Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Axially symmetric semi‐infinite domain models of microdialysis and their application to the determination of nutritive flow in rat muscle

Theoretical models for the description of microdialysis outflow:inflow (O/I) ratio for 3H2O and [14C]ethanol were developed, taking into account the nutritive fraction of total blood flow in muscle. The models yielded an approximately exponential decay expression for the O/I ratio, dependent on the physical dimensions of a linear probe (length and radius), the flow rate through the probe, muscle blood flow (including the nutritive fraction) and the diffusion coefficients for the tracer in the probe and muscle. The models compared favourably with experimental data from the constant‐flow perfused rat hindlimb. Estimates of the nutritive fraction of total blood flow from experimental data were determined by minimizing the error between model and experimental data. The nutritive fraction was found to be 0.22 ± 0.04 under basal perfusion conditions. When 70 nm noradrenaline (norepinephrine) was included in the perfusion medium, the nutritive fraction was 0.91 ± 0.06 (P < 0.05). The inclusion of 300 nm serotonin, decreased the nutritive fraction to 0.05 ± 0.01 (P < 0.05). This model can be applied to the determination of nutritive fraction of skeletal muscle blood flow in physiologically relevant microvascular conditions such as during exercise and in disease states.
Validation of the Forced Oscillation Technique in the diagnostic of respiratory changes in patients with silicosis

Silicosis is a typical occupational respiratory disease characterized by irreversible alterations throughout the alveolar and interstitial structure. The objectives of this study were (1) investigate the potential of the Forced Oscillation Technique (FOT) in the analysis of the patients with silicosis, and (2) evaluate the ability of FOT to identify early alterations in the respiratory mechanics of these patients. Sixty-one volunteers were analyzed: 20 healthy subjects and 41 with silicosis; these, were divided into 4 groups according to spirometric results: normal spirometric exam (n = 11); mild obstruction (n = 20); moderate and severe obstruction (n = 10.). A significant (p<0.0001) increase in total resistance (R0) and mean resistance (Rm) were observed, as well as a decrease in the dynamic compliance (p<0.0003) and mean reactance (p<0.000004). R0 and Rm obtained adequate accuracy for clinical use (>80%). FOT parameters adequately described the pathophysiological changes associated with silicosis and presented adequate accuracy for clinical use, indicating that this technique can be helpful in the evaluation respiratory mechanics in this disease.
Tourist Activity and Destination Brand Perception: The Case of Cape Town, South Africa

A respondent-completed questionnaire in Cape Town, South Africa was used to check how the activities that tourists enjoyed in Cape Town relate to how they perceive this destination using brand descriptive variables (brand essence, brand image and brand loyalty). 200 questionnaires were received for bivariate and multivariate analyses. This study finds that although tourists found most activities in Cape Town enjoyable; nature and outdoor, food and wine, and shopping enjoyment have more impact in determining the general experience satisfaction of tourists, than beach, and surprisingly, history and cultural activities. Nonetheless, tourists generally perceive Cape Town quite positively. From analyses, this study strongly suggests that the brand position statement for Cape Town should revolve around unique and diverse tourists’ attractions in Cape Town, and the memorable experience with which tourists go home from Cape Town. The brand position statement should be linked to Cape Town tourism’s integrated marketing communications. This study can assist tourism business owners in Cape Town to evaluate and improve tourism offerings to meet the expectations of visitors, contributing to visitors forming a positive perception towards Cape Town. The findings have implications for similar destinations in the developing economies.
Comparing Stereometric Parameters Between Heidelberg Retinal Tomography 2 and 3 in Asian Eyes: The Singapore Malay Eye Study

PurposeTo examine the correlation and agreement of stereometric parameters between Heidelberg Retinal Tomograph version 2 (HRT-2) and HRT-3 in a normal Asian population. MethodsThis was a population-based study using data from the Singapore Malay Eye Study. Participants underwent a standardized and complete ophthalmic examination. A confocal laser ophthalmoscope using HRT-2 was used to take retinal images by 2 trained operators. Disc contours were drawn by a single experienced ophthalmologist. Without modifying the contours, the exact images were then exported and analyzed with HRT-3 software. Paired t tests were used to compare mean differences, whereas interclass correlations and Bland-Altman plots were used to assess agreement and trend of Moorfields regression analysis parameters between HRT-2 and HRT-3. ResultsA total of 2960 Malay participants [mean age, 58.3 y (SD 10.9); 50.5% female] were included. Average disc size was 2.15 &mgr;m. Interclass correlations and Bland-Altman plots showed good agreement between HRT-2 and HRT-3. However, global disc area, rim area, cup area, cup-disc area ratio, rim-disc area ratio, and rim volume were significantly different between HRT-2 and HRT-3, with all area and rim volume measurements using HRT-2 were approximately 4% larger compared with HRT-3. Analysis of HRT-2 and HRT-3 parameters from different sectors of the scans showed an inconsistent change in measurement values. Cup shape measurement was significantly different in the temporal region compared with the nasal region of the optic nerve head. ConclusionsThere was good correlation between the 2 HRT versions and conversion equations were possible to calibrate HRT-3 parameters from HRT-2 measurements in Asian eyes. However, HRT-2 and HRT-3 showed significant differences in stereometric parameters. Further studies are needed to determine the impact of such differences and in comparative accuracy of HRT-2 versus HRT-3 for diagnosis and monitoring of glaucoma.
A framework to assess participation and empowerment impacts of ICT4D projects

Community participation in ICT-for-development (ICT4D) is sometimes portrayed as a ‘magic bullet’, which will inevitably lead to better project outcomes and the empowerment of marginalised participants from the local community. This paper takes a critical approach to participation, drawing on dual roots of participation in Development Studies and Information Systems, to consider whether apparently successful ICT4D projects, that follow best-practice for participation, are also succeeding in longer-term participant and community empowerment. The paper identifies issues and success factors relevant to participatory ICT4D and its potentially empowering role for local communities; explores the relevance of these factors to the reality of ICT4D projects in developing countries; and investigates the potential for producing an analytical framework that incorporates a project design approach that could help practitioners in the field incorporate empowerment objectives.
Autonomous orbit determination and observability analysis for formation satellites

Autonomous orbit determination of satellite formation is considered using the measurements between two satellites. This system can accomplish autonomous navigation by using radio cross-link to measure the relative range and optical devices to measure the relative bearing between the two satellites. With the assumption that one satellite knows its attitude information in the inertial reference frame, the inertial bearing information between the two satellites makes the system observable. The influence of orbit elements on the system's observability is investigated with SVD (Singular Value Decomposition) analysis. The results show that larger semimajor axes make the formation less observable, while the larger eccentricities enhance the observability. An Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is applied to obtain state estimation accuracies. The estimation results show that the position accuracy can reach 10m and the velocity accuracy can reach 0.01m/s. Monte-Carlo simulation is conducted to corroborate the observability analysis. The results show the feasibility of autonomous orbit determination for satellite formation with relative measurements.
The influence of gender and personality traits on the career planning of Swiss medical students.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Since the 1990s, as many women as men have been entering and graduating from medical schools in Western countries. Up to date, prospective studies of physicians' career paths are lacking. This paper presents the data of the first assessment of a longitudinal survey of a cohort of Swiss medical school graduates, evaluated with regard to how gender and personality traits contribute to their academic achievement and further career planning. METHODS In 2001, 719 graduate students (52.9% females, 47.1% males) returned a postal questionnaire comprising sections on personality traits, career motivation, and career planning. RESULTS Female graduates scored higher on traits such as helpfulness, relationship consciousness, empathy, family responsibility, and job security. Male students scored higher on traits such as independence, decisiveness, self-confidence, activity, income, and prestige. Women were further advanced in the writing of their thesis (p = 0.04), chose different topics (p <0.001), and had more often decided in which field they wished to specialise (p =.02). Women preferred fields with intensive patient contact (p <0.01), men tended to specialise more in instrumentally oriented and high-technology medicine (p <.001). The regression model revealed that, apart from gender (being female), instrumentality and extrinsic career motivation predict advanced academic achievement, whereas self-esteem and intrinsic career motivation influence the choice of speciality. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that women plan their career more purposefully than men, and that not only gender but also personality traits and career motivation play an important role in academic achievement and career planning.
Postnatal ontogeny of the transcription factor Lmx1b in the mouse central nervous system

The expression profile of Lim homeodomain transcription factor Lmx1b in the mouse brain was investigated at different postnatal stages by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. At postnatal day (P) 7, many Lmx1b‐expressing neurons were found in the posterior hypothalamic area, supramammillary nucleus, ventral premammillary nucleus, and subthalamic nucleus. In the midbrain, numerous Lmx1b‐expressing neurons were present in the substantia nigra pars compacta and ventral tegmental area. In the hindbrain, Lmx1b‐expressing neurons were primarily observed in the raphe nuclei, parabrachial nuclei, principal sensory trigeminal nucleus, nucleus of the solitary tract, and laminae I‐II of the medullary dorsal horn as well as spinal dorsal horn. Although expression levels diminished as postnatal life progressed, persistent expression throughout the first year of life was observed in many of these regions. In contrast, Lmx1b was present in a few brain regions (e.g., principal sensory trigeminal nucleus) only in early life with expression expiring by P60. Lmx1b was observed in dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain and serotonergic neurons in the hindbrain, as determined by double labeling with specific markers. In addition, we found that Lmx1b‐expressing neurons are not GABAergic, and Lmx1b was colocalized with Tlx3 in the parabrachial nuclei, principal sensory trigeminal nucleus, nucleus of the solitary tract. as well as the medullary and spinal dorsal horns, suggesting that Lmx1b‐expressing cells in these areas are excitatory neurons. Our data suggest that Lmx1b is involved in the postnatal maturation of certain types of neurons and maintenance of their normal functions in the adult brain. J. Comp. Neurol. 509:341–355, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Phase III trial of thoracic irradiation with or without cisplatin for locally advanced unresectable non-small-cell lung cancer: a Hoosier Oncology Group protocol.

PURPOSE Here we report the results of a phase III study, to evaluate whether the addition of cisplatin to radiation therapy (XRT) would improve progression-free survival or overall survival for patients with locally advanced unresectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). PATIENTS AND METHODS Two hundred forty patients with biopsy-proven unresectable NSCLC without distant metastases or lower-stage medically inoperable patients were randomized to one of two treatment arms. Arm A consisted of thoracic XRT alone, 60 to 65 Gy total tumor dose in daily fractions of 1.80 to 2.00 Gy; and arm B consisted of identical XRT with the addition of cisplatin 70 mg/m2 every 3 weeks for three cycles beginning on the first day of irradiation. RESULTS Two hundred fifteen patients were eligible and assessable. The overall response rate was 50% on the combination arm versus 38% on the XRT-alone arm (P = .076). The median progression-free survival time was 23 versus 22 weeks, respectively (P = .0537). The median survival time was 43 weeks on the combination arm versus 46 weeks on the XRT arm (Poverall = .3469). The 1-, 2-, and 5-year survival rates were 43%, 18%, and 5% on the combination arm versus 45% 13%, and 2% on the XRT arm, respectively. CONCLUSION Cisplatin, administered every 3 weeks, does not significantly improve response rate, progression-free survival, or overall survival when added to thoracic XRT for locally advanced unresectable NSCLC.
Truncus arteriosus communis with intact ventricular septum.

Sir, We read with attention the paper by Carr et al. entitled "Truncus arteriosus communis with intact ventricular septum". ' The authors document clinically and pathologically a patient with truncus arteriosus communis in which the ventricular outflow tracts were completely separate below a common semilunar valve. The case furnishes evidence that the presence of an infundibular septal defect is not essential in defining truncus arteriosus communis, and otherwise suggests that the septation of the cardiac outflow tracts comes from distinct development of conal, truncal, and aortopulmonary septa. These concepts had been clearly underlined in our recent paper.2 The spectrum of malformations illustrated by Carr et al.' in their Fig. 6 corresponds to the one schematically anticipated by us. Indeed, the case reported by these authors had been foreseen in Fig. 11 of our paper as "absent truncal and aortopulmonary septa with normally developed conal septum (not described so far)". We regret that our contribution, though published in the British Heart Journal,2 has not been quoted. Using Dr Bharati's own words3 we would suggest, "to read the literature carefully and include the previous work done by other people. This may perhaps help to write a paper in an objective manner Gaetano Thiene, Uberto Bortolotti, Department of Pathology and Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Padova Medical School, Padova, Italy.
Capitalism and Political Power

The manuscript of the book 'Capitalism and political power' studies the links between observable changes in global capitalistic processes (e.g. decreasing velocity of money), and the working of political systems, in the context of global demographic changes. As the velocity of migrations increases, the global political order is being altered by a new generation of trade agreements, which go unusually deeply into constitutional matters. As the human population on Earth is reaching the limits of environmental capacity, the accumulation of physical capital is reaching record high levels. As the velocity of money in the global economy is systematically decreasing, constitutional states seem to be withdrawing from economy. As political systems tend towards simplification and concentration of political power, capital accumulates mostly in systems with relatively more dispersed power in the body politics, and more room for constitutional experimentation.
Involvement of N‐acetylmuramyl‐l‐alanine amidases in cell separation and antibiotic‐induced autolysis of Escherichia coli

N‐acetylmuramyl‐l‐alanine amidases are widely distributed among bacteria. However, in Escherichia coli, only one periplasmic amidase has been described until now, which is suggested to play a role in murein recycling. Here, we report that three amidases, named AmiA, B and C, exist in E. coli and that they are involved in splitting of the murein septum during cell division. Moreover, the amidases were shown to act as powerful autolytic enzymes in the presence of antibiotics. Deletion mutants in amiA, B and C were growing in long chains of unseparated cells and displayed a tolerant response to the normally lytic combination of aztreonam and bulgecin. Isolated murein sacculi of these chain‐forming mutants showed rings of thickened murein at the site of blocked septation. In vitro, these murein ring structures were digested more slowly by muramidases than the surrounding murein. In contrast, when treated with the amidase AmiC or the endopeptidase MepA, the rings disappeared, and gaps developed at these sites in the murein sacculi. These results are taken as evidence that highly stressed murein cross‐bridges are concentrated at the site of blocked cell division, which, when cleaved, result in cracking of the sacculus at this site. As amidase deletion mutants accumulate trimeric and tetrameric cross‐links in their murein, it is suggested that these structures mark the division site before cleavage of the septum.
The pharmaceutical pipeline for atrial fibrillation

Abstract Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with a significant burden of morbidity and increased risk of mortality. Beyond outstanding advances in catheter ablation procedures, antiarrhythmic drug therapy remains a corner-stone to restore and maintain sinus rhythm. However, potentially life-threatening hazards (proarrhythmia) and significant non-cardiac organ toxicity have made new drug development of prominent relevance. Multichannel blocking, atrial selectivity, and the reduction of the risk of adverse events have all constituted the main theme of modern antifibrillatory drug development. Dronedarone, an analog of amiodarone, has the unique characteristic of being the first antiarrhythmic drug demonstrated to reduce hospitalizations in AF. Dronedarone is associated with less systemic toxicity than amiodarone, although being less effective for sinus rhythm maintenance. Atrial selective agents have been developed to target ion channels expressed selectively in the atria. Among the most promising drugs of this class is vernakalant, which has been shown effective for the acute conversion of AF with small risk of proarrhythmia. Finally, increasing evidences support antiarrhythmic effectiveness of traditional non-antiarrhythmic drugs, such as renin-angiotensin system blockers, statins, and omega-3 fatty acids. In this article, we will focus on recent advances in antiarrhythmic therapy for AF, reviewing the possible clinical utility of novel antifibrillatory agents.
Chemical Profile and Antioxidant Properties of Extracts and Essential Oils from Citrus × limon (L.) Burm. cv. Femminello Comune

Citrus × limon cv. Femminello Comune (Rutaceae) from Rocca Imperiale (Italy), one of the six Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Italian lemon crops, has been recently received renewed interest. In this work, fresh and dried peels and leaves were extracted by hydrodistillation, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), and Soxhlet apparatus. Chemical profile was assessed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Except for leaves extracts obtained by Soxhlet apparatus, the monoterpene hydrocarbons fraction dominated. Limonene, γ‐terpinene, and β‐pinene were the main identified compounds. The antioxidant activity was investigated using different in vitro assays namely 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ABTS, ferric reducing ability power (FRAP), and β‐carotene bleaching test. In DPPH test, the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of fresh peel exhibited the highest activity (IC50 of 1.17 mg/ml). Leaves extracted by SFE showed a good activity in both DPPH and β‐carotene bleaching test with IC50 values of 2.20 and 6.66 mg/ml, respectively. Monoterpene hydrocarbons fraction exhibited a positive Pearson's correlation coefficient with all antioxidant assays. Leaves, often considered waste material, should be considered from a different point because they represent a matrix of indisputable interest.
The conflict between marketing and sales

Marketing and sales departments need to interact seamlessly as both are essential in every market-oriented company. In practice, the working relationship between the sales and marketing functions is often described as bearing improvement potential. Even though a huge challenge in corporate practice, only recently, the optimization of the marketing and sales interaction has gained more interest in the research community. Previously the academic focus was more on marketing’s interaction with other functions such as R&D or finance, as researchers did not differ between the marketing and sales functions at all. This has changed: organizational research now acknowledges that marketing and sales have different tasks within an organization and usually have different goal orientations, but there still seems to be a lack of understanding which processes are important for the marketing and sales relationship and how the two functions can work together. The focus of this paper lies on identifying the role of marketing and sales along the corporate value chain, understanding and modeling marketing and sales interfaces, identifying potential marketing-sales conflicts and suggesting resolution strategies taking a process-oriented approach. The topic is investigated from a theoretical perspective. Based on an in-depth review of the available body of literature a meta-analysis is conducted.
The impact of corporate social responsibility and internal controls on stakeholders’ view of the firm and financial performance

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine whether two major stakeholder groups – customers and employees – consider third party-reviewed corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and assurance on the quality of internal controls as value determinant in their decisions, and how their decisions influence financial performance through the halo effect of these reports. ,Using Compustat North America and Global Reporting Initiative data, the authors used first-order autoregressive models over the period from 2006 to 2012. ,The results indicate that the impacts of customers and employees on financial performance are influenced by third party-reviewed CSR reports and effective internal control. Moreover, it is found that the third party-reviewed CSR reports and effective internal control enable the persistence of financial performance. ,The findings have implications for stakeholders in terms of third party-reviewed CSR reports and effective internal control. The findings are important due to the influence that these stakeholders (customers and employees) have on the financial performance of firms and the impact that CSR actions can have on society as a whole. ,To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that contributes to the literature by demonstrating that information about third party-reviewed CSR reports and internal control reviews may influence the perceptions of firms by two primary stakeholders – customers and employees.