Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of inflammation and matrix proteins in airway remodelling

10 1. REVIEw OF THE LITERATURE . 12 1.1 Inflammation in the airways . 12 1.1.1 Inflammatory mediators . 12 1.1.2 The role of smoking in airway inflammation . 15 1.1. 3 Allergic asthma and mouse models of allergic airway inflammation . 17 1.1. 4 Diisocyanate-induced asthma . 23 1.1. 5 STAT4 and STAT6 . 24 1.2 Remodelling in the airways . 26 1.2. 1 General . 26 1.2. 2 ASM.27 1.2. 3 Mediators . 27 1.2. 4 Bronchial BM . 27 1.2. 5 Epithelium . 28 1.2. 6 Mouse models . 29 1.2. 7 Tenascin-C . 30 1.2. 8 Laminins . 31 1.2. 9 Relationship between inflammation and remodelling . 33 2. AIMS OF THE STUDy . 34 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS . 35 3.1 Subjects (I-II, IV) . 35 3.1.1 Healthy subjects, asymptomatic ex-smokers and smokers . 35 3.1.2 Patients.35 3.1. 3 Lung functions . 36 3.1. 4 Bronchoscopy . 36 3.2 OVAinduced mouse model of allergic airway inflammation (III) . 37 3.2. 1 Animals . 37 3.2. 2 Sensitisation and challenge . 37 3.2. 3 Airway responsiveness and sample collection and preparation . 37 3.3 Immunohistochemistry . 38 3.3.1 Tenascin-C and laminins (III‒IV and unpublished data) . 38 3.3.2 Inflammatory cells in biopsies (I‒II) . 39 3.4 Real-time quantitative RT-PCR (I‒III) . 40 3.5 Cells (III) . 41 3.6 western blotting (III) . 41 3.7 Statistics . 42 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . 43 4.1 Inflammation . 43 4.1.1 Asymptomatic smokers (I) . 43 4.1.2 Diisocyanate-induced asthma (II) . 47 4.1. 3 Mouse model of allergic asthma (III) . 50 4.2 Expression of tenascin-C . 52 4.2. 1 wT mice (III) . 52 4.2. 2 STAT4-/and STAT6-/mice (III) . 52 4.2. 3 DIA (unpublished data) . 53 4.3 Expression of laminin α2 and β2 chains . 54 4.3.1 Mice (unpublished data) . 54 4.3.2 Patients (IV) . 56 5. GENERAL DISCUSSION . 58 5.1 why are macrophages inactive in smokers? 58 5.2 Mice models: do we need them? 58 5.3 Diversity of asthma: DIA . 59 5.4 Activation of the developmental mechanisms in asthma . 59 5.5 Shortcomings of the substudies . 60 6. CONCLUSIONS.62 ACKNOwLEDGMENTS . 63 REFERENCES . 66 ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS . 93
Periodontitis as a risk factor for preterm delivery of babies among pregnant women

Aim : To determine if periodontitis of the pregnant women is a risk factor for delivery of preterm babies. Methods : The total number of subjects in the present longitudinal study was 98 pregnant women. The study participants were chosen from the outpatients of Gynecology department of the People’s Hospital, Bhopal over a period of one month. After obtaining informed consent from the patient, a self-administered questionnaire covering the patient’s oral hygiene and dietary patterns was recorded. A modified World Health Organization (WHO) Oral Health Assessment form, 1997 was used for the clinical examination. Results : Tooth brush and toothpaste was the material of choice for majority of the participants. Caries prevalence of the study population accounted to 87.8%. It was observed that significantly greater proportion (28.6%) of subjects with deep pockets delivered a preterm baby in contrast to 12.2% delivering fullterm babies. The loss of attachment and preterm delivery was significantly related. Subjects with shallow pockets were very less likely to have preterm babies than those with deep periodontal pockets (OR=0.12, p=0.0001). Conclusion : This study concludes that periodontitis is associated with delivery of preterm babies.
Diagnosing the Structure of Massive Stars with Galactic Supernova Neutrinos

It has been suggested that whether a star explodes or not, and what kind of explosion properties it shows, is strongly dependent on the progenitor's core structure. We present the results from 101 axisymmetric core-collapse supernova simulations performed with progenitors spanning initial masses in the range from 10.8 to 75 solar masses, and focus on their connections to the compactness of the progenitor's core. Our simulations confirm a correlation between the neutrinos emitted during the accretion phase and the progenitor's compactness. We suggest that the ratio of observed neutrino events during the first hundreds of milliseconds can be used to infer the progenitor's inner mass density structure.
Strategy Process Management in Multinational Companies: Status Quo, Deficits and Future Perspectives

This article analyzes the underinvestigated field of strategy process management in German multinational companies (MNCs). Whereas the emphasis of research in the field of strategic management has traditionally been laid on the investigation of the strategy content, the knowledge of the strategy process and how promising strategies can be shaped and implemented within firms still remains limited. Considering these aspects this paper provides the following: first, we draw a distinction between different stages of the strategy process and empirically investigate tools and concepts applied by 122 firms to describe the status quo of strategic management in German MNCs. Second, based on our findings, we highlight the major deficits in the current strategy processes of the surveyed firms. Third, we present some suggestions on how strategy processes should be designed in MNCs in order to have a positive impact on performance. Although our study focuses solely on German MNCs we consider the results to be helpful for firms from other national backgrounds.
An X-Ray Imaging Survey of Quasar Jets: The Complete Survey

We present Chandra X-ray imaging of a flux-limited sample of flat spectrum radio-emitting quasars with jet-like structure. X-rays are detected from 59% of 56 jets. No counter-jets were detected. The core spectra are fitted by power-law spectra with a photon index Γx, whose distribution is consistent with a normal distribution, with a mean of 1.61+0.04−0.05 and dispersion of 0.15+0.04−0.03. We show that the distribution of αrx, the spectral index between the X-ray and radio band jet fluxes, fits a Gaussian with a mean of 0.974 ± 0.012 and dispersion of 0.077 ± 0.008. We test the model in which kiloparsec-scale X-rays result from inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons off the jet’s relativistic electrons (the IC-CMB model). In the IC-CMB model, a quantity Q computed from observed fluxes and the apparent size of the emission region depends on redshift as (1 + z)3+α. We fit Q ∝ (1 + z)a, finding a = 0.88 ± 0.90, and reject at 99.5% confidence the hypothesis that the average αrx depends on redshift in the manner expected in the IC-CMB model. This conclusion is mitigated by a lack of detailed knowledge of the emission region geometry, which requires deeper or higher resolution X-ray observations. Furthermore, if the IC-CMB model is valid for X-ray emission from kiloparsec-scale jets, then the jets must decelerate on average: bulk Lorentz factors should drop from about 15 to 2–3 between parsec and kiloparsec scales. Our results compound the problems that the IC-CMB model has in explaining the X-ray emission of kiloparsec-scale jets.
Stress-Based IS Security Compliance: Towards a Conceptual Model

This study extends current behavioural information security compliance research by adapting the "work-stress model" of the Job Demands-Resources model to security behaviour. The paper proposes that users' compliance burnout and security engagement are results of coping with security demands and receiving resources respectively. Compliance burnout would reduce security compliance while security engagement would increase it. The security compliance model developed in this study emphasises developing emotional and cognitive resources from IS users through effective provision of organisational resources and security requirements to promote desired security practice.
Identifying the quantum correlations in light-harvesting complexes

One of the major efforts in the quantum biological program is to subject biological systems to standard tests or measures of quantumness. These tests and measures should elucidate whether nontrivial quantum effects may be present in biological systems. Two such measures of quantum correlations are the quantum discord and the relative entropy of entanglement. Here, we show that the relative entropy of entanglement admits a simple analytic form when dynamics and accessible degrees of freedom are restricted to a zero- and single-excitation subspace. We also simulate and calculate the amount of quantum discord that is present in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson protein complex during the transfer of an excitation from a chlorosome antenna to a reaction center. We find that the single-excitation quantum discord and single-excitation relative entropy of entanglement are equal for all of our numerical simulations, but a proof of their general equality for this setting evades us for now. Also, some of our simulations demonstrate that the relative entropy of entanglement without the single-excitation restriction is much lower than the quantum discord. The first picosecond of dynamics is the relevant time scale for the transfer of the excitation, according to some sources in the literature. Our simulation results indicatemore » that quantum correlations contribute a significant fraction of the total correlation during this first picosecond in many cases, at both cryogenic and physiological temperatures. « less
An Analysis of Frequency Variations and its Implications on Connected Equipment for a Nanogrid during Islanded Operation

Frequency, voltage and reliability data have been collected in a nanogrid for 48 weeks during islanded operation. Frequency values from the 48 week measurements were analyzed and compared to relevant limits. During 19.5% of the 48 weeks, the nanogrid had curtailed the production due to insufficient consumption in islanded operation. The curtailment of production was also the main cause of the frequency variations above the limits. When the microgrid operated on stored battery power, the frequency variations were less than in the Swedish national grid. 39.4% of all the interruptions that occurred in the nanogrid are also indirectly caused by the curtailment of solar production. Possible solutions for mitigating the frequency variations and lowering the number of interruptions are also discussed.
Utilization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the partial replacement of fishmeal in Clarias gariepinus diets

Article Type: Full Length Research Article Utilization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (wet yeast) in the partial replacement of fish meal in Clarias gariepinus diets was investigated using food conversion ratio, specific growth rate and protein efficiency ratio. One hundred and twenty (120) C. gariepinus fry (4.64 ± 0.35g) were stocked in twelve plastic aquaria, ten fish per aquarium. Four treatments in the ratios of fishmeal to yeast (59.5:40.5, 71.4:28.6, 83.3:16.7 and 95.2:4.8) were fed twice daily for 50 days to triplicate groups. There was no significant variation in the growth of fish fed with varying diets (P>0.05) except for the protein efficiency ratio which varied significantly (P<0.05). Carcass composition shows that the moisture, crude protein, ash and crude fat content of the fish fed with experimental diets were higher than that of the fish stocked at the beginning of the study. The crude fibre of the fish fed with experimental diets was lower than that of the fish stocked. The fish with the highest weight increase had the highest carcass protein and lowest moisture content. The carcass crude lipid increased at high levels of yeast but at low levels, there was no observable difference. Stunted barbells and cracked skull were observed among experimental fish by the 5th and the 6th week of the study which caused increased mortality rate in some of the treatments. ©2014 BluePen Journals Ltd. All rights reserved
Human resource management practices and firm outcomes: evidence from Vietnam

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effects of human resource management (HRM) practices on firm outcomes at the firm level in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach The paper employs a fixed-effects framework for the estimation using a panel sample of manufacturing firms from small- and medium-sized enterprise surveys between 2009 and 2013. Findings The paper finds that, on average, a firm that provides the training for new workers gains roughly 13.7, 10 and 14.9 percent higher in output value per worker, value added per worker and gross profit per worker, respectively, than the counterpart. Moreover, an additional ten-day training duration for new employees on average leads to a 4.1 percent increase in output value per worker, a 3.0 percent rise in value added per worker and a 3.0 percent growth in gross profit per worker. The paper also uncovers that a marginal 10 percent of HRM spending results in about 2 and 1.6 percent rises in output value per worker and value added per worker, respectively. Originality/value Using the case of Vietnam, this paper shows the important roles of HRM practices in explaining firm outcomes.
Expression of CASC 9 and LINC 01234 in Different Cell Lines

Cancers are multifactorial but the advancement in research in the recent decades have drawn attention towards lncRNAs as they are proven to play important function as biological regulators. LINC01234, CASC9 are important long non coding RNAs (lncRNAs). They are not extensively studied therefore, their role in esophageal cancer as well as in other cancers is still not clear. There are few studies about LINC01234 and CASC9 for their role in esophageal cancer. The objective of the study was to investigate the expression of LINC01234 and CASC9 in different cell lines. Our lab cultured and maintained model esophageal cancer cells which were obtained after transformation of human embryonic esophageal epithelial cells into malignant cells by HPV18 E6E7. After this, elevated expression of LINC01234 was found in Gene Chip showing that it may have some role in causing esophageal cancer. For further verification, qRT-PCR was used for the detection of expression level of LINC01234 in different cell lines. Furthermore, expression of CASC9 was also investigated by qRT-PCR in different cell lines. Expression of LINC01234 and CASC9 was markedly high in esophageal cancer cell lines as compared to other cell lines while high expression of LINC01234 was also found in one lung cancer cell line. These lncRNAs may be used as biomarker and potential therapeutic target for esophageal cancer intervention by further exploration of their functions.
Functional Characterization and Diversity of Ammonia-Oxidizing Microorganisms in Streams South of the Dabie Mountains, China

Ammonia-oxidizing microorganism communities are abundant and functionally efficacious in nitrification. However, ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) groups complicate this process in subtropical streams. This study investigates the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing communities south of the Dabie Mountains, China, using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Clone libraries were utilized to analyze the abundance and microbial structures of AOA and AOB in sediments. Such analysis may provide strong evidence reflecting the links within the environment. The results show that AOB had a lower abundance of copies of the ammonia-oxidizing gene (amoA) than AOA. Interestingly, the AOA and AOB community compositions were correlated with ecological characteristics. The dissolved oxygen (DO) and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) had significant positive correlations, whereas the phosphorus within the structure had a negative correlation with the abundance of both groups. Our study shows that it might adopt some species related to Nitrosotalea clusters that can resist comparably higher pH (toward pH 6.5). Together, these results imply that the physiological adaptation of microbial guilds to environmental pressures in ammonia-oxidizing archaea might allow them to have a more substantial function of ammonia-oxidizing communities in natural habitats.
A low upper-mass limit for the central black hole in the late-type galaxy NGC 4414

The authors want to thank Tony Wong for providing the CO data of NGC 4414 and Remco Van den Bosch for fruitful discussions regarding the MGE model of NGC 4414. M.C. acknowledges support from a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), Ministerio da Ciencia, Tecnologia e Inovacao (Brazil) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion Productiva (Argentina), under program GN-2007A-Q-45. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the ESA Hubble Science Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. Funding for SDSS-III has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The SDSS-III web site is http://www.sdss3. org/. SDSS-III is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions of the SDSS-III Collaboration including the University of Arizona, the Brazilian Participation Group, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Florida, the French Participation Group, the German Participation Group, Harvard University, the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, the Michigan State/Notre Dame/JINA Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, New Mexico State University, New York University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the Spanish Participation Group, University of Tokyo, University of Utah, Vanderbilt University, University of Virginia, University of Washington, and Yale University. This research made use of Montage. It is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number ACI-1440620, and was previously funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Earth Science Technology Office, Computation Technologies Project, under Cooperative Agreement Number NCC5-626 between NASA and the California Institute of Technology. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We acknowledge the usage of the HyperLeda database (http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr)
Comparison of energy related metabolites during peri-parturition period in single and twin-bearing Lori-Bakhtiari ewes

Background: The Lori-Bakhtiari sheep breed is one of the most common native breed in the south-western parts of Iran. The peri-parturition period (2 weeks before to, 2 weeks after parturition), is generally of critical importance regarding the health, production and profitability of the ewes. OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out to compare the serum concentrations of glucose, non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), cholesterol, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and calcium (Ca) during peri-parturition period in 30 single and 30 twin-bearing Lori-Bakhtiari ewes. METHODS: All blood profiles were determined in healthy ewes on days 14, 7 prepartum, and days 7 and 14 postpartum. RESULTS: Serum glucose levels were lower in twin-bearing ewes, compared to single-bearing ewes on prepartum and day 7 after lambing. Serum NEFA, BHBA and cholesterol levels were higher in twin-bearing ewes compared to single-bearing ewes during the peri-parturition period. Lower serum Ca levels were recorded 7 days before and after parturition in twin-bearing ewes, compared to single-bearing ewes. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that NEFA and BHBA recorded significant (p<0.05) changes during the peri-parturition period in twin-bearing ewes. These significant differences could be related to increased metabolic demands of the fetuses in twin-bearing ewes.
Age-related Changes in Imitating Transitive and Intransitive Actions:Changes Going from Low to High Fidelity

Imitation is an interpretative process mostly influenced by the hierarchy process. To examine the imitative hierarchy, eighty-five children aged between 3.5 to 7.5 years were asked to observe and then imitate a human adult model performing intransitive (locomotion) and transitive (with objects) action in: (1) immediate imitation, (2) short term deferred imitation and (3) long term deferred imitation. Whereas some of action sequences were necessary for achieving goals, some others were unnecessary to pursue these goals. Children’s responses were recorded, scored in dichotomous data (1-0), and then transformed in performance percentages. Results showed that: (1) for intransitive actions, all children imitated the goals in all imitation conditions. (2) For transitive actions (implying both necessary and unnecessary action sequences), there was a significant effect of age in long term deferred imitation. The 3.5 age group obtained lower scores than the other age groups for necessary sequences. For unnecessary sequences, the 3.5 and 4.5 age groups obtained lower scores than the older age groups, both in short term and long term deferred imitation conditions. The current results mostly sustain the children’s fidelity to extract the goal-critical elements and ignoring useless ones.
Are self-managed teams autonomous in the residential care? : results of a qualitative analysis into HRM implementation

This study draws on HRM implementation and HRM frames. The proposition is made that implementation of HR practices can be deemed successful when the intended HR practice is aligned with the realized HR practice. The main objective of this study was to investigate the difference between intended and realized HR practices in an organization and then with the help of HRM frames explore if incongruence in HRM frames can explain this difference. This research is situated in the Dutch healthcare sector with all its accompanying challenges for the organization as a whole but also challenges for the HRM function specifically. The research is done in a healthcare organization operating in the Netherlands and specifically in the division of residential care. The results of the study suggest that there is a difference between the intended and realized HR practice when it comes to the autonomy of the self-managed teams. The role of incongruent HRM frames came forward as a possible explanation for the difference in the intended and realized HR practice of autonomous teams.
Models for effective density and settling velocity of flocs

New models to predict settling velocity and effective density of flocs are proposed. The models are based on the concept of fractal geometry, but with the assumption of variable fractal dimension with the floc size. The best results are obtained when the fractal dimension is estimated by a power law function of the floc diameter. The models are compared with observations from 26 published data sets relating floc size to settling velocity measured under various conditions and at different locations. The floc size covered by the data varies between 1.4 and about 25,500µm. Five commonly used models are also compared to these data and found to reproduce inadequately the full range of the observations. Sensitivity analysis shows that, with the proposed models, the spread in the data may be reproduced by varying the size of primary particles from about 0.05 to 20µm. The new models are proposed for integration into numerical models to simulate sediment transport of cohesive sediments, contaminants, and biological microorganisms such as phytoplankton.