Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antioxidant and pancreas-protective effect of red mold fermented products on streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

BACKGROUND Red mold fermented products contain various antioxidants, and were mentioned in an ancient Chinese pharmacopoeia of medicinal food and herbs. They were considered useful for the treatment of diabetes. The objective of this study was to determine the antioxidant and pancreas-protective function of red mold fermented products on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. RESULTS Throughout the experimental period (8 weeks), significantly (P < 0.05) lowered plasma glucose, amylase, triglyceride and cholesterol levels were observed in groups treated with red mold fermented products. Diabetic rats showed higher reactive oxygen species (P < 0.05) and lower activities of glutathione disulfide reductase, glutathione reductase and catalase (P < 0.05) in pancreas as compared to normal rats and those treated with red mold fermented products. There were some necrotic cells observed in the pancreas of diabetic rats and pancreatic tissue damaged by STZ in the red mold fermented products supplemented groups was ameliorated. CONCLUSION These results indicate that red mold fermented products not only regulate hyperglycemia but also provide prevention against the effects of STZ-induced pancreatic damage.
Reachability analysis in T-invariant-less Petri nets

An algorithm for reachability analysis in place/transition Petri nets having no transition invariants (T-invariants) is proposed. Given a Petri net with initial and target markings, a so-called complemented Petri net is created first that consists of the given Petri net and an additional complementary transition. Thereby, the reachability task is reduced to computation and investigation of those minimal-support and linearly combined T-invariants of the complemented Petri net, in which the complementary transition fires only once. Then, for each T-invariant with a single firing of the complementary transition, the algorithm will try to create a reachability path from the given initial marking to the target marking.
Human Cytomegalovirus Infection Causes Premature and Abnormal Differentiation of Human Neural Progenitor Cells

ABSTRACT Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is a leading cause of birth defects, largely manifested as central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The principal site of manifestations in the mouse model is the fetal brain's neural progenitor cell (NPC)-rich subventricular zone. Our previous human NPC studies found these cells to be fully permissive for HCMV and a useful in vitro model system. In continuing work, we observed that under culture conditions favoring maintenance of multipotency, infection caused NPCs to quickly and abnormally differentiate. This phenotypic change required active viral transcription. Whole-genome expression analysis found rapid downregulation of genes that maintain multipotency and establish NPCs’ neural identity. Quantitative PCR, Western blot, and immunofluorescence assays confirmed that the mRNA and protein levels of four hallmark NPC proteins (nestin, doublecortin, sex-determining homeobox 2, and glial fibrillary acidic protein) were decreased by HCMV infection. The decreases required active viral replication and were due, at least in part, to proteasomal degradation. Our results suggest that HCMV infection causes in utero CNS defects by inducing both premature and abnormal differentiation of NPCs.
Human lung cancer and hexavalent chromium exposure.

OBJECTIVE Workers chronically exposed to hexavalent chromium have higher incidence of lung cancer. Our study investigates incidence of lung cancer types, age at onset of the disease and survival time among chromium exposed workers (smelters, tapers, crane operators) in comparison to non-exposed persons. METHODS 64 chromium exposed workers and 104 male controls with diagnosed lung cancer were analysed. The average exposure time among workers was 16.71 +/- 10.02 (S.D.) years (range 1- 41 years). RESULTS Chromium exposure significantly decreases the age at the onset of the disease by 3.51 years (62.20 +/- 9.08 years in exposed group and 65.71 +/- 10.50 years in control; P=0.018). Small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) forms 25.0 % of all cases in chromium exposed workers and 16.34% in non exposed individuals. No correlation was found between the age at the diseases onset and time of exposure. The mean survival time in exposed group was 9.03 +/- 12.73 month, in control 12.14 +/- 21.94 month, but this difference was not significant (P=0.473). CONCLUSION Occupational exposure to chromium was identified as an important risk factor of lung cancer, decreasing the age at the diseases onset. Higher percentage of SCLC was found in chromium exposed individuals.
The link between functional behavioral assessment and behavioral intervention plans

The inclusion of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavioral intervention plans (BIP) in the mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) 2004 changed the way an educator can discipline a student with a disability. Limited research has been conducted to evaluate FBAs and BIPs completed in the school setting, more specifically the use of FBA data to inform the BIP, and compliance with IDEIA mandates. The current study examined 72 initial FBAs and BIPs completed by school teams in a Midwest regional education agency. Findings indicate the majority of teams were out of compliance with IDEIA mandates and regional education agency requirements. Teams frequently failed to use a convergence of data to inform the FBA hypothesis statement, wrote incomplete hypothesis statements, and created BIPs inconsistent with FBA data and the hypothesis statement. Overall , the link between FBA data and the BIP was rarely made. One potential reason for this disconnect is lack of training. Specific areas of training need and implications for school based teams will be discussed. THE LINK BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT AND BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION PLANS A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Specialist in Education Megan Kathleen Seamans Anderson University of Northern Iowa July2011 This Study by: Megan Kathleen Seamans Anderson Entitled: The Link between Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavioral Intervention Plans has been approved as meeting the thesis requirements for the Degree of Specialist in Education
Impact of Segment‐Level Natural Resource Operational Risk Reporting on Earnings Predictions

Nonâ€ financial reports alert investors to operational risks associated with issues such as insufficient access to natural resource inputs and related costly interruptions to production, while segmentâ€ level reports alert investors to operational risk distribution across a firm. An important issue, to date unexplored, is how segmentâ€ level nonâ€ financial reporting has an impact on earnings predictions. We report the results of an experiment used to examine how mining company segmentâ€ level water reports affect investors' earnings predictions, where water reports indicate whether the firm and its segments will have access to sufficient water to meet production needs. We find that investors do not change their earnings predictions when firm and segmentâ€ level reports indicate low water risk but they do revise down their earnings predictions when firm and segmentâ€ level water reports indicate high water risk. This is consistent with investors responding to the additional information provided in segmentâ€ level reports confirming that water risk is high across the firm. Regardless of whether firmâ€ level water reports indicate high or low water risk, when segmentâ€ level reports indicate that one segment is low water risk and another is high water risk, investors revise down their earnings predictions. This is consistent with investors recognizing that natural resource operational risk concentration in one segment can affect earnings more than evenlyâ€ distributed risk. Overall, our findings suggest that beliefâ€ adjustment theory explains how investors react to prospective operational risk information contained in segmentâ€ level water reports according to the similarity of the segmentâ€ level risks, and that this information is factored into earnings predictions.
Early central nervous system changes in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐infection

Early HIV infection of the CNS, as demonstrated by cerebrospinal fluid studies, seems relatively common. However most HIV carriers remain neurologically unimpaired during the incubation period. A few psychometric, radiological, and electrophysiological studies suggest that neurological abnormalities are present at early stages of HIV infection; the findings of these studies are controversial and until recently, they have not been supported by neuropathological data. Early brain changes, including leptomeningitis and vasculitis with myelin pallor and gliosis of the deep white matter are probably secondary to vascular inflammation and opening of the blood‐brain barrier. Such conclusions are drawn from the examination of brains of asymptomatic HIV‐positive individuals who died from unnatural causes, and of rare cases with acute fatal encephalopathy revealing HIV infection. In addition, early experimental simian immunodeficiency virus infection and feline immunodeficiency virus encephalopathy have demonstrated similar changes to those in man. Although small amounts of viral genome were detected by PCR in a few cases, the early changes in the human brain do not seem to result from a productive HIV infection of the CNS, as seen in HIV encephalitis. The occurrence of a usually asymptomatic and transient immunopathological reaction coinciding with early HIV infection of the nervous system appears to be more likely.
Dexmedetomidine vs midazolam as preanesthetic medication in children: a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

The preoperative period is a stressing occurrence for most people undergoing surgery, in particular children. Approximately 50–75% of children undergoing surgery develop anxiety which is associated with distress on emergence from anesthesia and with later postoperative behavioral problems. Premedication, commonly performed with benzodiazepines, reduces preoperative anxiety, facilitates separation from parents, and promotes acceptance of mask induction. Dexmedetomidine is a highly selective α2‐agonist with sedative and analgesic properties. A meta‐analysis of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on dexmedetomidine versus midazolam was performed to evaluate its efficacy in improving perioperative sedation and analgesia, and in reducing postoperative agitation when used as a preanesthetic medication in children.
Mutations affecting two adjacent amino acid residues in the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase block transcriptional activation by the bacteriophage P2 Ogr protein

The bacteriophage P2 ogr gene product is a positive regulator of transcription from P2 late promoters. The ogr gene was originally defined by compensatory mutations that overcame the block to P2 growth imposed by a host mutation, rpoA109, in the gene encoding the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase. DNA sequence analysis has confirmed that this mutation affects the C-terminal region of the alpha subunit, changing a leucine residue at position 290 to a histidine (rpoAL290H). We have employed a reporter plasmid system to screen other, previously described, rpoA mutants for effects on activation of a P2 late promoter and have identified a second allele, rpoA155, that blocks P2 late transcription. This mutation lies just upstream of rpoAL290H, changing the leucine residue at position 289 to a phenylalanine (rpoAL289F). The effect of the rpoAL289F mutation is not suppressed by the rpoAL290H-compensatory P2 ogr mutation. P2 ogr mutants that overcome the block imposed by rpoAL289F were isolated and characterized. Our results are consistent with a direct interaction between Ogr and the alpha subunit of RNA polymerase and support a model in which transcription factor contact sites within the C terminus of alpha are discrete and tightly clustered.
Forecasting Power of Five CBOE Volatility Indexes for the Price Interval

This paper evaluates the forecasting power of five CBOE Volatility Indexes (VIX; VXN; OVX; EVZ; GVZ) for the price interval. For the period of June 2008March 2017, this paper builds a series of one-month ahead price intervals of underlying asset with a band of ± 1 or 2 times of its daily volatility index. Then assesses whether each volatility index is a good estimator for the price interval through comparing its performance to that of the ex-post realized volatility and normal distribution benchmark. Further this paper tests whether the expected shortfall (ES) beyond the price interval forecast of the volatility index is lower than ES of the realized volatility and the benchmark generated by Monte Carlo Simulation. Based upon the test results, this paper suggests that VIX and VXN are robust estimators for the future price interval and can be used in estimating the Value-at-Risk (VaR). VIX and VXN performed well particularly in predicting the upper bound of returns due to the feature of the asymmetric negative return/volatility index relation that exists in the stock markets. The evaluation for OVX, EVZ and GVZ is reserved because their performance was inconsistent and inferior to VIX and VXN.
I/Q imbalance aware widely-linear precoding for downlink massive MIMO systems

In-phase/quadrature-phase (I/Q) imbalance is one of the most important hardware impairments in communication systems. It arises in the analog parts of direct conversion radio frequency (RF) transceivers and can cause large performance losses. In this paper, the impact of I/Q imbalance on the sum rate performance of downlink massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems is analyzed and I/Q imbalance aware widely-linear precoding is considered. The proposed precoder is a widely-linear (WL) extension of the regularized zero-forcing (RZF) precoder and jointly mitigates multi-user interference and I/Q imbalance by processing the real and the imaginary parts of the transmit signal separately. Results from random matrix theory are used to derive analytical expressions for the achievable sum rate of the proposed precoder. Our analytical results show that if the number of base station antennas is much larger than the number of users, the proposed I/Q imbalance aware WL-RZF precoder achieves the same sum rate as the RZF precoder in an ideal system without I/Q imbalance. We also provide an analytical expression for the sum rate loss of the I/Q imbalance unaware RZF precoder compared to the ideal case without I/Q imbalance.
Development of the Children's Communication Checklist (CCC): a method for assessing qualitative aspects of communicative impairment in children.

The Children's Communication Checklist (CCC) was developed to assess aspects of communicative impairment that are not adequately evaluated by contemporary standardised language tests. These are predominantly pragmatic abnormalities seen in social communication, although other qualitative aspects of speech and language were also included. Some items covering social relationships and restricted interests were incorporated, so that the relationship between pragmatic difficulties and other characteristics of pervasive developmental disorders could be explored. Checklist ratings were obtained for 76 children aged 7 to 9 years, all of whom had received special education for language impairment. In 71 cases, 2 raters (usually a teacher and speech-language therapist) independently completed the checklist, making it possible to establish inter-rater reliability. From an initial pool of 93 items, 70 items, grouped into 9 scales, were retained. Five of the subscales were concerned with pragmatic aspects of communication. A composite pragmatic impairment scale formed from these subscales had inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of around . 80. This composite discriminated between children with a school diagnosis of semantic-pragmatic disorder and those with other types of specific language impairment (SLI). The majority of children with pragmatic language impairments did not have any evidence of restricted interests or significant difficulties in the domains of social relationships.
Analysis of Virulence of Clinical Isolates ofSalmonella enteritidis In Vivo and In Vitro

ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis (S. enteritidis) is a major food-borne pathogen, and its incidence among all Salmonella serotypes has increased dramatically in the last two decades. To study the virulence characteristics of clinical isolates of S. enteritidis, we determined the 50% lethal doses (LD50) in mice of isolates of two major phage types (4 and 8). Isolates of both phage types showed a wide range of LD50 after oral inoculation, varying from under 102 organisms to over 108 organisms. No significant difference in LD50 was observed between the phage types. These observations indicated that clinical isolates ofS. enteritidis are highly heterogeneous in their ability to cause death in mice. We compared the LD50s of these isolates to the results observed from in vitro pathogenicity assays. We also analyzed these isolates for recognized Salmonellavirulence loci (spv, sodCI, sopE, and sef). The in vitro phenotypes of the isolates showed no obvious correlation with their LD50 in any given assay, and the virulence genes tested were present in all isolates. However, the isolate with the lowest LD50 (isolate 97A 2472) was resistant to acidified sodium nitrite (ASN). Moreover, the most acid-susceptible, macrophage-susceptible, and ASN-susceptible isolates were attenuated for virulence in mice. These results, based on extensive analysis of clinical isolates of S. enteritidis, demonstrate the complex nature of Salmonella pathogenesis in mice. Our results also indicate the limitation of in vitro assays in predicting in vivo virulence.
Diabetic Retinopathy, Promoter (4G/5G) Polymorphism of PAI-1 Gene, and PAI-1 Activity in Pima Indians With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE To examine the relationship between plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) activity and PAI-1 gene (4G/5G) polymorphism and diabetic retinopathy in Pima Indians with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We studied 171 Pima Indians with type 2 diabetes between the ages of 30–70 years in a population-based epidemiological survey. Plasma PAI-1 activity was measured by a spectrophotometric assay and PAI-1 4G/5G promoter genotype by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using allele-specific primers. Retinopathy was assessed by ophthalmoscopy after pupillary dilation and classified as any retinopathy or as nonproliferative and proliferative. RESULTS Retinopathy was present in 70 (41%) subjects, and 4 (2.3%) subjects had proliferative retinopathy. Plasma PAI-1 activity was not significantly different among subjects with and without retinopathy (17.1 ± vs. 19.7 ± 9.1 arbitrary units (AU)/ml, P = 0.09). PAI-1 activity was negatively correlated with duration of diabetes (rs = −0.18, P = 0.02). In a logistic regression analysis controlled for age, sex, BMI, and duration of diabetes, any retinopathy was significantly associated with fasting plasma glucose concentrations (P < 0.05), 2-h postload glucose (P = 0.02), and HbA1c (P = 0.008), but not with PAI-1 activity (P = 0.48). The prevalence of retinopathy in the three genotype groups differed significantly (4G/4G, 4G/5G, and 5G/5G were 44, 49, and 24%, respectively; chi χ2 = 8.22, df = 2, P = 0.016) and remained significant after controlling for age, sex, BMI, duration of diabetes, glycated hemoglobin, and urine albumin-to-creatine ratio in a logistic regression analysis. The odds ratios for retinopathy in subjects with 4G/4G and 4G/5G, compared with the 5G/5G genotype, were 2.0 and 3.1, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Although diabetic retinopathy in Pima Indians with type 2 diabetes is not associated with PAI-1 activity, subjects with the 4G/4G and 4G/5G genotype had a higher prevalence of retinopathy compared with 5G/5G PAI-1genotype. These preliminary findings indicate that in Pima Indians with type 2 diabetes, presence of the 4G allele of the PAI-1 gene was associated with a higher risk of diabetic retinopathy.
Existenzgründungen: Unterm Strich ein Erfolg

Knapp zwei Jahre lang wurde im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales die Wirksamkeit der Instrumente analysiert, die die Kommission Moderne Dienstleistungen am Arbeitsmarkt im Jahre 2002 vorgeschlagen hatte, und die nachfolgend als „Hartz-Reformen“ umgesetzt worden waren.1 Eines der Forschungsthemen waren Existenzgründungen aus Arbeitslosigkeit, insbesondere solche, die mit dem Überbrückungsgeld oder mit dem Existenzgründungszuschuss (Ich-AG) gefördert wurden.2 Inzwischen wurden die beiden Programme zum neuen „Gründungszuschuss“ zusammengelegt.
Social Interaction and Labour Market Outcomes

This paper studies the effect of social interaction on employment status and employment quality by using longitudinal data from BHPS (British Household Panel Survey). Active community membership is employed as the measurement of social Interaction. Various identification strategies provide robust evidence that a higher level of social interaction results in increased probability of being full-time employed. The effect of social interaction on employment status is also investigated among different gender groups and at different age stages. Moreover, three indices of social interaction have been constructed to capture the different dimension effect of social interaction on labour market outcome. As a result, active group memberships in professional organisations and sport clubs have the largest effect. Regarding employment quality, social interaction leads to a positive and significant effect on wages. This social interaction effect is also studied among different gender and occupation groups.
Aspirin Use and Lung, Colon, and Breast Cancer Incidence in a Prospective Study

A large body of experimental data and several recent epidemiologic studies indicate that aspirin use may decrease cancer risk. The experimental studies found effects at many anatomic sites, whereas the epidemiologic studies saw the greatest effect on mortality from digestive cancers. To provide further human data, we examined the association between aspirin use and cancer risk using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I (NHANES I) and the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Studies (NHEFS). Characterization of aspirin use was based on questions in the baseline interview asking whether subjects used aspirin during the previous 30 days. Data were available from 12,668 subjects age 25–74, at time of initial examination for NHANES I, who were followed for an average of 12.4 years. Among these subjects, 1,257 were diagnosed with cancer more than 2 years after their NHANES I examination. Incidence of several cancers was lower among persons who reported aspirin use: the incidence rate ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) for all sites combined were 0.83 (0.74–0.93), lung cancer 0.68 (0.49–0.94), breast cancer in women 0.70 (0.50–0.96), and colorectal cancer in younger men 0.35 (0.17–0.73). These findings were not readily explained by potentially confounding factors. The data suggest an association between aspirin consumption and decreased cancer incidence at several cancer sites.