Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Restoration of the Work Capacity of the Skeletal Muscle With Electrical Myostimulation

Abstract Kibiša, R, Grūnovas, A, Poderys, J, and Grūnovienė, D. Restoration of the work capacity of the skeletal muscle with electrical myostimulation. J Strength Cond Res 27(2): 449–457, 2013—The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of applying mild electrical myostimulation (EMS) or passive rest (PR) on restoring the work capacity (WC) of the skeletal muscles in athletes. Nineteen long-distance runners participated in the study. They were divided into 2 groups according to the principle of rotation: a PR (control) and an EMS (experimental) group. They were examined before training and 10 minutes, 4 hours, and 18 hours after training. Muscle motor function was measured as the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and WC. The intensity of the arterial blood flow and the venous reserve volume with venous occlusion plethysmography, and the stroke volume, cardiac output, and heart rate with tetrapolar rheography were determined. The application of EMS significantly increased the MVC and WC of the calf muscles (p ⩽ 0.05) compared with the corresponding parameters recorded after PR. The venous reserve volumes after PR (0.61 ± 0.07 ml per 100 ml) and EMS (0.91 ± 0.11 ml per 100 ml) differed significantly (p ⩽ 0.05). Mild EMS is an effective local method of restoring the WC of the muscles. It is greatly superior to PR, which is the traditional way of recovering from exercise. The increased WC of the muscle was mediated by improved blood flow in the stimulated muscles and an increased venous blood pump. The systemic circulation, evaluated with cardiac indicators such as stroke volume, cardiac output, and heart rate, played no significant role in the effect.
A Heterogeneous Agents Equilibrium Model for the Term Structure of Bond Market Liquidity

We analyze the impact of market frictions on trading volume and liquidity premia of finite maturity assets when investors differ in their trading needs. Our equilibrium model generates a clientele effect (frequently trading investors only hold short-term assets) and predicts i) a hump-shaped relation between trading volume and maturity, ii) lower trading volumes of older compared to younger assets, iii) an increasing liquidity term structure from ask prices, iv) a decreasing or U-shaped liquidity term structure from bid prices, and v) spill-overs of liquidity from short-term to long-term maturities. Empirical tests for U.S. corporate bonds support our theoretical predictions.
Small Business Management Launching and Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures

1. The Entrepreneurial Life. 2. Entrepreneurial Integrity and Ethics. 3. Getting Started. 4. Franchising and Buyouts. 5. The Family Business. 6. The Business Plan: Visualizing the Dream. 7. The Marketing Plan. 8. The Human Resource Plan: Managers, Owners, Allies, and Directors. 9. The Location Plan. 10. Understanding a Firm's Financial Statements. 11. Forecasting Financial Requirements. 12. A Firm's Sources of Financing. 13. Planning for the Harvest. 14. Building Customer Relationships. 15. Product and Supply Chain Management. 16. Pricing and Credit Decisions. 17. Promotional Planning. 18. Global Opportunities for Small Business. 19. Professional Management in the Entrepreneurial Firm. 20. Managing Human Resources. 21. Managing Operations. 22. Managing the Firm's Assets. 23. Managing Risk in the Small Business.
Executive Compensation, Compensation Consultants, and Shopping for Opinion: Evidence from the UK

This paper builds on prior research on compensation consultants and executive pay, which finds widespread use of compensation consultants and higher levels of pay and proportion of equity based-pay in firms that employ consultants. Using a sample of FTSE 350 firms from 2002-2008, we provide new evidence that CEOs and executives of firms that switch their main consultant receive higher salary increments in the year of the switch (both absolute and adjusted for median peer levels) and a less risky compensation package, through a higher proportion of bonus and a lower proportion of equity pay. We do not find that executives of firms that increase their number of consultants have higher increases in compensation than non-increasing firms. Our results provide some evidence that companies successfully engage in opinion-shopping between consultants for more favourable compensation packages for CEOs and executives.
NEUROLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF 5‐YEAR‐OLD CHILDREN WITH LOW BIRTHWEIGHT

ABSTRACT: Bjerre, I. (Department of Paediatrics, Malmo General Hospital, Malmo, Sweden). Neurological investigation of 5‐year‐old children with low birthweight. Acta Paediatr Scand, 64: 859, 1975. –139 children with a low birthweight (LBW), i.e. not more than 2500 g, were examined at 5 years of age in respect of their neurological status, with special reference to motor coordination according to Touwen & Prechtl. 5 (3.6%) children had cerebral palsy; 13 (9.4%), minimal brain dysfunction; 38 (27.3%), delayed motor maturation; and 83 (59.7%), normal motor development and normal neurological status. Impairment of hearing and of vision, epilepsy and mental retardation were more common in children with cerebral palsy and MBD, Children with MBD and delayed motor maturation had a lower IQ, as judged from the draw‐a‐mantest according to Goodenough than children with normal neurological status. Cerebral palsy was found in children with a very low birthweight and short gestational age. Other findings were equally distributed among groups classified by weight and duration of gestation.
The Impact of Fund Turnover on Japanese Mutual Fund Performance

Japanese open-end mutual funds are churned almost six times as much as mutual funds in the United States. We find that funds with high inflows could underperform those funds with no inflows by more than 7% per annum during periods of high fund flow activities. Although Cai, Chan, and Yamada (1997) and Brown, Goetzmann, Hiraki, Otsuki, and Shiraishi (2001) point to the tax-dilution effect as one of the possible explanations for the large underperformance of Japanese equity funds, these studies have overlooked the impact of the high fund turnover of Japanese mutual fund investors. In contrast to the 1980s when large underperformance in Japanese equity funds coexisted with high fund turnovers, we find that the underperformance almost disappears in the 1990s when fund turnovers became lower.
Enhancing the psychological capital of teams: adapting an individual-level intervention for multi-level delivery and evaluation

Positive psychology interventions focussed on the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions (Gable & Haidt, 2005) are increasingly used in organizations as a complement to those controlling risks to psychological health (LaMontagne et al., 2014). Team/group and organizational level positive approaches are being developed, and may prove to yield greater benefits than individual-level approaches or to enhance their effects (LaMontagne et al., 2014). However, given growing emphasis on multilevel conceptualisation and measurement of the construct of employee wellbeing we note that assessing the impact of team interventions at the individual level is problematic (Martin, Karanika-Murray, Biron & Sanderson, 2014).
Body mass index: a comparison between self-reported and measured height and weight.

BACKGROUND Body mass index is used to measure obesity in individuals and to monitor trends in population obesity. Some observers use self-reported height and weight to assess body mass index; others use measured parameters. This paper reports on a study to compare body mass index when calculated from self-reported and measured heights and weights. METHODS A randomized postal questionnaire survey and follow-up clinical measurement study were carried out in a geographically defined population in the rural South West of England; subjects were 6000 residents of Somerset health district aged 16-64 years selected from the Family Health Services Authority register. RESULTS The response rate for the postal questionnaire was 57.6 per cent. A total of 73.3 per cent of responders agreed to clinical measurements; 84 per cent of measured volunteers had over-reported their height and 74 per cent under-reported their weight. The difference between body mass indices based on self-reported and measured values of height and weight is highly statistically significant for the whole population and for most age-sex and body mass groups. CONCLUSIONS Self-reported heights and weights are unreliable and if used for monitoring health targets should be treated with caution.
Gastrointestinal tone

Physiological tone, to laymen, generally refers to muscular ®rmness or general physical ®tness. The word actually originates in an ancient Greek root that refers to stretch or strain. That may explain its use in reference to musical pitch and, by extension, to sounds, colours, and moods. In the biomedical world, tone especially designates the resistance to stretch that characterizes tissues containing muscle. Such resistance arises both from the ®xed physical properties of the tissue (passive resistance) and from the energy-consuming activation of the contractile apparatus of the muscle (active resistance). Somatic muscle contracts in response to stretch, and the absence of such contraction (loss of tone) signi®es neurological disease. Many physicians and physiologists commonly use the term `tone' to refer only to the active resistance to stretch, that which arises from muscle contraction. For this reason, such terms as `active tone' and `passive tone', as occasionally encountered, are confusing and unnecessary because other terms exist to make the distinction between active and passive mechanical properties. All tone is active. The concept of tone, of course, has slipped into other aspects of physiology, appearing in such terms as `tonic secretion', `tonic nerve discharge', etc. The concepts of stretch and strain have disappeared from the term in such usage, but the implications of constancy and of physiological or energy-consuming activity remain. Tone exists in visceral muscle as it does in somatic muscle. The concepts of arterial and venous tone are important in cardiovascular physiology. The notion of muscle tone is an essential one in gastrointestinal physiology as well. Tone in gut muscle, however, received comparatively little attention until recent decades, when its signi®cance in the motility of the gastrointestinal tract became evident.
Smoking — Does It Affect Rheumatoid Arthritis Activity? Does It Matter?

For decades it has been common knowledge that there is a connection between rheumatoid factor–positive and antibodies against citrullinated peptide–positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and smoking1. Cigarette smoking is regarded as one of the major environmental factors suggested to play a critical role in the development of a variety of disorders including autoimmune diseases such as RA, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s disease2. It is safe to say that there is a widespread appreciation of the odiousness of smoking. However, does smoking also have an effect on actual disease activity and on the prognosis of patient outcome? Some statistical procedures, as well as some people, may nourish the illusion that there really is such a thing as a one-and-only risk factor. However, is this the case in reality? Is life really that simple? Many aspects should be considered in relation to smoking and its consequences for patients with RA. Cigarette smoke represents a mixture of more than 4000 toxic substances including nicotine, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, organic compounds, solvents, gas substances (primarily carbon monoxide), and free radicals. Extensive data suggest that smoking has a modulator role in the immune system contributing to a shift from Th type 1 to Th type 2 immune response3. Although there is consensus that smoking is highly likely to play a role in the pathogenesis of RA, does it also influence disease activity? The respective data … Address correspondence to Dr. B.F. Leeb, 2nd Dept. of Medicine, Center for Rheumatology, Lower Austria, Landstrasse 18, Karl Landsteiner Institute for Clinical Rheumatology, Stockerau, A-2000, Austria. E-mail: burkhard.leeb{at}stockerau.lknoe. at
Antimycobacterial activity of some medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in North of Iran

This study was designed to screen the antimycobacterial activity of some medicinal plants which have been used traditionally in Golestan province, north of Iran. The medicinal herb practiced in traditional medicine for the treatment of infectious diseases, Tuberculosis, or its sign and symptoms are selected through ethno pharmacology. The plants were collected in their natural habitats in our province. Hydro-alcoholic extract of plant organs were obtained . Antimycobacterial activities were determined by Disc Diffusion (DD) and Micro dilution methods against M.smegmatis and M.bovis BCG strain. Six species (11.5%) from 52 plants showed antimycobacterial activity. Citrus limon extract with 27 mm inhibitory zone and MBC 32μg/ml demonstrated the strongest effect on M.smegmatis. The peel extract of Punica granatum L. with 32 mm inhibitory zone and MBC 16μg/ml showed the best effect on M.bovis BCG strain. We also found that Peganum harmala L. extract showed good effect on both species. The findings of this investigation revealed that at least some part of the plants used in traditional medicine can show in vitro antimycobacterial activity. We suggest designing protocols similar to traditional medicine for in-vitro assessment of synergistic effect of these plant extracts against Mycobacteria.
Leading edge information technologies and their adoption: lessons for U.S. cities

Based on a national study of the adoption of leading edge technologies, this essay surveys the range of information technology innovation in Ameri-can cities and outlines the management and environmental characteristics associated with successful innovation diffusion and adoption. In part because city governments believe that leading edge information technologies produce largely positive impacts, one obvious future trend will be that more city governments will adopt these technologies. Additionally, more leading edge technologies will be adopted by cities. A third trend is that leading edge information technologies will continue to penetrate cities more deeply, and as deeper penetration occurs , so will greater payoffs from use. A fourth trend is that as new and more sophisticated information technologies are adopted by city governments, integration of and support for them will become even more critical than is currently the case. Finally, although more of a finding than a trend, city population as a measure of city size will remain a key determinant in the number and type of leading edge information technologies adopted. While the overall extent of adoption of leading edge information technologies among city governments can be expected to increase , the greatest extent of adoption will be among larger jurisdictions. Recent studies have shown that nearly all of American city governments use information technology routinely in their operations. For example, a 1993 information technology ICMA
Restrictive Covenants in Venture Capital Contracts

I show that VCs frequently have the right to veto specific operational and financial decisions even though they are equity investors with access to other powerful governance mechanisms. Across 182 first-round U.S. venture capital investments, restrictive covenants are commonplace with 92 percent of all contracts including at least one covenant. I exploit the considerable observed variation in the basic design of venture capital contracts to test the underlying motivation in investor demand for restrictive covenants. Consistent with the thesis of Jensen and Meckling (1976), Myers (1977), and Smith and Warner (1979), my results show that covenants are more prevalent for contracts that give VCs a higher debt-like payoff and no control over boards of directors. Restrictive covenants are also more common for older companies and when fewer VCs invest in the round.
Modifications of A‐current kinetics in mammalian central neurones induced by extracellular zinc.

1. Whole‐cell voltage clamp recordings were used to study the action of the transition ion zinc on the A‐current kinetics in granule cells from rat cerebellar slices. 2. The effects of zinc have been tested in the concentration range from 1 microM to 1 mM, and fully characterized on all kinetic parameters at 100 and 300 microM. All the effects observed were rapid, concentration dependent and fully reversible. 3. Steady‐state inactivation curves are strongly shifted towards depolarized potentials, with activation curves much less so. These shifts lead to an increase of the peak current amplitude around physiological resting membrane potentials and to a decrease at hyperpolarized potentials. 4. The forward ‘on’ rate constants are slowed by Zn2+ at a concentration of 100‐300 microM by a factor from 1.5 to 4. The backward ‘off’ rate constants are unaffected by Zn2+. 5. The development of IA inactivation, as measured from the current decay, is not affected by Zn2+ up to 1 mM. Removal of inactivation is, on the contrary, significantly slowed. 6. The results are neither compatible with the theory of the surface charge screening effect nor with a mechanism involving channel block. It seems more likely that Zn2+ interferes with the channel gating by binding to a specific domain of the channel protein. 7. After treatment with Hg2+, which is irreversible, Zn2+ still maintains its effects, which suggest that the two divalents act at different sites. 8. In view of the widespread distribution of zinc throughout the brain, its actions on the A‐current could play an important role in physiological function.
Electrophoretic polymorphism of glutathione peroxidase

A method for the detection of glutathione peroxidase after electrophoresis on starch gel has been devised. Blood samples from 780 persons of Caucasian or Negro origin were studied. An electrophoretically fast enzyme, designated as the Thomas variant, was found in 6·4 % of 392 Negro donors and 0·8 % of 388 Caucasian donors. This variant was inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. A slightly rapid electrophoretic mobility was noted in some cord blood samples and in a father and daughter with a refractory anaemia. Because this variant, designated ‘Musi’ differed so little from the normal variant, it was difficult to further characterize it, but it did not appear that this variant was genetically determined.
Serotonin‐immunoreactive neurons in the brain of the honeybee

The distribution of serotonin‐immunoreactive neurons in the brain of the worker honey bee Apis mellifera was studied by means of immunocytochemical staining by using a well‐characterized antibody to serotonin (5‐HT). About 75 immunoreactive perikarya are grouped into clusters in the optic lobe and in the median and dorsal protocerebrum. Immunoreactive fibers were resolved in all areas of the brain. The optic lobe shows restricted layers of 5‐HT‐immunoreactive fibers in the lamina and medulla organized perpendicular to the retinotopic elements. Immunoreactive fibers in the lobula represent invasions of protocerebral giant wide‐field neurons. The nonglomerular neuropil of the brain exhibits a meshwork of immunoreactive fibres invading glomerular neuropil of the mushroom bodies, central body complex, and antennal lobes. Mushroom body stalks and lobes contain immunoreactive fibers arranged perpendicular to the Kenyon cell fibers and matching subcompartments of these corpora pedunculata areas. The calyces are devoid of immunofluorescence. Serotonin‐positive fibres in the central body complex are arranged in its subcompartments. No 5‐HT immunoreactivity was found in the pons. Antennal glomeruli contain immunoreactive fibers restricted around the margin of the glomeruli. The selective mapping of 5‐HT‐immunoreactive neurons complements studies on the distribution of monoamine‐containing neurons in the bee brain. Serotonin‐ and catecholamine‐containing neurons often occur together in the same brain areas and subcompartments. The immunohistochemical approach in chemoneuroanatomy gives new evidence for a more complicated architecture of the brain than could be deduced from the classical neuroanatomical studies.
An Interindustry Analysis of Economic Value Added as a Proxy for Market Value Added

Companies worldwide use the financial metric Economic Value Added (EVAR) to help then assess their financial performance. However researchers speculate that EVA is better suited to traditional manufacturing businesses than to knowledge-based businesses. This study empirically rests the relation between capital intensity and EVA's ability to serve as an effective proxy of market value added. We find that EVA is no less "at home" in the information economy than it is in traditional manufacturing businesses. However, our results do indicate that in most of the industries studied, the marginal costs of using EVA as a proxy for market value added are not justified by any marginal benefits.
New measure of DNA repair in the single‐cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay

Since its introduction by Östling and Johanson [1984; Biochem Biophys Res Commun 123:291–298] and independent modifications by Singh et al. [1990; Exp Cell Res 175:184–191] and Olive et al. [1988; Radiat Res 112:86–94], the comet assay has been widely used in genetic toxicology, environmental biomonitoring, molecular and human epidemiology, and clinical investigations. There are still several issues to be resolved before the comet assay is accepted as a standard assay for detecting DNA damage and repair in a single cell. One of the major issues is the proper quantification of DNA damage/repair. The aim of this article is to develop a new quantitative measure of DNA damage/repair which is represented in the dose–time‐response surface. We propose to use the second derivative (2D) of the dose–time‐response surface for measuring DNA repair activity. This approach enables us to represent the DNA repair activity of cells exposed to a DNA‐damaging agent with a single number by combining all the information of a dose–time‐response experiment. The computation procedure includes the application of linear regression. An SAS/AF‐based program, “Comet Assay,” was developed for this computation and is freely available on the Internet. We considered the response of each of four DNA damage parameters: tail moment, tail length, tail DNA, and tail inertia for constructing the dose–time‐response surface. Using data from 25 patients, we observed that 2Ds based on tail moment and tail DNA were highly correlated and that tail inertia might provide information on a somewhat different aspect of DNA damage/repair. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 40:50–56, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
of parasitic zoonoses in a changing Southeast Asia ames

Parasitic zoonoses are common and widely distributed in the Southeast Asian region. However, the interactions between parasites, hosts and vectors are influenced by environmental, socio-cultural and livestock production changes that impact on the distribution, prevalence and severity of disease. In this review we provide an update on new knowledge in the context of ongoing changes for the food-borne pig associated zoonoses Taenia solium and chistosomiasis