Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Radiation Metabolomics. 1. Identification of Minimally Invasive Urine Biomarkers for Gamma-Radiation Exposure in Mice

Abstract Tyburski, J. B. , Patterson, A. D. , Krausz, K. W. , Slavík, J., Fornace, A. J., Jr., Gonzalez, F. J. and Idle, J. R. Radiation Metabolomics. 1. Identification of Minimally Invasive Urine Biomarkers for Gamma-Radiation Exposure in Mice. Radiat. Res. 170, 1–14 (2008). Gamma-radiation exposure has both short- and long-term adverse health effects. The threat of modern terrorism places human populations at risk for radiological exposures, yet current medical countermeasures to radiation exposure are limited. Here we describe metabolomics for γ-radiation biodosimetry in a mouse model. Mice were γ-irradiated at doses of 0, 3 and 8 Gy (2.57 Gy/min), and urine samples collected over the first 24 h after exposure were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC–TOFMS). Multivariate data were analyzed by orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS). Both 3- and 8-Gy exposures yielded distinct urine metabolomic phenotypes. The top 22 ions for 3 and 8 Gy were analyzed further, including tandem mass spectrometric comparison with authentic standards, revealing that N-hexanoylglycine and β-thymidine are urinary biomarkers of exposure to 3 and 8 Gy, 3-hydroxy-2-methylbenzoic acid 3-O-sulfate is elevated in urine of mice exposed to 3 but not 8 Gy, and taurine is elevated after 8 but not 3 Gy. Gene Expression Dynamics Inspector (GEDI) self-organizing maps showed clear dose–response relationships for subsets of the urine metabolome. This approach is useful for identifying mice exposed to γ radiation and for developing metabolomic strategies for noninvasive radiation biodosimetry in humans.
How Blink Anomalies Can Contribute to Post-LASIK Neurotrophic Epitheliopathy

&NA; Post-LASIK (laser in situ keratomileusis) symptoms and signs of dry eye have multiple causes. For example, tear osmolarity and the concentration of inflammatory mediators can increase because of reduced aqueous production and increased evaporative loss as a result of lower blink rates and increased interblink intervals. The tear concentration of inflammatory mediators can also increase because of surgical trauma, wound healing, comorbid systemic and ocular diseases, and the use of punctal plugs. Studies that examine only mechanical sensitivity of the cornea cannot detect changes in chemical sensitivity, which can persist longer. Symptoms may be partly attributed to sensitization of the traumatized corneal or lid wiper sensory nerves by inflammatory mediators. Increased lid wiper sensitivity could increase awareness of blinks, especially if ocular surface lubricity is reduced. Incomplete blinks have been found to represent 10 to 22% of the total number of blinks. Loss of neural stimuli and lower blink rates increase the significance of incomplete blinks that approximately double related interblink intervals and tear evaporation. The most common location of post-LASIK epitheliopathy is the inferior area of the cornea, which is overexposed by incomplete blinks. The relevance of incomplete blinking to post-LASIK epitheliopathy is supported by the relative absence of this complication in the similarly neurotrophically disadvantaged upper corneal areas for which blink rates and other tear functions usually appear to be adequate to prevent epitheliopathy, which stains. Occupational or leisure-time activities such as computer use and reading, which have been found to reduce blink rates and blink completeness, appear to be significant risk factors for symptoms and signs of dry eye. Apart from reducing symptoms and signs of dry eye, prophylactic and post-LASIK blink exercises to reduce incomplete blink rates and associated overexposure of the ocular surface may also contribute to more accurate refractive outcomes through faster wound healing.
The Internationalization of Tourism Research

This article examines the internationalization of tourism research in the context of the worldwide growth in tourism and a marked increase in tourism studies. Its goal is to stimulate debate, to encourage further analysis of the directions tourism research is taking, and to foster discussion of the implications of the trends identified. The article is based on a systematic and wide-ranging review of the literature. Five major questions are addressed: what is meant by internationalization; what patterns are emerging; what is driving internationalization; what is the role of language in internationalization; and what is the significance and impact of internationalization? The types and levels of internationalization of tourism research vary considerably but overall levels are rather low. The benefits and disadvantages of internationalization are then discussed in terms of the underlying tension between standardization and diversity. Finally, ways forward are outlined.
In vitro synergic antifungal effect of MUC7 12-mer with histatin-5 12-mer or miconazole.

OBJECTIVES MUC7 12-mer (RKSYKCLHKRCR), a cationic peptide derived from human salivary MUC7 mucin, exhibits potent in vitro antifungal activity, as determined by killing assays in phosphate buffer. In this study we examined the MUC7 12-mer antifungal activity alone or in combination with other antifungal agents in LYM medium (modified RPMI 1640). METHODS Antifungal activities of MUC7 12-mer and other compounds against several fungal strains were first measured by MIC and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) tests using broth microdilution assay. The viability of Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans were also determined by killing assays and time kinetics of peptide-mediated killing. Antifungal activities of MUC7 12-mer in combination with other compounds [histatin-5 (Hsn5) 12-mer: AKRHHGYKRKFH, amphotericin B or miconazole] against C. albicans and C. neoformans were determined by chequerboard assays and confirmed by killing assays. Toxicities of individual compounds were determined by haemolytic assays. RESULTS MICs and MFCs of MUC7 12-mer ranged from 3.13 to 6.25 mg/L for most of the strains tested, and were, in most cases, comparable to those of amphotericin B and miconazole (0.78-6.25 mg/L). ED(50) values of MUC7 12-mer and Hsn5 12-mer were 7.1 and 7.4 micro M (or 11.2 and 11.6 mg/L), respectively, for C. albicans; and 1.2 and 1.1 micro M (or 1.9 and 1.7 mg/L), respectively, for C. neoformans. The killing of C. albicans and C. neoformans was achieved after 30 and 10 min exposure to the peptides, respectively. Combinations of MUC7 12-mer and Hsn5 12-mer, and of MUC7 12-mer and miconazole have a synergic antifungal effect on C. neoformans, with a fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) of 0.37 and 0.25, respectively; and a slightly lower than synergic effect on C. albicans, with a FICI of 0.63 and 0.56, respectively. In addition, using human erythrocytes, the two salivary peptides showed low levels of haemolytic activity. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that MUC7 12-mer and Hsn5 12-mer peptides may be suitable candidates for use in combination antifungal therapy.
A multi-stakeholder perspective on sustainable marketing : studying business–society relations through action research

This licentiate thesis is concerned with the discussion on business–society relations that has been taking place within the discipline of marketing. Although there has been extensive research on marketing’s relationship with society and the natural environment, the focus has predominantly been on exploring ways to integrate social and environmental concerns into the objectives of marketing strategy. In this study, the author argues that this research approach shows two main limitations. The first limitation is grounded in the belief that sustainability can be studied from the perspective of the single firm. It is assumed that stakeholders are isolatable actors, independent from each other, clearly identifiable and whose interests can be considered in marketing decisions. This particular view contributes to a detachment from the sociocultural context in which market activities and interactions between humans and nature take place. The second limitation is an excessive reliance on technical and managerial expertise to address environmental and social issues. While this view suggests that marketers are competent enough to determine what is right and fair for society, it neglects the practical knowledge (re-)produced in the marketplace through multi-stakeholder interactions. This thesis aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the complexities of an environmentally enlightened and socially responsible approach to marketing by taking a critical perspective on sustainable marketing. To that end, the author works towards a theoretical and methodological framework that helps answer the following research questions: how is the notion of sustainability (re-)defined through multi-stakeholder relationships and interactions within a marketing context? Theoretically, the framework draws on cultural marketing, environmental ethics and critical approaches to sustainable marketing and stakeholder theory. These theoretical premises help to look into sustainability as a social construction continuously redefined through stakeholder interactions. Methodologically, the framework draws on action research, which allows to study sustainable marketing within a real-life socio-cultural context and to build theories from practice. While the framework is illustrated by presenting preliminary findings from an action research study on sustainable tourism service development in a small business network, this study is theoretical in nature. Finally, the author discusses theoretical, managerial contributions and implications for future research.
Association of tightly spiraled bacterial infection and gastritis in pigs.

Tightly spiral bacteria were observed only in the pyloric mucosa of 4 (8.0%) of 50 swine stomachs, mainly in the surface of epithelia, the gastric pits and the lumen of gastric glands. The presence of the spiral bacteria was significantly associated with chronic pyloric gastritis (p<0.05). Mean gastritis score of the bacteria-positive pyloric mucosa was 3.25 +/- 0.25, whereas that of the bacteria-negative pyloric mucosa was 2.37 +/- 0.12. Parakeratosis and hyperkeratosis were spontaneously seen in the mucosa layer of pars oesophagea, regardless of the bacterial infection. Marked infiltration of mononuclear cells and granulocytes were seen in the cardiac mucosa, regardless of the bacterial infection. Mean gastritis score of the bacteria-positive cardiac mucosa was 3.27 +/- 0.32, whereas that of the bacteria-negative cardiac mucosa was 2.84 +/- 0.13. There was no significant difference between the bacteria-positive and negative cardiac mucosa (p>0.05). Inflammatory response in the fundic mucosa was rare (gastritis score=0.75 +/- 0.08). The tightly spiraled bactera were not cultured with various culture media. These results suggest that the presence of tightly spiraled bacteria is associated with only the pyloric gastritis in pigs.
An Experimental Exploration of Self-Fulfilling Banking Panics: Their Occurrence, Persistence, and Prevention

This article tests the possibility and the degree of persistence of self-fulfilling banking panics through an experimental protocol. Panics are proved to be persistent phenomena that are difficult to prevent. However, it seems possible to curb them through a learning effect caused by a temporary but sufficient suspension of the deposit availability, combined with a "narrow-banking" solution, which makes banks more liquid. Additionally, panic prevention requires a full deposit coverage to be effective. This suggests that the moral-hazard issue should not be tackled through a lower deposit coverage, especially in emerging countries' banking systems where depositors are likely to lose confidence.
‘The sweeter country’: social dimensions to riparian management in the Burdekin rangelands, Queensland

In this article, we examine the social issues underpinning cattle producers' riparian management decisions in the savanna rangelands of north-eastern Queensland. Improved riparian management in these beef grazing regions has become increasingly important given the decline in water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Consequently, there is pressure from management agencies on cattle producers to adopt recommended riparian management practices. However, little is known about what is driving cattle producers' riparian management choices and the factors influencing these choices. Interviews with producers from 18 properties in the Burdekin rangelands sought to fill this knowledge gap. Results showed that the decision by producers to adopt such riparian management practices as fencing and spelling of riparian pastures was largely based on the perceived production benefits and losses. However, an array of social, environmental and financial factors also influenced producers' riparian management decisions. Key influencing factors include social learning, position in the catchment, and financial capacity. Implications for future policy and extension programs are discussed.
Firm Size, Book-to-Market Ratio, and Security Returns: A Holdout Sample of Financial Firms

Fama and French (1992) document a significant relation between firm size, book-to-market ratios, and security returns for nonfinancial firms. Because of their initial interest in leverage as an explanatory variable for security returns, Fama and French exclude from their analysis financial firms, thus creating a natural holdout sample on which to test the robustness of their results. The authors document that the relation between firm size, book-to-market ratios, and security returns is similar for financial and nonfinancial firms. In addition, they present evidence that survivorship bias does not significantly affect the estimated size or book-to-market premiums in returns. The authors' results indicate data-snooping and selection biases do not explain the size and book-to-market patterns in returns. Copyright 1997 by American Finance Association.
Restaurant Choice

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine how consumers' choice of restaurant differs depending on whether they have information about a restaurant or not. A convenience sample using a self-administered questionnaire was completed by adult restaurant patrons. There was a significant difference in the importance of food quality and location in choosing a restaurant based on availability or lack of information. Information sources from friends or relatives were the most important sources when influencing restaurant choice over media source. Information or lack of information coupled with demographic variables also had an impact on restaurant choice. The more frequently respondents dine out in restaurants; the more important it was to have information about value for money.
How Much Should a Nation Save? A New Answer

We introduce a formula for the optimal savings rate in an economy driven by an investment policy reflecting competitive equilibrium. The reasonable numbers generated by the formula should be of help not only to assess our present situation, but also to prepare our future. Moreover, this paper provides two theorems correcting a widely spread error in economic growth theory, namely that a steady state can be asymptotically reached only if technical progress is labor-augmenting. We finally show that the magnitudes of the optimal savings rates are highly robust to very different, S-shaped evolutions of population and technology. The paper closes with a daring conjecture.
Recommendations for the Development of a New operational classification System For The Foodservice Industry

The foodservice industry is large and diverse, demanding an adequate system for classifying its many different types of operations. There are many different classification systems in use by industry and researchers. Although many of the current systems offer certain benefits, some do not provide the necessary framework for researchers and some do not provide realistic groupings for purposes of industry benchmarking. Furthermore, in many cases, classification systems are not compatible with one another. This article reviews some of the systems that are currently in use and argues for the need for a single common classification system. Finally, it proposes a new system, based on certain operational factors, which can be used by both industry and academics in the effort to provide consistency across academia and industry.
The Association between Board Composition and Different Types of Voluntary Disclosure

Abstract This study examines the association between board composition and voluntary disclosure in annual reports. In particular, it addresses the incentives within the agency theory framework for both inside and independent directors to disclosure additional information voluntarily. Further, it provides evidence on the relation between the overall total voluntary disclosure and the components of voluntary disclosure, such as forward looking, strategic, non-financial and historical financial disclosures and board composition. Our sample is based on 181 Australian companies. We have developed and hand-collected 67 items from annual reports to develop the total voluntary disclosure index and the sub-indices of voluntary disclosure. Using two-stage multivariate analyses, our results provide some important insights. First, we find that there is a positive association between board composition and the voluntary disclosure of information in annual reports. Second, we also find that independent boards provide more voluntary disclosure of forward looking information and strategic information. However, board structure has no bearing on the voluntary disclosure of non-financial and historical financial information. Our findings are enhanced by different empirical specifications and sensitivity tests.
Brand Extensions in Emerging Markets: Theory Development and Testing in China

ABSTRACT Brand extensions are increasingly used by multinational corporations in emerging markets such as China. However, understanding how consumers in the emerging markets evaluate brand extensions is hampered by a lack of research in the emerging markets contexts. To address the knowledge void, we built on an established brand extension evaluation framework in the West, namely Aaker and Keller (1990), and extended the model by incorporating two new factors: perceived fit based on brand image consistency and competition intensity in the brand extension category. The additions of two factors are made in recognition of the uniqueness of the considerations of consumers in the emerging markets in their brand extension evaluations. The extended model was tested by an empirical experiment using consumers in China. The results partly validated the Aaker and Keller model, and evidence that both newly added factors were significant in influencing consumers' evaluation of brand extensions was also found. More important, one new factor proposed, namely, consumer-perceived fit based on brand image consistency, was found to be more significant than all the factors in Aaker and Keller's original model, suggesting that the Aaker and Keller model may be limited in explaining how consumers in the emerging markets evaluate brand extensions. Further research implications and limitations are discussed in the paper.
Spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity estimates during graded bicycle exercise: a comparative study

In the literature, several methods have been proposed for the assessment of the baroreflex sensitivity from spontaneous variability of heart period and systolic arterial pressure. The present study compares the most utilized approaches for the evaluation of the spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity (i.e. sequence-based, spectral, cross-spectral and model-based techniques) over a protocol capable of inducing a progressive decrease of the baroreflex sensitivity in the presence of a relevant respiratory drive (i.e. a stepwise dynamic bicycle exercise at 10%, 20% and 30% of the maximum nominal individual effort) in 16 healthy humans. Results demonstrated that the degree of correlation among the estimates is related to the structure of the model explicitly or implicitly assumed by the method and depends on the experimental condition (i.e. on the physiological mechanisms contemporaneously active with baroreflex, e.g. cardiopulmonary reflexes). However, even in the presence of a significant correlation, proportional and/or constant biases can be present, thus rendering spontaneous baroreflex estimates not interchangeable. We suggest that the comparison among different baroreflex sensitivity estimates might elucidate physiological mechanisms responsible for the relationship between heart period and systolic arterial pressure.
Culture, Institutions, and Urban Officials' Responses to Morality Issues

This article focuses on city officials' actions when morality issues (gay rights, pornography regulations, etc.) are at stake. Cases drawn from a systematic sample of cities reveal a continuum of local officials' actions ranging from actions unfavorable to activists to evasion of the issue to actions favorable to activists. In order to account for this variation, hypotheses are developed that identify institutional arrangements, ideol- ogy of issue activists, and the community's cultural context as key explanatory concepts. Empirical tests show that (a) officials in cities with more developed counter-cultural elements handle morality issues differ- ently than officials in cities where orthodox/traditional sub-cultural ele- ments dominate, (b) narrower measures of community demand/prefer- ences specific to particular kinds of incidents are less useful in predicting governmental action on these issues, (c) institutions (ward versus at-large council elections; mayor versus city manager executive) are important in mediating the expectations or pressures stemming from the local sub-cul- ture, and (d) official actions vary considerably depending upon the ideo- logical stance and degree of controversiality of issue activists, but this too is contingent on the mediating effects of institutional arrangements.
Matrix‐M adjuvanted virosomal H5N1 vaccine confers protection against lethal viral challenge in a murine model

Please cite this paper as: Pedersen et al. (2011) Matrix‐M adjuvanted virosomal H5N1 vaccine confers protection against lethal viral challenge in a murine model. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 5(6), 426–437.
Competitive Advantage from Exposure to Multiple National Environments: The Induced Internationalization of Born-Multidomestic Firms

Recent work on early internationalisers and born-global firms emphasises the entrepreneurial orientation of these firms. In contrast, this paper analyses the neglected, but nonetheless prevalent, phenomenon of firms that enter foreign markets at a relatively early stage because their home country and/or line of business embeds them in an international environment. Such ‘induced’ early internationalisers can be called born-multidomestic firms. A basic model of causes and competitive effects of induced early internationalisation is illustrated with a longitudinal study of software maker SAP AG of Germany.
Measuring cost inefficiency in the UK life insurance industry

To identify likely gainers and losers and to examine the effects of increasing competition on the structure of the UK life insurance industry, the cost inefficiency of UK life insurance companies is analysed. A flexible stochastic cost frontier is estimated for the industry using a sample of 54 companies over five years. The estimated frontier is then used to compute measures of 'economic', 'scale' and 'total' inefficiency for different company size groups. The results show that, on average, larger life insurance companies are less inefficient than smaller companies, but there are substantial variations in the degree of inefficiency within size groups.