Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INNOVATION IN A RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENT: ESTABLISHING AN INTER-ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORK ORIENTED TO THE ISLAMIC MARKET

Objetivo: Comprender la generacion de innovacion en un ambiente religioso, guiada por las exigencias del Islam. Brasil se destaca como un importante exportador a los paises del Oriente Medio, principalmente para productos tales como pollos Halal, producidos de acuerdo con las normas religiosas musulmanas. Para la viabilidad empresarial una red de oferta diferenciada tuvo que producirse, con la organizacion de los actores en torno a las normas religiosas. Originalidad/laguna/relevancia/implicaciones: La gestion de productos y procesos es predominantemente orientada apuntando ganancias en eficiencia y productividad (por ejemplo, reduccion de costes). Sin embargo, esta gestion debe cumplir los requisitos adicionales en una red de suministros donde la religion actua con un papel destacado. Principales aspectos metodologicos: Entrevistas exploratorias con los encuestados claves en el plano estrategico, investigacion documental y observacion no participante de las lineas de produccion y lugares de trabajo. Sintesis de los principales resultados: Los actores estan conectados en la red a una ganancia comun, con los aspectos economicos y sociales, movilizados por las normas institucionales y por principios religiosos. Los cambios en los productos y procesos, dependen de la aceptacion por parte de los organismos religiosos, y no puede ocurrir sin una alineacion previa de viejas creencias y antiguas practicas. Principales consideraciones/conclusiones: La transferencia del conocimiento y la innovacion se entrelazan con las reglas religiosas, guiando a los actores de la red en cambios en el producto y el proceso, tanto para los musulmanes como para los no musulmanes. Nuevas formas de producir, a pesar de grandes aumentos en la productividad y el aumento de la excelencia, dependen de la aprobacion de lideres religiosos que interpretan la innovacion segun las normas del Coran, es decir, si estan en conformidad con la ley islamica.
The Effect of Refrigerator Use on Meat Consumption in Rural China

Refrigerator ownership in rural China increased from 14% to 45% over the period 2001-2010.We test the impact on demand for food, particularly meat, using fixed-effect and demand system approaches based on provincial data. Results suggest that rising refrigerator ownership had a negative effect on rural at-home meat demand.
Differences in neuropsychiatric symptoms between nursing home residents with young-onset dementia and late-onset dementia

ABSTRACT Objective: The aims of the current study are (1) to explore the differences in neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) between young-onset dementia (YOD) and late-onset dementia (LOD), and (2) to investigate whether the possible differences can be attributed to differences in dementia subtype, gender, psychotropic drug use (PDU), or dementia severity. Method: Three hundred and eighty-six nursing home (NH) residents with YOD and 350 with LOD were included. Multilevel modeling was used to compare NPS between the groups . Furthermore, dementia subtype, gender, PDU, and dementia severity were added to the crude multilevel models to investigate whether the possible differences in NPS could be attributed to these characteristics. Results: Higher levels of apathy were found in NH residents with YOD. After the characteristics were added to the models, also lower levels of verbally agitated behaviors were found in YOD . Conclusion: We recommend that special attention be paid to interventions targeting apathy in YOD. Although no differences in other NPS were found, the PDU rates were higher in YOD, suggesting that the threshold for the use of PDU in the management of NPS is lower. This underscores the need for appropriate attention to non-pharmacological interventions for the management of NPS in YOD.
Ex Vivo Homeostatic Proliferation of CD4+ T Cells in Rheumatoid Arthritis Is Dysregulated and Driven by Membrane-Anchored TNFα1

The systemic CD4+ T cell compartment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by TCR repertoire contraction, shortened telomere lengths, and decreased numbers of recent thymic emigrants, suggesting a disturbed CD4+ T cell homeostasis. In mice, homeostatic proliferation of peripheral CD4+ T cells is regulated by TCR interaction with self peptide-MHC complexes (pMHC) and can be reproduced in vitro. We have established an ex vivo model of homeostatic proliferation, in which self-replication of human CD4+ T cells is induced by cell-cell contact with autologous monocytes. In healthy individuals, blockade of TCR-pMHC class II contact resulted in decreased CD4+ T cell division. In contrast, homeostatic proliferation in RA patients was not inhibited by pMHC blockade, but increased during the initial culture period. The anti-TNF-α Ab cA2 inhibited homeostasis-driven ex vivo proliferation in healthy controls and in RA patients. In addition, treatment of RA patients with infliximab decreased the ex vivo rate of homeostatic proliferation of CD4+ T cells. Our results suggest a disturbed regulation of CD4+ T cell homeostasis leading to the repertoire aberrations reported in RA. Membrane-anchored TNF-α appears to be a cell-cell contact-dependent stimulus of homeostatic proliferation of CD4+ T cells, possibly favoring self-replication of autoreactive CD4+ T cells in patients with RA.
Idiopathic Retroperitoneal Fibrosis.

Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF), reviewed herein, is a rare fibro-inflammatory disease that develops around the abdominal aorta and the iliac arteries, and spreads into the adjacent retroperitoneum, where it frequently causes ureteral obstruction and renal failure. The clinical phenotype of RPF is complex, because it can be associated with fibro-inflammatory disorders involving other organs, is considered part of the spectrum of IgG4-related disease, and often arises in patients with other autoimmune conditions. Obstructive uropathy is the most common complication, although other types of renal involvement may occur, including stenosis of the renal arteries and veins, renal atrophy, and different types of associated GN. Environmental and genetic factors contribute to disease susceptibility, whereas the immunopathogenesis of RPF is mediated by different immune cell types that eventually promote fibroblast activation. The diagnosis is made on the basis of computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography is a useful tool in disease staging and follow-up. Treatment of idiopathic RPF aims at relieving ureteral obstruction and inducing disease regression, and includes the use of glucocorticoids, combined or not with other traditional immunosuppressants. However, biologic therapies such as the B cell-depleting agent rituximab are emerging as potentially efficacious agents in difficult-to-treat cases.
Endogenous Pain Modulation in Response to Exercise in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Comorbid Fibromyalgia, and Healthy Controls: A Double‐Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Temporal summation (TS) of pain, conditioned pain modulation (CPM), and exercise‐induced analgesia (EIA) are often investigated in chronic pain populations as an indicator for enhanced pain facilitation and impaired endogenous pain inhibition, respectively, but interactions are not yet clear both in healthy controls and in chronic pain patients. Therefore, the present double‐blind randomized placebo‐controlled study evaluates pains cores, TS, and CPM in response to exercise in healthy controls, patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and comorbid fibromyalgia (CFS/FM), and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), both under placebo and paracetamol condition.
The role of comorbidity in explaining the associations between anxiety disorders and smoking.

INTRODUCTION Research has generally found strong associations between smoking and anxiety disorders. The present study sought to examine the role of comorbidity in explaining these relationships. METHODS Participants from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication (N = 5,692) were included in the present study. Axis I disorders were assessed using the World Mental Health Survey Initiative version of the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview. In addition, smoking and mental health treatment history were assessed. RESULTS Multivariate analyses covarying for demographic variables and psychiatric and substance use comorbidity found that posttraumatic stress disorder was uniquely associated with every smoking outcome of interest, including 12-month and lifetime daily and heavy smoking, nicotine dependence, and cessation failure. Generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder were associated with fewer smoking-related outcomes, and contrary to predictions, panic disorder was only independently associated with 12-month daily smoking. Panic attack history, however, was uniquely associated with 12-month daily and heavy smoking, nicotine dependence, and lifetime cessation failure. In addition, analyses indicated that greater number of anxiety disorders was associated with greater prevalence of each smoking outcome, and the presence of even one anxiety disorder was associated with elevated smoking prevalence. DISCUSSION Several specific anxiety disorders were found to be uniquely associated with smoking behavior. Findings suggest that comorbidity may only explain the associations with smoking difficulties for some anxiety disorders.
The influence of very small doses of alpha radiation on the stability of erythrocytes

Our aim was to study the influence of low doses (0.2–4 μGy) of α radiation on the stability of human erythrocytes isolated from healthy and diabetic erythrocytes. Absorption spectroscopy was used to measure the level of red blood cell (RBC) hemolysis, along with Mössbauer spectroscopy, which is a highly specific method suited to monitoring various hemoglobin forms. States of hemoglobin are sensitive to a homeostatic imbalance in red blood cells. Changes in the membrane skeleton organization of irradiated erythrocytes isolated from healthy donors were studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Hemolysis, in healthy red blood cells, showed characteristic discontinuities, depending on the α particle flux and the exposure time to the low doses applied. This phenomenon was not observed in severe diabetic cases, which could be a result of modified protein–lipid–sugar complexes and the attenuation/absence of some antioxidative enzymatic processes in their RBC membranes. Similar effects were also observed for red blood cells treated with low doses of neutron and γ‐radiation. AFM measurements demonstrated a reorganization of the RBC membrane skeleton network depending on the time of RBC exposure to α radiation. This suggests that the changes in the activity of the acute defense processes against free radicals which are activated within the erythrocyte membrane irradiated with α‐particles could additionally be up‐ or down regulated by modifications to the membrane–skeleton network. However, even the highest dose of α radiation applied in these studies did not cause any significant changes in the ability of hemoglobin to transport oxygen. Microsc. Res. Tech. 80:131–143, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Country roads, take me home… to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness.

We propose the savanna theory of happiness, which suggests that it is not only the current consequences of a given situation but also its ancestral consequences that affect individuals' life satisfaction and explains why such influences of ancestral consequences might interact with intelligence. We choose two varied factors that characterize basic differences between ancestral and modern life - population density and frequency of socialization with friends - as empirical test cases. As predicted by the theory, population density is negatively, and frequency of socialization with friends is positively, associated with life satisfaction. More importantly, the main associations of life satisfaction with population density and socialization with friends significantly interact with intelligence, and, in the latter case, the main association is reversed among the extremely intelligent. More intelligent individuals experience lower life satisfaction with more frequent socialization with friends. This study highlights the utility of incorporating evolutionary perspectives in the study of subjective well-being.
AlN/BP Heterostructure Photocatalyst for Water Splitting

In this letter, the structural, electronic, and optical properties of blue phosphorene (BP) and graphene-like aluminum nitride (AlN) nanocomposite are investigated by the first-principles method. Despite the indirect bandgap nature of the BP and AlN monolayers, AlN/BP heterostructure exhibits a direct bandgap characteristic in the most stable pattern. Moreover, we also find that the optically active states of the maximum valence and the minimum conduction bands are localized on opposite monolayers, leading to the electrons and holes spontaneously separated (type-II band alignment), which enhances the photocatalytic efficiency. Most interestingly, the AlN/BP heterobilayer exhibits enhanced optical properties in the visible and UV light zone, which is comparable or even superior to pristine BP - overall, the suitable direct gap and band edges positions, type-II band alignment, and fascinating visible and UV light adsorption, which enable AlN/BP heterostructure to have great potential applications in the field of solar energy conversion and photocatalytic water splitting.
Low prevalence of Chlamydia psittaci infection in French patients with ocular adnexal lymphomas (OAL).

17536 Background: A high prevalence of Chlamydia psittaci infection in both tumor tissues and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Italian patients with OAL has been reported (Ferreri AJ, Guidoboni M, Ponzoni M, De Conciliis C, Dell'Oro S, Fleischhauer K, et al. Evidence for an association between Chlamydia psittaci and ocular adnexal lymphomas. J Natl Cancer Inst 2004;96(8):586-94. ) This association has not been confirmed in some regions of the USA, and no data from other European countries are available. We therefore investigated the presence of DNA of C. psittaci, C. trachomatis, and C. pneumoniae DNA in French patients (pts) with OAL. METHODS Tumor samples from ophthalmologic biopsies of 16 OAL pts (10 conjunctiva, 6 orbit) were included in the study. Histologic type were MALT-type (n = 8), lymphoplasmocytic (n = 6), follicular (n = 1), and diffuse large B-cell (n = 1) lymphomas. Two other groups of lymphoproliferative disease were analyzed as controls. First, ten cases of nodal lymphomas (follicular and marginal zone B-cell lymphomas), and ten cases of reactive lymphoid hyperplasia were analyzed. A multiplex touchdown, enzyme time-release PCR designed to simultaneously detect C. psittaci, C. pneumoniae and C. trachomatis DNA sequences was performed. PCR analyses were performed in duplicate in an independent setting either inat the Curie Institut Curie in e, Paris, and in the National Cancer Institute, Aviano. RESULTS DNA of C. psittaci DNA was detected in the tumoral tissue of only one patient with follicular OAL. No DNA sequences of C. psittaci, C. pneumoniae and C. trachomatis DNA sequences were was detected in all any of the other OALs, or controls. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of C. psittaci infection in French pts with OAL was sensibly significantly lower than that reported in Italian series. Cross-controls between the two laboratories indicate that this finding is not due to different experimental conditions. Discrepancies may be explained by an heterogeneous epidemiological distribution of the bacterial infection. Large studies aimed to investigate geographical variations in the prevalence of this association are warranted. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
Unobtrusive and Continuous Monitoring of Alcohol-impaired Gait Using Smart Shoes

Summary Background: Alcohol ingestion influences sensory-motor function and the overall well-being of individuals. Detecting alcoholinduced impairments in gait in daily life necessitates a continuous and unobtrusive gait monitoring system. Objectives: This paper introduces the development and use of a non-intrusive monitoring system to detect changes in gait induced by alcohol intoxication. Methods: The proposed system employed a pair of sensorized smart shoes that are equipped with pressure sensors on the insole. Gait features were extracted and adjusted based on individual’s gait profile. The adjusted gait features were used to train a machine learning classifier to discriminate alcohol-impaired gait from normal walking. In experiment of pilot study, twenty participants completed walking trials on a 12 meter walkway to measure their sober walking and alcohol-impaired walking using smart shoes. Results: The proposed system can detect alcohol-impaired gait with an accuracy of 86.2% when pressure value analysis and person-dependent model for the classifier are applied, while statistical analysis revealed that no single feature was discriminative for the detection of gait impairment. Conclusions: Alcohol-induced gait disturbances can be detected with smart shoe technology for an automated monitoring in ubiquitous environment. We demonstrated that personal monitoring and machine learning-based prediction could be customized to detect individual variation rather than applying uniform boundary parameters of gait.
Ala/Thr60 variant of the Leydig insulin‐like hormone is not associated with cryptorchidism in the Japanese population

Abstract Background : Leydig insulin‐like hormone (Insl3), a member of the insulin‐like superfamily, is specifically expressed in Leydig cells of fetal and postnatal murine testis. Recently, the absence of the Insl3 gene has been reported to result in bilateral cryptorchidism in male mice and it has been suggested that mutations of the INSL3 gene may cause cryptorchidism in humans.
A Pipeline design for implementation of LPC Feature Extraction System based on Levinson-Durbin Algorithm

One of the most efficient procedures for solving the LPC (Linear Prediction Coding) coefficients Problem is the Levinson-Durbin Algorithm that has been widely adopted in practical system design. However with advanced Development in Multimedia and Telephony system, the Software Implementation of such Algorithms on DSP Processors doesn't satisfy the speed requirements of these systems. Given that, in this work, with the design of a flexible system we present an efficient model for hardware implementation of The LPC Feature Extraction System, based on Levinson-Durbin Algorithm. The proposed architecture for Levinson-Durbin recursive Algorithm significantly reduced the resource utilization. Flexibility in coefficient's order, along with Pipeline technique exploitation, improves our proposed system performance.
Cyclic Tensile Strain Reduces TNF‐α Induced Expression of MMP‐13 by Condylar Temporomandibular Joint Cells

To investigate whether the disproportionate degradation of mandibular condyle cartilage in arthritic juvenile temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is related to distinctive responses of TMJ‐derived cells to tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), and whether mechanical loading affects this response. The effect of TNF‐α (0.1–10 ng/ml) was tested on juvenile porcine TMJ cells isolated from the condyle, fossa, and disc, grown in 3D agarose gels. Expression of anabolic and catabolic factors was quantified by RT‐qPCR and/or immunohistochemistry. Condylar cells were stimulated for 12 h with TNF‐α (10 ng/ml), followed by 8 h of 6% cyclic tensile strain, and gene expression of MMPs was quantified. TNF‐α (10 ng/ml) reduced the expression of the matrix proteins collagen types I and II after 6 h of incubation. Aggrecan gene expression was increased in the presence of 0.1 ng/ml TNF‐α. The fossa and disc cells responded to TNF‐α with an increased expression of the aggrecanase ADAMTS4. TNF‐α enhanced MMP‐13 gene and protein expression only by condylar cells. Mechanical loading reduced this effect. Cells isolated from the different cartilaginous structures reacted differently to TNF‐α. Since the disc and fossa contain a very low level of proteoglycans in comparison to the condyle, the role played by ADAMTS4 in degradation of the fossa and disc might be limited. TNF‐α induced MMP‐13 expression by condylar cells might be involved in the degradation of the juvenile condyle. Since this expression was reduced by mechanical loading, functional loading with oral physiotherapy or orthodontic activators may help to reduce the catabolic effect of TNF‐α. J. Cell. Physiol. 232: 1287–1294, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Incidence, neutrophil kinetics, and nautral history of neonatal neutropenia associated with maternal hypertension

Neutropenia occurs often among the newborns of women with hypertension, but its cause, mechanism, and clinical consequences have not been adequately studied. Of 72 infants whose mothers had hypertension during pregnancy, 35 (49 percent) had neutropenia, which persisted from 1 hour to 30 days. The disorder was more prevalent among newborns whose growth had been retarded in utero (P less than 0.01), those who had been delivered prematurely (P less than 0.001), and those whose mothers had had severe hypertension (P less than 0.002) or hypertension and the HELLP syndrome (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) (P less than 0.01). Kinetic investigations of circulating, marginated, storage, and proliferative neutrophils and their progenitors suggested that the neutropenia was the result of diminished neutrophil production. Noscomial infections occurred during the first 2 1/2 weeks of life in eight (23 percent) of the newborns with neutropenia, but in only one (3 percent) of those without this disorder (P less than 0.01). We conclude that the neonatal neutropenia associated with maternal hypertension is due to transiently reduced neutrophil production and is associated with an increased risk of noscomial infection. Its basic cause remains unknown.
Attribution of causes of weight loss and weight gain to 3-year mortality in older adults: results from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam.

BACKGROUND Weight loss is associated with a higher mortality risk in old age, but the underlying cause may impact this association. We examined associations between causes of intentional and unintentional weight loss and weight gain and mortality. METHODS We used data of five triannual examination rounds of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (age ≥ 55 years, n = 2,645) and two examination rounds of a new cohort (n = 909). Self-reported weight loss or gain and causes were measured during a personal interview. Time-dependent Cox regression was used to model the association between weight loss and gain causes and subsequent 3-year mortality. RESULTS At baseline, 16% reported weight loss (mean = 4.7 kg, SD = 3.7) in 6 months. After adjustment for potential confounders, an increased mortality risk was observed for unintentional weight loss due to medical reasons (<72 years: hazard ratio = 2.43 [95% confidence interval: 1.52-3.88]; ≥72 years: 1.62 [1.23-2.14]), unknown reasons (1.98 [1.49-2.62]), and change in eating pattern (1.89 [1.12-3.18]). No association was found for unintentional weight loss due to social reasons, intentional weight loss (dieting or physical activity), or weight gain. Weight loss due to medical or social reasons was often regained in subsequent 3 years while weight loss due to other causes was not. CONCLUSIONS Weight loss due to social reasons was not associated with mortality suggesting that not all unintentional weight loss is harmful. The increased mortality risk of other causes of unintentional weight loss may be related to underlying disease. Intentional weight loss was not associated with mortality.