Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of vascular endothelial growth inhibitor (VEGI) in human urothelial cancer of the bladder and its effects on the adhesion and migration of bladder cancer cells in vitro.

BACKGROUND Vascular endothelial growth inhibitor (VEGI) has been implicated in the regulation of tumour-related vasculature in certain solid tumours. However, its role in urothelial tumours is still unclear. In the present study, the role played by VEGI in urothelial tumours of the bladder was investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS The expression of VEGI was examined in cancer human bladder tissues and in a serial of cell lines using immunochemical staining and RT-PCR respectively. The biological impact of modifying VEGI expression in urothelial cancer cells was evaluated using in vitro models. RESULTS VEGI mRNA was expressed in a wide variety of human cell lines. VEGI expression was seen in normal urothelial and stromal cells, but was found to be reduced or absent in urothelial cancer cells. The positive staining in normal tissue (6/7) was significantly higher than that of urothelial cancer tissues (2/12), p=0.006. Moreover, overexpression of VEGI reduced the motility and adhesion of urothelial cancer cells in vitro. However, the overexpression of VEGI had no bearing on the growth and invasion of urothelial cancer cells. CONCLUSION VEGI has an inhibitory effect on cellular motility and adhesion in bladder cancer cells. Taken together with the expression pattern of VEGI in urothelial cancer of the bladder, it suggests that VEGI functions as a negative regulator of aggressiveness during development and progression of bladder cancer.
The Effects of Work Force Diversity on Employee Performance in Singapore Organisations

Workforce diversity has been identified as one of the strategic capabilities that will add value to the organizations over their competition. As Singapore is one of the most globally competitive countries, it attracts highly skilled and extremely innovative people to work here. Age, gender and ethnicity are the most commonly diversified demographic variables observed among the workforce of many organizations. Thus, the present study focuses on the effect of the workforce diversity in terms of age, gender and ethnicity. If the diversity of the workforce is properly managed, it will provide positive benefits. If not properly managed, however, it could lead to negative results. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the views of employees in both the manufacturing as well as the service industries in Singapore. The reliability of the survey was tested by estimating Cronbach’s alpha. The empirical relationship of age, gender and ethnicity of the employees with the performance was computed using Software Package for Social Science (SPSS). The analysis reveals that the three variables do not have a statistically significant impact on the performance of employees. Human resource programmes suggested by the employees to improve the effectiveness of workforce diversity has been recommended.
IT GOVERNANCE DRIVERS, ENABLERS & INHIBITORS AT INDONESIAN STATE OWNED ENTERPRISES

State owned enterprises (SOE) – or Badan Hukum Milik Negara (BUMN) – are very important to the government. Some serve as a vehicle for the government to execute their strategy, and some provide good dividend to the government. Due to its importance, Good Corporate Governance (GCG) is important issue in SOEs. GCG also includes good governance on information technology, as I argue that there must be a need for appropriate frameworks. As van Grembergen (2004) of University Antwerpen School of Management defines, IT Governance is the organizational capacity exercised by the board, executive management and IT management to control the formulation and implementation of IT strategy and in this way ensure fusion of business with IT. It consists of leadership, organizational structures, and processes that ensure that the organization‟s IT sustains and extends the organizational strategy and objective. What is interesting is how SOEs bring value to the stakeholders (which include, of course, the government). In this sector, the implementation of IT governance might be the answer to organization need to ensure IT value creation and also return on IT investments. Without good IT Governance, there might be risk of inappropriate IT investment, failure of services to public / customer and even non-compliance to regulations. The objective of this research is to find what drives these organizations to have good IT Governance. We also want to find the enabling and inhibiting factors of good IT Governance in the context of delivering IT value and managing IT risks. The significance of this research is quite clear that the results can be used as input to prioritize policies or revise existing regulations. It can also serve as benchmarks for service users (the SOEs).
Use of Home Pregnancy Tests Among Adolescent Women

Many adolescents use home pregnancy tests when they suspect pregnancy. However, because of developmental issues and greater variation in menstrual cycles, teens are at risk for obtaining false-negative test results. Moreover, with teens, the need for a pregnancy test often accompanies the need for comprehensive reproductive care including evaluation for sexually transmitted infections and contraception. This article reviews the mechanisms of home pregnancy testing including sensitivity, accuracy, and home testing procedures. Clinical strategies for improving the accuracy of home pregnancy tests for teen users are discussed. Lastly, policy implications to improve teens’ access to more accurate pregnancy testing and to reproductive health services are suggested.
Low Rectal Cancer: Abdominoperineal Resection or Low Hartmann Resection? A Postoperative Outcome Analysis

BACKGROUND: In distal rectum cancers, when the sphincters are not affected and it is not possible to perform a coloanal anastomosis because of the presence of comorbidities or the advanced age of the patient, a low Hartmann resection with total mesorectal excision can be performed. Low Hartmann resection is usually considered to be a shorter procedure and to have an inferior morbidity compared with abdominoperineal resection of the rectum. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the postoperative outcome of a series of patients with low rectal cancer who have undergone either low Hartmann resection or abdominoperineal resection. DESIGN: This study is a retrospective analysis of data collected in a prospective database. SETTINGS: This study was conducted in a specialized Colorectal Unit, Department of Surgery, of a tertiary teaching hospital. PATIENTS: Patients who underwent low Hartmann or abdominoperineal resection for rectal cancer between 1996 and 2009 at our specialized Colorectal Unit were considered. INTERVENTIONS: The main interventions were low Hartmann resection vs abdominoperineal resection. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures were 60-day morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: The pelvic abscess rate was 12.2% in patients who underwent low Hartmann resection and 3.0% in those who underwent abdominoperineal resection (P = .02). The reoperation rate was 14.6% in the Hartmann group and 3.8% in the abdominoperineal group (P = .013). The rehospitalization rates in the Hartmann and abdominoperineal groups were 7.3% and 0.7% (P = .015). No differences were found in the other variables analyzed. At multivariate analysis, the surgical technique performed was the only independent risk factor for pelvic abscess development, readmission, and reoperation. LIMITATIONS: This study was limited by its retrospective nature. CONCLUSION: In our series, low Hartmann resection was associated with higher pelvic abscess, reoperation, and readmission rates. These findings suggest that in patients with rectal cancer without sphincter infiltration and who are unsuitable for coloanal anastomosis, abdominoperineal resection should be a valid alternative to low Hartmann resection.
Comparing the Effects of Peer Support and Training by Healthcare Providers on Primiparous Women’s Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy

Background & aim: Breastfeeding self-efficacy is an important factor affecting the success and duration of breastfeeding. Self-efficacy of people is influenced by four sources including performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion and the physiological responses which seem to be modified by breastfeeding intervention. This study was conducted to compare the effect of providing peer support versus training women by health care providers on breastfeeding self-efficacy. Methods : This controlled clinical trial was conducted on 93 primiparous women in Mashhad health-care centres. Three centres were selected as clusters and subjects who attended each cluster were randomly allocated to three groups of peer support, training by health care providers and control. The peer support group received support from their peers four times. Subjects who were trained by health care providers participated in four training sessions by health care providers and the control group only received the routine care. At the end of the eighth postpartum week, data were collected using the breastfeeding self-efficacy scale. The data were analysed using ANOVA and paired t-test with SPSS, version 14. Results: The mean score of self-efficacy at the end of the eighth postpartum week, in the peer support, training by healthcare providers and control groups, were 54.4±9.75, 50.8±13.05 and 56.4±9.49, respectively. The three groups showed no significant differences in terms of breastfeeding self-efficacy score at the end of the eighth postpartum week (P-value=0.125). Breastfeeding self-efficacy score at baseline and at the end of the eighth postpartum week were significantly different in peer support and training by health care providers groups (P=0.05). Conclusion : Peer support and training by healthcare providers have similar impact on breastfeeding self-efficacy in primiparous women. So they could be used interchangeably to promote breastfeeding behavior.
Cooperation and the Boundaries of the Firm: A Framed-Field Experiment

This paper studies the effect of firm boundaries on inter-individual cooperation in corporate settings. I conduct a framed-field linear public good game experiment in the natural environment of the workplace. I use information about the actual boundaries of two firms, which are a parent firm and its subsidiary. I document differences in the overall level of cooperation across the parent firm, its subsidiary, and an intra-corporate group that comprises players from both the parent firm and the subsidiary. In stark contrast to previous results, I find that cooperation is increasing over time within the parent firm, indicating that firms can foster stronger cooperation within their boundaries. In other treatments the standard declining cooperation is not rejected. Overall, I find higher levels of contribution to the public good relative to conventional laboratory experiments. I estimate the importance of individuals' identity and find that higher weight placed on identity is associated with higher contributions, but only within the parent firm. Higher levels of self-awareness can help explain patterns of cooperation within the boundaries of the firm.
Web equity: a framework for building consumer value in online companies

In this study, a framework is developed that can be used to build “Web equity”, which is defined as consumer familiarity and perceptions about a Web site. The framework is rooted in traditional brand equity dimensions (brand awareness and brand image) and is supported by four categories of factors identified as important to consumers in building value in online companies: marketer and non‐marketer communications, Web site design, vendor characteristics, and product/service characteristics. How these factors impact consumer awareness and image of a dot.com are discussed and ways in which online companies can effectively use these tools to develop strong Web equity are suggested.
On the automatic extraction of biomechanical information from handwriting signals

The analysis and synthesis of handwriting are discussed. In the context of a new generation model, a transfer function is proposed to describe the biomechanics of the system involved. This approach allows the extraction of specific movement parameters that reflect the active and passive states of the muscle network (generalized time constant, global gain factor) and the schematic description of the actualized motor program used to generate specific lines (timing and amplitude of the input stimuli). The model is validated with the automatic analysis and synthesis of more than 1500 straight lines written in eight directions by 11 subjects. The parameters extracted during this experiment are analyzed statistically as a function of the direction of movement and of the presence or absence of precue information about these directions. It is shown that asymmetries do exist at different levels in the system. A few directions can be distinguished from the others, but no independent and specific classes of principal directions clearly appear. The most efficient ones correspond to the range of directions of up and down strokes in normal cursive script. >
Effects of CSR Performance and Amount of Material Information Disclosed on Analysts’ Forecast Accuracy

This paper investigates the effects of CSR performance and the amount of CSR material information disclosed on analysts’ forecast accuracy. Both independent variables were operationalized matching the indicators of the GRI sector guidelines with those of ASSET4. Regression analysis was used on 43,273 observations related to 359 firms from 22 countries sectors during the period 2011–2014. Data was collected from the Datastream’s ASSET4, Worldscope, and I/B/E/S databases. Results indicate that it is the amount of CSR material information disclosed and not the CSR performance which reduces analysts’ forecast error. They also show that the amount of CSR material information disclosed has more explanatory power over forecasts error than the CSR performance. The paper contributes to the literature by helping to explain the mechanism through which CSR disclosures help to reduce analysts’ forecast error. According to the results, signaling theory is more helpful than the stakeholder-risk mitigation hypothesis with regard to explaining the relationship between CSR disclosures and analysts’ forecast accuracy. These findings have implications for firms, data providers, and non-financial disclosures frameworks.
Hemodynamic relationships of anaerobic metabolism and plasma free fatty acids during prolonged, strenuous exercise in trained and untrained subjects.

Many of the physiological responses to exercise are known to be modified in physically trained subjects. Athletes, compared to untrained persons, are known to have a slower heart rate with increased work capacity per beat (1, 2), greater stroke volume (3), more efficient respiration with decreased minute ventilation (4), larger maximal oxygen intake (5), and less accumulation of lactic acid during exercise (6, 7). Red-cell and plasma volumes are probably larger in athletes than in untrained subjects (8). A measurable result of physical training is increased endurance for muscular exercise. The present investigation was designed to evaluate hemodynamic as well as certain carbohydrate and lipid responses that might help to explain the greater endurance in persons with increased capacity for strenuous exercise. A constant speed and grade of treadmill walking was chosen so that sedentary subjects would reach their limits of endurance within about 30 minutes. Since this same work load was only of moderate severity for physically trained persons, they were expected to continue exertion for a considerably longer time.
Ensuring security and privacy in a personalized mobile environment

ii PREFACE. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v LIST OF TABLES. ix LIST OF FIGURES . x CHAPTER
BEEF CATTLE PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATORS

Beef producers need to continually incorporate new information and adopt new technology to effectively manage production costs. Oklahoma State University began a Master Cattleman program with this need in mind. Understanding technology adoption by producers requires identifying current management practices. Data from a survey developed as part of the Master Cattleman program document current practices. Management practices were examined for two groups; producers with smaller herds who are less dependent on the beef enterprise for family income, and producers with larger herds who are more dependent on beef. Results clearly show that size and dependence on the beef enterprise matters when considering a broad spectrum of beef management practices.
Association between obesity, dental caries and socioeconomic status in 6- and 13-year-old school children.

PURPOSE To investigate the association between dental caries, obesity and socioeconomic status (SES) in 6-and 13-yearold school children in Davangere city, Karnataka, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data were obtained from a cohort of 1,550 children. Dental caries detection was performed according to the World Health Organization criteria and the medical evaluation assessed the body mass index (BMI). With appropriate sample weighting, relationships between dmft/DMFT, obesity and socioeconomic status were assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis H test and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS The prevalence of dental caries was 28.9%. The mean dmft and DMFT scores for 6-year-olds were 2.1 ± 3.75 and 0.16 ± 0.59, respectively, and corresponding values for 13-year-olds were 0.03 ± 0.19 and 0.91 ± 2.04. Of the total sample, the mean BMI was 16.56 ± 2.8. Approximately 63.4% of the children were classified as normal weight, 18.1% as overweight and 7.5% as obese. When adjusted for covariates, the logistic regression model showed that there was a significant association between overweight children (P < 0.001), obese children (P < 0.05) and caries prevalence. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated a significant association between caries frequency and obesity in school children. In future preventive programmes, the importance of obesity should not only be emphasised with respect to general diseases but also with regard to carious lesions.
INFLUENCE OF THE INTERNET USE ON FIRM PERFORMANCE. AN APPLICATION TO THE PHARMACEUTICAL DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRY IN SPAIN

Researchers have concerned about the link between Information Technology investment and performance. Indicators like productivity, profitability and market share could be improved by these tools. Among these tools, firms can now use Internet technologies for competitive purposes but, until now, their real effects are unclear. In this paper we try to provide some evidence about the impact of the Internet on competitive advantage in a Western European Industry. Also, we try to explain why the use of the Internet not always lead to competitive improvements in modern firms.
Conformance testing of variable driven automata

In this paper, we address the conformance testing problem for timed constrained critical systems. We propose a new model adapted to describe such systems. The model is called Variable Driven Timed Automata (VDTA) and is a variant of timed automata in which events are variable assignments and all transitions are urgent. We present a sound and exhaustive on the fly testing algorithm for such systems. As an application of our approach, we propose a case study on a “Bi-manual command” system.
Mouse Mix gene is activated early during differentiation of ES and F9 stem cells and induces endoderm in frog embryos

In frog and zebrafish, the Mix/Bix family of paired type homeodomain proteins play key roles in specification and differentiation of mesendoderm. However, in mouse, only a single Mix gene (mMix) has been identified to date and its function is unknown. We have analyzed the expression of mouse Mix RNA and protein in embryos, embryoid bodies formed from embryonic stem cells and F9 teratocarcinoma cells, as well as several differentiated cell types. Expression in embryoid bodies in culture mirrors that in embryos, where Mix is transcribed transiently in primitive (visceral) endoderm (VE) and in nascent mesoderm. In F9 cells induced by retinoic acid to differentiate to VE, mMix is coordinately expressed with three other endodermal transcription factors, well before AFP, and its protein product is localized to the nucleus. In a subpopulation of nascent mesodermal cells from embryonic stem cell embryoid bodies, mMix is coexpressed with Brachyury. Intriguingly, mMix mRNA is detected in a population (T+Flk1+) of cells which may contain hemangioblasts, before the onset of hematopoiesis and activation of hematopoietic markers. In vitro and in vivo, mMix expression in nascent mesoderm is rapidly down‐regulated and becomes undetectable in differentiated cell types. In the region of the developing gut, mMix expression is confined to the mesoderm of mid‐ and hindgut but is absent from definitive endoderm. Injection of mouse mMix RNA into early frog embryos results in axial truncation of developing tadpoles and, in animal cap assays, mMix alone is sufficient to activate expression of several endodermal (but not mesodermal) markers. Although these observations do not exclude a possible cell‐autonomous function for mMix in mesendodermal progenitor cells, they do suggest an additional, non–cell autonomous role in nascent mesoderm in the formation and/or patterning of adjacent definitive endoderm. Developmental Dynamics 226:000–000, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Venture Capital: A Potential Model of Musharakah

Venture capital is a form of active investment through equity-based instruments. Venture capital financing is praised for its role in promoting growth while maintaining financial stability. From an Islamic point of view, such arrangements appear very close to the model of musharakah which Islamic banks are seeking, but many in reality failed to adopt. Venture capital is also well suited to Islamic countries because of its positive impact on growth and development. "رأس المال المخاطر" هو صورة لاستثمار نشط مبني على أدوات المشاركة في حقوق الملكية. ومما يذكر من مزاياه تشجيعه النمو مع حفظ الاستقرار المالي. ويبدو من وجهة إسلامية أنه قريب جدا من نموذج المشاركة الذي تتوق إليه البنوك الإسلامية وإن لم يفلح أكثرها في تبنيه. و "رأس المال المخاطر" ملائم جدا للبلاد الإسلامية لأثره الإيجابي على التنمية.
Loyalty saturation in retailing: exploring the end of retail loyalty cards?

The proliferation of retail loyalty schemes has been one of the most marked features of retail marketing in the 1990s. Many retailers have one in some guise or other. Their sheer volume has meant that some have begun to question whether there is a limit to loyalty. Presents results from exploratory research that demonstrates that consumers may be becoming more wary of cards and schemes and being more selective. Managerial lessons from this are developed.
How Anticipated Employee Mobility Affects Acquisition Likelihood: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

type="main" xml:id="smj2237-abs-0001"> This study draws on strategic factor market theory and argues that acquirers' decisions regarding whether to bid for a firm reflect their expectations about employee departure from the firm post-acquisition, suggesting a negative relationship between the anticipated employee departure from a firm and the likelihood of the firm becoming an acquisition target. Using a natural experiment and a difference-in-differences approach, we find causal evidence that constraints on employee mobility raise the likelihood of a firm becoming an acquisition target. The causal effect is stronger when a firm employs more knowledge workers in its workforce and when it faces greater in-state competition; by contrast, the effect is weaker when a firm is protected by a stronger intellectual property regime that mitigates the consequences of employee mobility . Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.