Positive regulation of the beta-galactosidase gene from Kluyveromyces lactis is mediated by an upstream activation site that shows homology to the GAL upstream activation site of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In contrast to the Escherichia coli lac operon, the yeast beta-galactosidase gene is positively regulated. In the 5'-noncoding region of the Kluyveromyces lactis LAC4 gene, we mapped an upstream activation site (UAS) that is required for induction. This sequence, located between positions -435 and -326 from the start of translation, functions irrespective of its orientation and can confer lactose regulation to the heterologous CYC1 promoter. It is composed of at least two subsequences that must act in concert. One of these subsequences showed a strong homology to the UAS consensus sequence of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae GAL genes (E. Giniger, S. M. Varnum, and M. Ptashne, Cell 40:767-774, 1985). We propose that this region of homology located at about position -426 is a binding site for the product of the regulatory gene LAC9 which probably induces transcription of the LAC4 gene in a manner analogous to that of the GAL4 protein.
Quantifying Transmission of Campylobacter spp. among Broilers

ABSTRACT Campylobacter species are frequently identified as a cause of human gastroenteritis, often from eating or mishandling contaminated poultry products. Quantitative knowledge of transmission of Campylobacter in broiler flocks is necessary, as this may help to determine the moment of introduction of Campylobacter in broiler flocks more precisely. The aim of this study was to determine the transmission rate parameter in broiler flocks. Four experiments were performed, each with four Campylobacter-inoculated chicks housed with 396 contact chicks per group. Colonization was monitored by regularly testing fecal samples for Campylobacter. A mathematical model was used to quantify the transmission rate, which was determined to be 1.04 new cases per colonized chick per day. This would imply that, for example, in a flock of 20,000 broilers, the prevalence of Campylobacter would increase from 5% to 95% within 6 days after Campylobacter introduction. The model and the estimated transmission rate parameter can be used to develop a suitable sampling scheme to determine transmission in commercial broiler flocks, to estimate whether control measures can reduce the transmission rate, or to estimate when Campylobacter was introduced into a colonized broiler flock on the basis of the time course of transmission in the flock.
A Web-based Blended Learning Environment for Programming Languages: Students’ Opinions

A learning environment which increases the desire and efforts of students to attain learning goals leads to greater motivation and success. This study examines the negative and positive opinions of students regarding the effectiveness of the learning process and students’ success in a computer programming course in which face-to-face and web-based e-learning methods were blended. The study, for which the case study method is used, was carried out over a 12 week period with the participation of 44 students. A data collection tool consisting of open-ended questions was applied to the participants at the end of the process. The replies given by the participants to the data collection tool were analyzed using qualitative analysis techniques. At the end of the research, the evaluation and satisfaction scores of the students regarding the web-based blended learning environment were found to be positive to a high degree. The positive opinions of the students were focused particularly around four themes, namely "facilitating learning through the learning environment"; "providing interaction opportunities"; "encouraging research", "video support for the course". Negative opinions were gathered around the themes of "lack of sufficient teaching time", "experiencing technical failures", "course badly scheduled" and "comprehensiveness of the course content".
Neurological manifestations of organophosphorous insecticide poisoning

Neurological findings are described in 200 consecutive cases of suicidal ingestion of organophosphorous insecticides. Miosis is almost universal. We found impairment of consciousness in 10%, fasciculations in 27%, convulsions in 1%, toxic delirium in 50%, and paralysis in 26%. Toxic delirium was attributed to treatment with atropine. Paralytic signs were divided into type 1 signs (present on admission) and type 2 signs (appearing later while on atropine treatment). Type 1 signs, chiefly impaired consciousness and bilateral pyramidal tract signs, respond to atropine. The most common type 2 signs are proximal limb weakness, areflexia, and cranial nerve palsies. EMG studies during type 2 paralysis show a myasthenic response in some cases. Of 36 cases with type 2 signs 15 died from respiratory paralysis after a variable period of artificial respiration. Twenty-one recovered and no residual neurological deficit has been noted. Atropine did not influence type 2 paralysis. It is claimed that type 2 signs differ significantly from those described before as `delayed neurotoxicity' and may represent an alternative mode of human toxicity with organophosphorous compounds.
LUNG LESIONS BIOPSY IN CHILDREN BY COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (CT) FLUOROSCOPY GUIDED VERSUS CONVENTIONAL CT SCAN GUIDED

Computed tomography (CT)-guided biopsy of the lung is a well-established method of diagnosis. The aim of this study is to determine the success rate of fluoroscopic CT (FCT) and conventional CT (CCT) in needle navigation biopsies from the lung lesions. Materials and Methods A total of 78 patients were prospectively enrolled to receive CT-guided biopsy with (group I, n=23) or without (group II, n=55) fluoroscopic guidance. The mean age was 13.5, and the outcome measurements were success and complication rate of procedure. Results The success rate was increased in the FCT group (87%) as compared with that of CCT group (80%, p=0.012). The complications (pneumothorax and bleeding) were not significantly diff erent between the two groups (0 versus 8 cases, p=0.097).
Discrete Dental Trait Asymmetry in Mexico and Belize

It has been documented that human populations differ in the magnitude of metric fluctuating dental asymmetry (Bailit et al., Hum. Bio. 42:626-638, 1970). However, there has been little investigation of populational differences with respect to frequencies of discrete dental trait asymmetry. The purpose of this study was to examine the asymmetry of discrete traits in four Mexican Indian populations and two Afro-Belizean ethnic groups. The Mexican populations are the communities of Cuanalan, San Pablo, Tlaxcala, and Saltillo. The two related ethnic groups from Belize are Caribs and Creoles. Discrete dental traits were scored for varying degrees of expression on approximately 700 dental casts from Mexico and on 282 casts from Belize. Only permanent teeth of both sexes were utilized. Kendall's coefficient of rank correlation analysis (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Uni-
Diet and kidney disease in high-risk individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

IMPORTANCE Type 2 diabetes mellitus and associated chronic kidney disease (CKD) have become major public health problems. Little is known about the influence of diet on the incidence or progression of CKD among individuals with type 2 diabetes. OBJECTIVE To examine the association between (healthy) diet, alcohol, protein, and sodium intake, and incidence or progression of CKD among individuals with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS All 6213 individuals with type 2 diabetes without macroalbuminuria from the Ongoing Telmisartan Alone and in Combination With Ramipril Global Endpoint Trial (ONTARGET) were included in this observational study. Recruitment spanned from January 2002 to July 2003, with prospective follow-up through January 2008. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Chronic kidney disease was defined as new microalbuminuria or macroalbuminuria or glomerular filtration rate decline of more than 5% per year at 5.5 years of follow-up. We assessed diet using the modified Alternate Healthy Eating Index (mAHEI). The analyses were adjusted for known risk factors, and competing risk of death was considered. RESULTS After 5.5 years of follow-up, 31.7% of participants had developed CKD and 8.3% had died. Compared with participants in the least healthy tertile of mAHEI score, participants in the healthiest tertile had a lower risk of CKD (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.74; 95% CI, 0.64-0.84) and lower risk of mortality (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.48-0.78). Participants consuming more than 3 servings of fruits per week had a lower risk of CKD compared with participants consuming these food items less frequently. Participants in the lowest tertile of total and animal protein intake had an increased risk of CKD compared with participants in the highest tertile (total protein OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.05-1.30). Sodium intake was not associated with CKD. Moderate alcohol intake reduced the risk of CKD (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.65-0.87) and mortality (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.53-0.89). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE A healthy diet and moderate intake of alcohol may decrease the incidence or progression of CKD among individuals with type 2 diabetes. Sodium intake, within a wide range, and normal protein intake are not associated with CKD. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00153101.
What Effects Repurchase Intention of Online Shopping

The development of the internet raises opportunities for the marketing of a product and bring new forms for retail transactions, one of which is online shopping. Furthermore with the Internet, online consumers more easily gain access to information and they offered a wide variety of products and services that can be selected at competitive prices. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is influence of E-Service Quality, Price Perception and Experiential Marketing to Repurchase Intention which mediated by Customer Satisfaction in On-line Shopping. The amount of samples is 180 respondents. Questionnaires were distributed to respondents who have shopped using online shopping with random sampling method. This study uses data analysis of Structural Equation Modeling by using Lisrel software. The result showed that there is the influence of e-service quality to customer satisfaction and to repurchase intention, while repurchase intention has negative influence occurs. Furthermore, price has no influence to customer satisfaction but has an influence to repurchase intention. Experiential marketing has no influence to customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. Customer satifaction has positive effect on repurchase intention. The effect of e-service quality and experiential marketing through customer satisfaction as mediation variable has no influence to repurchase intention, while price perception influence to repurchase intention.
Effects of psychiatric disorders and psychotropic medications on prolactin and bone metabolism.

OBJECTIVE Osteoporosis occurs in common psychiatric conditions and causes significant morbidity. Many neuroleptic medications can cause hyperprolactinemia, which can then potentially be associated with bone loss. Few reviews have thus far addressed this issue. We have consolidated information from studies that examined effects of psychiatric conditions and their treatment on bone metabolism. DATA SOURCES We searched PubMed for original articles and reviews published between 1976 and 2004 that described changes in bone metabolism in psychiatric disorders and examined prolactin elevations with neuroleptic medications. Keywords used were major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, bone density, bone metabolism, hyperprolactinemia, typical antipsychotics, and atypical antipsychotics. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION 160 articles published in peer-reviewed journals were identified and are summarized, with greater emphasis given to data from larger, controlled studies. DATA SYNTHESIS Schizophrenia and major mood disorders are often associated with perturbations in bone metabolism related to factors including nutritional alterations, smoking, and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, with or without medication-induced hyperprolactinemia. Polydipsia can contribute to bone loss in schizophrenia, whereas hypercortisolemia is often associated with low bone density in depression. Lithium in bipolar disorder and thyroid-stimulating hormone-suppressive doses of L-thyroxine have a negative impact on bone health. Mood stabilizers such as carbamazepine and valproate can also affect bone density. Hyperprolactinemia may lead to bone loss only if associated with untreated amenorrhea in women or testosterone deficiency in men. Some atypical neuroleptics, by causing lesser elevations in prolactin, may therefore have a less marked impact on bone than typical neuroleptics. CONCLUSIONS Because significant morbidity is associated with low bone density and many psychiatric conditions may have a negative impact on bone metabolism, bone density evaluation should be considered an integral component of chronic medical care of these disorders, and risk factors should be identified and addressed.