Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of excipients for topical preparations on the human skin permeability of terpinen-4-ol contained in Tea tree oil: Infrared spectroscopic investigations

This work aimed to evaluate the effect induced by excipients conventionally used for topical dosage forms, namely isopropyl myristate (IPM) or oleic acid (OA) or polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400) or Transcutol® (TR), on the human skin permeability of terpinen-4-ol (T4OL) contained in the pure Tea tree oil. The effect of such excipients was determined by evaluating the absorption of T4OL using human epidermis and the perturbation of the organization of stratum corneum by ATR-FTIR. Among the tested excipients OA enhanced the absorption of T4OL by perturbing the stratum corneum lipid barrier. Other excipients caused a weak enhancement effect and their use should be carefully monitored.
Anatomic and Clinical Study of the Orbitopterional Approach to Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysms

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the orbitopterional approach to anterior communicating artery (AComA) aneurysms, on the basis of the quantification of this surgical exposure, compared with the pterional approach, in a cadaveric study and a retrospective review of data for 40 patients who underwent clipping of AComA aneurysms via the orbitopterional approach. METHODSIn an anatomic study, four cadaveric heads underwent pterional craniotomies on the left side and orbitopterional craniotomies on the right side. A fifth head was initially subjected to bilateral pterional craniotomies and then underwent bilateral orbital osteotomies, for direct comparison of these approaches. Using frameless stereotaxy, we quantified the angles of exposure and surgical field depths provided by the pterional and orbitopterional craniotomies. In a clinical study, 40 patients who underwent clipping of AComA aneurysms via orbitopterional approaches were evaluated for basal brain injury, the need for resection of the gyrus rectus, dissection of the sylvian fissure, and approach-related complications. The incidence of postoperative hydrocephalus among patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage who underwent lamina terminalis fenestration was also reviewed. RESULTSThe angles of observation were increased 46% in the axial plane (orbitopterional, 72.92 ± 6.57 degrees; pterional, 49.75 ± 2.27 degrees;P < 0.01) and 137.5% in the projection plane (orbitopterional, 8 ± 2.19 degrees; pterional, 19 ± 1.78 degrees;P < 0.01). The surgical window depth was decreased 13% with the orbitopterional approach (P < 0.05). Clinically, there was no incidence of frontobasal hypodensities on postoperative computed tomographic scans. Three patients (7.5%) required resection of the gyrus rectus. No patient required sylvian fissure dissection for aneurysm exposure. Two of 29 patients (6.9%) who survived subarachnoid hemorrhage required ventriculoperitoneal shunts despite lamina terminalis fenestration. No approach-related complications were recognized. CONCLUSIONThe orbitopterional approach improved the observation of the AComA complex and seemed to decrease the risk of intraoperative brain damage.
Transactional sex is the driving force in the dynamics of HIV in Accra, Ghana

Objective: To delineate the population attributable fraction (PAF) of transactional sex in prevalent cases of HIV infection in the male adult population of Accra, Ghana. Design and methods: Cross-sectional study of clients who visited a sex worker (SW), of boyfriends of SW and of male personnel in prostitution venues. A questionnaire was administered and urine obtained for detection of anti-HIV antibodies. The PAF of prevalent HIV acquired from SW was calculated using a combination of data from this survey of clients, from on-going SW surveys, the national HIV surveillance system and the national census. Results HIV prevalence was 4.9% (8/162) among clients of mobile SW, 15.8% (53/335) among clients of home-based SW, 17.5% (10/57) among personnel and 32.1% (9/28) among boyfriends. A condom was used in 90% of intercourses, according to clients. Non-use of a condom was clustered in selected locations and independently associated with older age of client, frequency of intercourse with SW in the last year and current urethritis. Among the male population of Accra aged 15–59 years, 84% of prevalent cases of HIV were attributable to transactional sex. A sensitivity analysis showed that under various assumptions PAF varied between 47% and 100%. Conclusions: In Accra, approximately four-fifths of prevalent cases of HIV in adult males were acquired from SW. Comprehensive interventions providing education, condoms and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases for SW and their clients should be approached as other public health priorities and provided in all cities, large and small, of West Africa.
Coercive media pressures on Indonesian companies' labour communication

This study examines links between media pressures and Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) listed companies' Labour Practices and Decent Work Disclosures (LPDWD). The results show that there are 95 labour-related articles found in Kompas from 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007. The level of annual report disclosures in 2007 ranges from just under 1% to 100% of companies communicating labour-related information. Correlation analysis reveals that the link between media exposure and firms' communication is significant and positive. The most apparent effect of media is on employee benefit issues. This finding supports the premise of coercive isomorphism. There are, however, major differences between individual LPDWD media exposure items and company reporting. The media intensively highlights Injury Rates and contract employment issues whereas Indonesian companies focus their labour disclosures more on training and Employee Diversity information. This implies that companies in this developing nation window-dress their annual reports to avoid communicating controversial issues especially where they do not perform well. Despite media exposure, it is the government that has greater influence on companies' labour disclosures, pushing companies to continue adopting certain practices and disclose particular issues which contribute to strengthening the Indonesian economy.
Getting Teachers from Here to There: Examining Issues Related to an Early Care and Education Teacher Policy.

Most early care and education teachers are not required to have attained a bachelor's degree (BA) prior to working with young children. Because of the research base demonstrating that teachers with a BA specifically related to early childhood play an integral role in the provision of high-quality early care and education, there have been increasing calls for new policies with regard to the educational requirements for those who teach and care for young children. Although instituting a new "BA policy" is a key component in improving the quality of early childhood education, there are various "getting from here to there" issues that would also need to be considered, particularly if the policy's goals include increasing the credentials of the current workforce. This article explores two of these issues: the constraints facing early care and education teachers in improving their credentials and the capacity of teacher preparation programs to support the policy and in turn help create a qualified and knowledgeable workforce. Given that New Jersey has recently adopted such a policy for teachers in its state-funded preschools, findings from studies focusing on this effort are used in order to illustrate these issues. The article concludes with implications for policy makers and researchers in terms of optimizing implementation of a BA policy and ensuring that policy-related supports are working.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BLOOD SEROTONIN LEVELS IN MIGRAINE A Critical Review

Available evidence indicates that serotonin located within platelets—or lack of it—does not precipitate migraine attacks, and that intravenously administered serotonin is beneficial in migraine. On this premise, it is not likely that the beneficial effect of intravenously administered serotonin is due to replacement of lost intracellular serotonin. If serotonin is effective in relieving migraine pain, this is probably due to extracellular serotonin acting on the cardiovascular system. In other words, serotonin‐induced relief in migraine is probably caused by the pharmacological properties of the amine—it probably acts as a drug and not by replacement. The serotonin changes in migraine are probably not primary, but caused by the disease process. Platelets may nevertheless be of importance in the pathogenesis of migraine, and serotonin may be of even more interest. However, interest in platelet serotonin will probably be diminishing in the future.
Optimal Transmission Switching under Demand Uncertainty

This thesis studies the Optimal Transmission Switching (OTS) problem, a nonlinear, nonconvex combinatorial optimization problem, classified as NP-hard. The motivation for this work stems from our observations that the network test cases applied to evaluate the potential of OTS are inconclusive. We create new, more realistic versions of the existing test cases and evaluate the solutions given by an Alternating Current (AC) based OTS heuristic and a Direct Current (DC) approximated OTS heuristic. Our results show that in most cases, the DC heuristic returns unreliable results, and that the AC heuristic should be applied to solve the OTS problem. We explore the literature revolving the OTS problem, and create load scenarios for each test case. We wish to answer whether transmission switching can lead to significant reductions in generator dispatch costs and to determine the risk involved when changing the topology of a network. We conclude that for the test cases studied in our thesis, there is little to no cost reduction potential related to transmission switching and that this conclusion holds for a number of load scenarios. Our results differ from the literature because we have extended our studies to include larger, newer networks, as well as modeling the networks to run in normal conditions. Further, we conclude that there is little risk involved with transmission switching leading to network blackout. Contrary to what has been reported in OTS literature, we show that a congested network rarely leads to significant cost reductions, but rather the opposite. Although our results look discouraging for the potential of OTS, further studies need to be made on modern power networks to be able to reach an ambiguous conclusion on the future of OTS. This advocates for a closer collaboration with the power industry in the years to come.
The effects of environmental risk on consumption dynamics: an empirical analysis on the Mediterranean countries

Abstract This paper estimates a theory-based regression model which studies the macro-economic impact of environmental and consumption risks on consumption growth in the Mediterranean region. The analysis is carried out using time series aggregate data for 13 Mediterranean countries over the period 1965–2008. The results indicate that both risks and their interaction significantly influence consumption dynamics. The estimates of the indices of relative risk aversion and relative prudence, as well as the relative preference for the quality of environment, suggest marked cross-country heterogeneity.
Toxicity study of ochratoxin A using HEK293 and HepG2 cell lines based on microRNA profiling

Ochratoxin A (OTA) induced DNA damage, cytotoxicity, and apoptosis in mammalian cell lines. Micro RNAs (miRNAs) are involved in physiological and developmental processes and contribute to cancer development and progression. In our study, high-throughput miRNA profiling and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis were applied to comparatively study the toxicity of OTA in HEK293 cells and HepG2 cells treated with 25 μM OTA for 24 h. In these two cells, the same changing miRNAs were mostly related to signal transduction pathways, whereas the different changing miRNAs were mostly related to human cancer pathways. DGCR8, Dicer1, and Drosha were significantly suppressed in HEK293 cells, indicating an impairment of miRNA biogenesis. The damage seemed more extensive in HEK293 cells. Cell models and in vivo models were also compared. Many miRNAs in vitro were markedly different from those in vivo; however, OTA toxicity was observed both in vitro and in vivo. The classification of deregulated pathways is similar. The biogenesis of miRNA was impaired in both lines. In conclusion, deregulated miRNAs in vitro are mostly related to human cancer and signal transduction pathways. The deregulated pathways in vivo are similar to those in vitro.
Selecting Structural Patterns for Classification

Many techniques have recently been proposed for discovering structural patterns. Using the discovered structural patterns as features for classification has shown success in some application domains. However, the efficiency and effectiveness of such a classification algorithm is often impeded by the huge number of structural patterns discovered by the associated structural pattern mining algorithm. In this paper, we focus on the feature selection problem of structural patterns. The goal is to develop a scheme that effectively selects a subset of structural patterns as the features for the following induction algorithm. We show how to make use of the downward closure property inherent in the structural patterns to design a novel feature selection algorithm. We also evaluate our algorithm by applying the real-world health insurance data for building a classification model to detect health care fraud and abuse. The experimental results show that a great extent of redundant features can be eliminated by our feature selection algorithm, resulting in both accuracy improvement and computation cost reduction.
Ischemic preconditioning ameliorates intestinal injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion in rats.

AIM To evaluate preventative effects of ischemic preconditioning (IP) in a rat model of intestinal injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion (IR). METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats (250-300 g) were fasted for 24 h with free access to water prior to the operation. Eighteen rats were randomly divided into three experimental groups: S group (n = 6), rats were subjected to isolation of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) for 40 min, then the abdomen was closed; IR group (n = 6), rats were subjected to clamping the SMA 40 min, and the abdomen was closed followed by a 4-h reperfusion; IP group (n = 6) rats underwent three cycles of 5 min ischemia and 5 min reperfusion, then clamping of the SMA for 40 min, then the abdomen was closed and a 4-h reperfusion followed. All animals were euthanized by barbiturate overdose (150 mg/kg pentobarbital sodium, i.v.) for tissue collection, and the SMA was isolated via median abdominal incision. Intestinal histologic injury was observed. Malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α concentrations in intestinal tissue were measured. Intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 expression, as well as nuclear factor (NF)-κB activity and expression in intestinal tissue were also determined. RESULTS Compared with the IR group, IP reduced IR-induced histologic injury of the intestine in rats (2.00 ± 0.71 vs 3.60 ± 0.84, P < 0.05). IP significantly inhibited the increase in MDA content (5.6 ± 0.15 μmol/L vs 6.84 ± 0.18 μmol/L, P < 0.01), MPO activity (0.13 ± 0.01 U/L vs 0.24 ± 0.01 U/L, P < 0.01), and TNF-α levels (7.79 ± 2.35 pg/mL vs 10.87 ± 2.48 pg/mL, P < 0.05) in the intestinal tissue of rats. IP also markedly ameliorated the increase in ICAM-1 (204.67 ± 53.27 vs 353.33 ± 45.19, P < 0.05) and VCAM-1 (256.67 ± 58.59 vs 377.33 ± 41.42, P < 0.05) protein expression in the intestinal tissues. Additionally, IP remarkably decreased NF-κB activity (0.48 ± 0.16 vs 0.76 ± 0.22, P < 0.05) and protein expression (320.23 ± 38.16 vs 520.76 ± 40.53, P < 0.01) in rat intestinal tissue. CONCLUSION IP may protect against IR-induced intestinal injury by attenuation of the neutrophil-endothelial adhesion cascade via reducing ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression and TNF-α-induced NF-κB signaling pathway activity.
Effect of osteoprotegerin and osteoprotegerin ligand on osteoclast formation by arthroplasty membrane derived macrophages

OBJECTIVE Osteoprotegerin ligand (OPGL) is a newly discovered molecule, which is expressed by osteoblasts/bone stromal cells. This ligand and M-CSF are now known to be essential for osteoclast differentiation from marrow and circulating precursors. This study examined whether OPGL and its soluble receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG), influenced osteoclast formation from human arthroplasty derived macrophages, to determine if the effects of OPGL and OPG on these cells could contribute to the osteolysis of aseptic loosening. METHODS OPGL (± dexamethasone/M-CSF) was added to cultures of macrophages isolated from the pseudomembrane of loosened hip arthroplasties incubated on glass coverslips and dentine slices. OPG was added to cocultures of arthroplasty derived macrophages and UMR106 osteoblast-like cells. Osteoclast differentiation in long term cultures was assessed by expression of macrophage (CD14) and osteoclast markers (tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), vitronectin receptor (VNR) and lacunar resorption). RESULTS In the absence of osteoblastic cells, the addition of OPGL alone was sufficient to induce differentiation of macrophages (CD14+, TRAP-, VNR-) into TRAP+ and VNR+ multinucleated cells, capable of extensive lacunar resorption. OPG was found to inhibit osteoclast formation by arthroplasty macrophages in a dose dependent manner. OPG (100 ng/ml) more than halved the formation of TRAP+ and VNR+ cells and the extent of lacunar resorption in co-cultures of UMR106 cells and arthroplasty macrophages. CONCLUSIONS This study has shown that macrophages, isolated from the pseudomembrane surrounding loose arthroplasty components, are capable of differentiating into osteoclastic bone resorbing cells and that OPGL is required for this to occur. OPG inhibits this process, most probably by interrupting the cell-cell interaction between osteoblasts and mononuclear phagocyte osteoclast precursors present in the pseudomembrane.
Prostate cancer‐derived cathelicidin‐related antimicrobial peptide facilitates macrophage differentiation and polarization of immature myeloid progenitors to protumorigenic macrophages

A growing body of evidence indicates a positive correlation between expression of human antimicrobial peptide leucin leucin 37 (LL‐37) and progression of epithelial cancers, including prostate cancer (PCa). Although the molecular mechanisms for this correlation has not yet been elucidated, the primary function of LL‐37 as a chemotactic molecule for innate immune effector cells suggests its possible association in coordinating protumorigenic mechanisms, mediated by tumor‐infiltrating immune cells.
BREAK THE SILENCE: DO MANAGEMENT OPENNESS AND EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT RAISE EMPLOYEE VOICE WORLDWIDE?

This article presents a study that examined whether nurturing a climate of management's openness and establishing formal employee involvement mechanisms in an organization will help reduce the levels of organizational silence. Despite the heightened rhetoric of open communication and employee empowerment, many employees choose to not voice their opinions and concerns about matters in their organizations. The findings of cross-cultural research show that employee empowerment in the forms of managers' open communication and employee involvement may not necessarily produce more positive work-related attitudes in countries with a larger power distance culture, because in these countries people tend to take hierarchy and the gap between the powerful and the powerless for granted. These findings suggest that management practices aiming at breaking silence in organizations may not work to the same extent across nations. Since employees in large power distance countries tend to accept actions of authority uncriti.
Adaptive acquisitions in biomedical optical imaging based on single pixel camera: Comparison with compressive sensing

Single pixel imaging opened the door to a cheaper camera architecture able to operate in a wide spectral range. Such an optical setup has been used with compressed sensing to reconstruct an image via ℓ1-minimization ruling out real time applications. In order to have a direct restoration of the image, we consider an adaptive approach for which we propose a new acquisition strategy. Our method progressively acquires an image in the wavelet domain by predicting the significant coefficients. For this, we base our technique on the non-linear approximation of the wavelet transform taking advantage of the transformation's sparsity. This new strategy is shown to offer high performance on simulated and real data that we compare to compressive sensing acquisitions. One possible application of the single pixel camera can be foreseen in fluorescence images of biological structures.
Comparison of clinical and radiological results of posterolateral fusion, posterior lumbar interbody fusion and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion techniques in the treatment of degenerative lumbar spine.

INTRODUCTION Lower back pain due to degenerative disc disease is a common problem that requires surgical treatment, such as posterolateral fusion and posterior instrumentation (PLF), posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF). This retrospective study aimed to compare the clinical and radiological outcomes of these techniques. METHODS 81 patients were treated between 2003 and 2006. The patients were divided into three groups: Group I (PLF n = 17 [43 levels]); Group II (PLIF n = 27 [52 levels]); and Group III (TLIF n = 37 [70 levels]). All patients underwent the same pre- and postoperative clinical and radiological evaluations (using Oswestry Disability Index [ODI], Stanford score and local criteria). Follow-ups were performed at three months and yearly for three years. RESULTS There was no significant difference in the rates of intra-operative complications (Group I: 17.6%; Group II: 11.1%; Group III: 18.9%; p = 0.688) and postoperative complications (Group I: 11.8%; Group II: 25.9%; Group III: 13.5%; p = 0.343) among the groups. There was a significant decrease in the ODI scores over time (p < 0.005) but no significant difference among the groups at different follow-up times. Radiographic fusion rates for Groups I, II and III were 88%, 88.9% and 91.9%, respectively. CONCLUSION Surgical techniques such as PLF, PLIF and TLIF are equally suitable for treating degenerative disc disease, with no differences observed in complications and clinical outcomes. However, in our study, the best radiological outcome was found in patients treated with TLIF.
Revealed Preference and the Utility Function

Professor Samuelson's "revealed preference" approach' has proved to be a useful basis for deriving a considerable part of the static theory of consumer's choice. Its exisLing versions are not sufficient, however, to determine whether or not consumer's preferences can be described by a utility function of the customary type (the problem of integrability),2 except in the unrealistic case of two commodities. In this note Samuelson's " fundamental hypothesis " will be generalised so as to imply integrability while continuing to satisfy the methodological requirements of the revealed preference approach and without losing its plausibility. An attempt will be made to stress the logical, as distinct from the technically mathematical, aspects of the subtle problem of integrability, and to assess its importance.