Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Working Capital Management And Profitability: A Case Of Alba County Companies

The purpose of this study is to analyze the efficiency of working capital management ofcompanies from Alba County. The relation between the efficiency of the working capital management andprofitability is examined using Pearson correlation analyses and using a sample of 20 annual financialstatements of companies covering period 2004-2008. The conclusion to our study is that there is a weaknegative liniar correlation between working capital management indicators and profitability rates.
Oxidant-based anticancer activity of a novel synthetic analogue of capsaicin, capsaicin epoxide

Abstract Objectives Plant-derived natural substances, such as capsaicin, with potent antiproliferative activity against cancer cells in vitro are considered to be promising nutraceuticals in anticancer therapy. Nevertheless, the limited systemic bioavailability of phytochemicals may raise questions regarding the physiological relevance of their phytochemical effects in vivo. Thus, the search for novel phytochemical-based substances with more efficient anticancer action is needed. Methods In the present study, a capsaicin analogue, namely, capsaicin epoxide, was synthesized, and its cytotoxic potential against cancer cells was evaluated and compared to that of capsaicin through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and multi-caspase assays. The abilities of capsaicin and capsaicin epoxide to induce oxidative stress were estimated using redox-sensitive fluorogenic probes: 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCF-DA) and dihydroethidium. Results The structure and purity of the synthesized product were confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography. Normal human dermal fibroblasts were not susceptible to treatment with the agent, whereas a cancer cell type-specific response was observed. Human breast carcinoma cells were found to be the most sensitive to capsaicin epoxide treatment compared with capsaicin treatment, and the action of capsaicin epoxide was oxidant based. Discussion Our data indicate that the antiproliferative activity of capsaicin epoxide is potentiated in vitro, when used at much lower concentrations compared with capsaicin at similar concentrations. Thus, the findings of this study may have implications for phytochemical-based anticancer drug development.
The relationship between oral health condition and systemic disease in healthy indonesian population

Common diseases can be influenced by poor oral health. Inflammation is one major biological mechanism that links oral health condition and systemic disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether poor oral hygiene (OH), with or without the presence of periodontal disease, is significantly associated with biochemical markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in healthy Indonesian people. Methods: Ninety-eight subjects aged 52.1±8 (mean±SD) years participated in this cross-sectional study. The simplified oral hygiene index (OHIS) was used to measure OH. Blood samples were also taken to assess vascular inflammation by measuring high sensitivity Creactive protein (hs-CRP), a biochemical marker of systemic disease and especially CVD. Multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze the association of hs-CRP and other risk variables, such as OHI-S, BMI, age, gender, and blood pressure. As a results, the OHI-S values for individuals with good OH and with poor OH were 1.52±1.9 and 5±3.1 mg/L, respectively. Subjects with poor oral hygiene had significantly higher CRP levels (p=0.0000) than those with good oral hygiene according to the Student’s t-test. Poor OH was significantly associated with high levels of CRP after controlling for age, gender, BMI (body mass index), and blood pressure according to multiple regression analysis (β=0.29, p=0.007, R=0.2). It was concluded that this study suggests that poor oral hygiene may result in increased levels of CRP in a generally health population. Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2017; 10(Special Issue): pp. 465-469)
7-1-2013 Improving Sensing And Seizing Capabilities Of A Firm By Measuring Corporate Reputation Based On Social Media Data

Firms need to continuously sense their business environment for being able to seize emerging opportunities and react against threats, such as loss of reputation. Corporate reputation is of particular importance as a valuable intangible asset. Thus, managing a firm’s corporate reputation as well as monitoring the reputation of its competitors may support sensing and seizing capabilities of a firm. As corporate reputation directly depends on public perceptions and opinions, the high amount of publicly available data of established social media platforms might be promising to determine a firm’s reputation. What is needed are intelligent information systems to analyze social media data for measuring corporate reputation effectively. This study provides a conceptual and empirical analysis on how firms might utilize data from social media platforms for measuring their corporate reputation. In particular, we analyze a dataset consisting of 8.6 million messages from the microblogging service Twitter to determine the development of the corporate reputation of ten large global firms. Our methodological approach comprises an automated sentiment analysis as well as trend analysis to measure reputation. Thus, this study demonstrates how corporate reputation can be assessed based on social media data and how firms sensing and seizing capabilities can thereby be enhanced.
Expression of pituitary tumour transforming gene (PTTG) and fibroblast growth factor‐2 (FGF‐2) in human pituitary adenomas: relationships to clinical tumour behaviour

objective Pituitary tumour transforming gene (PTTG) encodes a multifunctional protein that is implicated in initiating and perpetuating pituitary adenoma growth. PTTG appears to have key regulatory functions in determining control of many fundamental cellular events including mitosis, cell transformation, DNA repair and gene regulation. Several of these events are mediated through interactions with PTTG binding factor (PBF) and fibroblast growth factor‐2 (FGF‐2). Given this background, we have determined the expression of PTTG, PBF, FGF‐2 and its receptor FGF‐R‐1 in a large cohort of pituitary adenomas and have sought associations between levels of gene expression and clinical markers of tumour behaviour.
Relative salience of speech rhythm and speech rate on perceived foreign accent in L 2

We investigated the independent contribution of speech rate and speech rhythm to perceived foreign accent. To address this issue we used a resynthesis technique that allows neutralizing segmental and tonal idiosyncrasies between identical sentences produced by French learners of English at different proficiency levels and maintaining the idiosyncrasies pertaining to prosodic timing patterns. We created stimuli that 1) preserved the idiosyncrasies in speech rhythm while controlling for the differences in speech rate between the utterances; 2) preserved the idiosyncrasies in speech rate while controlling for the differences in speech rhythm between the utterances; 3) preserved the idiosyncrasies both in speech rate and speech rhythm. All the stimuli were created in intoned (with imposed intonational contour) and flat (with monotonized, constant F0) conditions. The original and the resynthesized sentences were rated by native speakers of English for degree of foreign accent. We found that both speech rate and speech rhythm influence the degree of perceived foreign accent, but the effect of speech rhythm is larger than that of rate. We also found that intonation enhances the perception of fine differences in rhythmic patterns but reduces the perceptual salience of fine differences in speech rate. key words: foreign accent, second language acquisition, prosodic timing, rhythm, speech rate
Fatigue reporting among aircrew: incidence rate and primary causes.

INTRODUCTION In this study we describe our experience of voluntary fatigue reporting among pilots and cabin crew. METHOD This was a prospective study to determine the crude incidence rate and primary cause of fatigue report form submission among cabin crew and pilots within one airline. All crew duties had already undergone scrutiny at the 'roster build' stage to ensure compliance with fatigue control measures. Reports were investigated by the airline's medical officer to determine the primary cause of fatigue and then allocated to one of five categories. The frequency and proportion of reports within each category was determined. RESULTS The crude incidence rate of fatigue report submission was 103 and 68 cases per 1000 persons per year for pilots and cabin crew, respectively. The primary cause for 27% of reports was attributed to the rostered duty pattern. Of the reports, 24% were primarily caused by roster disruption, 17% by problems with layover accommodation or transport, 23% by a domestic issue, and 9% had no obvious cause or were deemed invalid. A subanalysis of the 'domestic' category revealed that half had a primary cause attributable to commuting to or from the workplace. CONCLUSION The number and trend of reports received per month can be used to detect otherwise unknown fatigue hazards and identify where improvements can be made. Fatigue reports allow individual crewmembers to give vital feedback on 'whole-of-life' fatigue risks, both inside and outside the workplace.
The impact of DC (defined contribution) scheme structure and communication policies: a bounded rationality framework

Concepts from bounded rationality, particularly biases, are frequently used to explain the successes and the failures of pension scheme defaults. This research suggests that pension literature has focused on pension scheme structure, like defaults, with little attention paid to pension scheme communication designed to persuade and inform. A bounded rationality framework is developed to conceptualise the impact of both structure and communication policies on organisational outcomes, specifically pension participation rates and average contribution rates. It identifies three communication policies to be investigated in future empirical research including individualisation, segmentation and savings rate targets.
Electron microscopy of cyanobacterial membrane proteins

Cyanobacteria are aquatic photoautotrophs and an important primary producer in many areas of the ocean. Their ability to generate molecular oxygen by oxygenic photosynthesis caused one of the biggest changes in the Earth’s atmosphere. Iron, which is essential for the aquatic ecosystems, is scarce in the ocean and often limits cyanobacterial growth. Cyanobacteria prevail over iron deficiency by expressing a number of genes including the “Iron stress induced”gene, IsiA, which encodes a 36 kDa membrane protein, IsiA, and causes various structural and functional alterations in the cell. Here, we report that nano-molar concentrations of iron leads to the formation of a giant supercomplex in the thermophilic cyanobacterium Thermosynechococcus elongatus, where a Photosystem I trimer is surrounded by double rings of 43 IsiA molecules. Electron microscopic projection maps at 15 Å resolution shows that the supercomplex consists of a PSI trimer encircled by two complete rings of IsiA with 18 copies in the inner ring and 25 IsiA proteins in the outer ring. This supercomplex has a molecular weight of 3.2 MDa and is thereby the largest PSI membrane protein complex that has been isolated to date. In this supercomplex the chlorophyll-a/P700 ratio was 285±5, which corresponds to 855±15 chlorophyll-a/PSI-trimer. Most strikingly, we identified for the first time that the rate of electron transfer from Photosystem I to flavodoxin was increased by 900% in this supercomplex, compared to the rate of flavodoxin reduction of PSI trimer. These results imply that the formation of the PSIIsiA supercomplex does not only raises the PSI antenna size by a factor of 3, but also immensely increases the efficiency of electron transfer from PSI to flavodoxin and hence compensates for oxidative stress in various environmental conditions.
Pulmonary rehabilitation in chronic respiratory insufficiency. 8. Setting up a pulmonary rehabilitation programme.

Identification of aims The definition of pulmonary rehabilitation (given in the first article of this series) provides the programme's rationale to maximise the functions of daily living for individual patients with chronic disabling lung disease by introducing a comprehensive process of assessment and treatment. The focus will be on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as the predominant chronic lung disease to consider first, and then other applications of pulmonary rehabilitation will be mentioned briefly. Implicit in the approach of this paper is the assumption that routine services in the UK already contain many components which address patients' needs and do not require duplication. The objective in setting up pulmonary rehabilitation is therefore to complement rather than replace existing services. The advantage of this approach is that it is (1) less financially prohibitive to add to existing resources, (2) more likely to result in an efficient use of the resources specifically required for pulmonary rehabilitation; and (3) the process of reviewing current practice is likely to identify deficits and thereby improve the standards of routine care. Table 1 gives a list of possible components of pulmonary rehabilitation which may include those aspects of patient care not currently part of routine service and which could be incorporated into a programme. District
Plants red list indicates species extinction as a sink for selfish DNA

An antagonism between different selection levels was demonstrated on the example of selfish DNA and species selection. Notwithstanding an average evolutionary increase of genome size in the higher plants due to activity of transposable elements, the threatened plant species (those which are nowadays on the brink of extinction) were found to have on average larger genomes than their relatives, which indicates that redundant DNA in plant genomes is selected against at the species level.
Fast reactivation of photosynthesis in arctic phytoplankton during the polar night1

Arctic microalgae experience long periods of continuous darkness during the polar night, when they are unable to photosynthesize. Despite numerous studies on overwintering strategies, such as utilization of stored energy products, formation of resting stages, reduction of metabolic rates and heterotrophic lifestyles, there have been few attempts to assess the in situ physiological state and restoration of the photosynthetic apparatus upon re‐illumination. In this study, we found diverse and active marine phytoplankton communities during the polar night at 78°N. Furthermore, we observed rapid changes (≤20 min) in the efficiency of photosynthetic electron transport upon re‐illumination. High photosynthetic capacity and net primary production were established after 24 h of re‐illumination. Our results suggest that some Arctic autotrophs maintain fully functional photosystem II and downstream electron acceptors during the polar night even though the low in situ net primary production levels measured in January prove that light was not sufficient to support any measurable primary production. Due to low temperatures resulting in low respiratory rates as well as the absence of photodamage during the polar night, maintenance of basic photosynthetic machinery may actually pose relatively low metabolic costs for algal cells. This could allow Arctic microalgae to endure the polar night without the formation of dormant stages, enabling them to recover and take advantage of light immediately upon the suns return during the winter–spring transition.
How SGD Selects the Global Minima in Over-parameterized Learning : A Dynamical Stability Perspective

The question of which global minima are accessible by a stochastic gradient decent (SGD) algorithm with specific learning rate and batch size is studied from the perspective of dynamical stability. The concept of non-uniformity is introduced, which, together with sharpness, characterizes the stability property of a global minimum and hence the accessibility of a particular SGD algorithm to that global minimum. In particular, this analysis shows that learning rate and batch size play different roles in minima selection. Extensive empirical results seem to correlate well with the theoretical findings and provide further support to these claims.
Angiotensin II Mediates High Glucose-Induced TGF-β1 and Fibronectin Upregulation in HPMC through Reactive Oxygen Species

Objective To demonstrate the presence of an independent renin–angiotensin system (RAS) in the peritoneum and to determine the role of locally produced angiotensin (Ang) II in high glucose-induced upregulation of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and fibronectin by human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMC). Methods In cultured HPMC, the expression of mRNAs for angiotensinogen, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), Ang II type 1 receptor (AT1), and TGF-β1 was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction; ACE, AT1, and fibronectin proteins by Western blot analysis; and Ang I, Ang II, and TGF-β1 proteins by ELISA. Dichlorofluorescein (DCF)-sensitive cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were measured by fluorometry. Results HPMC constitutively expressed all the components of RAS, and 50 mmol/L D-glucose (high glucose) significantly increased angiotensinogen, ACE, and AT1 mRNAs and ACE, AT1, and Ang II proteins. Ang II increased TGF-β1 and fibronectin protein expression and DCF-sensitive cellular ROS. Losartan prevented Ang II-induced increase in cellular ROS. Both losartan and captopril inhibited high glucose-induced upregulation of TGF-β1 and fibronectin expression in HPMC in a dose-dependent manner. Antioxidant catalase and NADPH oxidase inhibitor diphenyleneiodinium effectively inhibited Ang II-induced TGF-β1 and fibronectin protein expression. Conclusions The present data demonstrate that HPMC constitutively express RAS, that Ang II produced by HPMC mediates high glucose-induced upregulation of TGF-β1 and fibronectin expression, and that Ang II-induced TGF-β1 and fibronectin expression in HPMC is mediated by NADPH oxidase-dependent ROS. These data suggest that locally produced Ang II and ROS in the peritoneum may be potential therapeutic targets in peritoneal fibrosis during long-term peritoneal dialysis.
Teacher Education, Information and Communication Technology: Prospects and Challenges of E-Teaching Profession in Nigeria

Teachers are indispensable within the teaching – learning process. Hence, they constitute a major input in the accomplishment of educational goals and objectives in all nations. In Nigeria, teacher education has been bedeviled with a lot of challenges in the modern day technology of imparting knowledge in the teaching and learning process. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is relatively a very new development in Nigerian educational system. ICT plays a significant role in teacher education. Hence, the objective of this paper is to discuss the prospects of ICT in teacher education as well as its challenges in E-teaching profession in Nigeria. The findings via descriptive research revealed that many teachers in Nigeria are not using ICT facilities in teaching learning process due to some challenges which include high exorbitant price of ICT facilities, lack of infrastructures in the areas of electricity supply, lack of adequate trained manpower for the development, maintenance and operation of ICT facilities, lack of commitment on the part of government towards the development of ICT, inadequate funding of internet connectivity and lukewarm attitude of many teachers to be computer literate among others. This paper proffers some probable ways of improving ICT in teacher education in Nigeria. It concludes that the importance of ICT in teacher education to improve the quality of teaching and learning process in schools cannot be over-emphasized. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA
Comparison of First- and Second-Generation Drug-Eluting Stents in an All-Comer Population of Patients with Diabetes Mellitus (from Katowice-Zabrze Registry)

Background This study compared safety and efficacy of first- and second-generation DES in an unrestricted, real-life population of diabetic patients undergoing PCI. Material/Methods The study was a subanalysis of diabetic patients from the all-comer Katowice-Zabrze Registry of patients undergoing PCI with the implantation of either first- (Paclitaxel-, Sirolimus-eluting stents) or second-generation DES (Zotarolimus-, Everolimus-, Biolimus-eluting stents). Efficacy defined as major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE: death, myocardial infarction, target vessel revascularization, stroke) and safety defined as stent thrombosis (ST) were evaluated at 1 year. Results From the total of 1916 patients, 717 were diabetics. Among them, 257 (36%) were treated with first-generation DES (230 [89%] Paclitaxel-eluting stents, 27 [11%] Sirolimus-eluting stents), 460 with second-generation DES (171 [37%] Zotarolimus-eluting stents, 243 [53%] Everolimus-eluting stents, 46 [10%] Biolimus-eluting stents). Rate of MACCE was equal in both groups (p=0.54). Second-generation DES had a better safety profile than first-generation DES (log-rank for cumulative ST at 1 year p<0.001). First-generation DES was a risk factor for ST (HR 5.75 [1.16–28.47], p=0.03) but not for MACCE (HR 0.89 [0.6–1.32], p=0.57). Conclusions In a real-life setting of diabetic patients undergoing PCI, second-generation DES had lower risk of ST and similar MACCE rate compared to first-generation DES.
HSP70-2 (HSPA1B) is Associated with Noncognitive Symptoms in Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease

Neuropsychiatric manifestations are common in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their phenotypic expression might be related to physiopathological and genetic causes. Multiple studies have implicated oxidative stress to the pathogenesis and possible etiology of AD. One of the mechanisms to protect cells from oxidative stress is the expression of heat-shock proteins (HSP). HSPA1B (alternatively known as HSP70-2) has been related to AD pathophysiology. In the present analysis, 77 AD patients were classified according to their cognitive status with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory and were genotyped for an insertion/deletion (A1/A2) polymorphism. The A2 allele conferred a significant increase of psychiatric morbidity in an allele-dose manner (P < .05). This pattern can be attributed to all AD stages and the severity of the behavioral disturbances was higher for those patients carrying one or two A2 alleles. These results indicate a possible association between the A2 allele and an overexpression of noncognitive symptoms in AD. (J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2003: 16-146-150).