Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Erythropoietin Receptors and IgG Autoantibody Expression on Nucleated Erythrocytes in Some Cases of Immuno-Related Pancytopenia.

BACKGROUND In recent years, we have detected autoantibodies in bone marrow (BM) hemopoietic cells in some patients with idiopathic cytopenia of undetermined significance (ICUS), termed immunorelated pancytopenia (IRP). However, we know little about the targets of these autoantibodies. METHODS Twenty-six newly diagnosed IRP patients with IgG autoantibody on nucleated erythrocytes and 20 healthy donors as controls were enrolled in this study. The serum erythropoietin (EPO) level was examined by ELISA. Expression of EPO receptor (EPOR) and IgG autoantibody on the membrane of nucleated erythrocytes were detected by flow cytometry before and after autoantibody stripping. RESULTS The serum EPO level of the untreated patients was 199.9 ± 106.4 mIU/mL, which was significantly higher than that of normal controls (13.2 ± 8.41 mIU/mL, p < 0.01). EPOR expression on nucleated erythrocytes in the patients was 1.38 ± 0.73%, lower than that of normal controls (2.33 ± 1.73%), but there was no significant difference; EPOR in these patients was inversely correlated with IgG autoantibody on erythrocytes (r = -0.479, p = 0.013). The regression equation was Y = 0.116-0.479X; EPOR expression on the membrane increased significiantly (5.63 ± 4.99%, p < 0.01) after stripping the autoantibodies. After immunosuppressive treatment, median hemoglobin increased from 72 g/L to 98 g/L, and median reticulocytes increased from 1.46% to 3.56%. CONCLUSIONS IgG autoantibodies might block or competitively inhibit EPOR on nucleated erythrocytes in some cases of ICUS.
A Study on Factors Affecting the Performance of SMEs in Malaysia

In Malaysia, despite SMEs’ have a significant contribution to the economy, they have not been given adequate attention as the various researchers have been biased towards larger and listed enterprises in Malaysia. So, this study aims to investigate the factors affecting the performance of SMEs in the manufacturing sector in Malaysia. The Contingency Theory developed by Fiedler (1964) was used to support this research. Based on the data collected from 300 SMEs in the Malaysian manufacturing sector, the results showed that there is a significant negative relationship between ineffective entrepreneurship as well as inappropriate human resource management (HRM) and the performance of SMEs. On the other hand, the results also proved that there is a significant positive relationship between the use of marketing information as well as the application of information technology and the performance of SMEs. In short, this study found out that the use of marketing information can influence the performance of SMEs at the highest.
Soft‐tissue sarcoma of the extremity: experience with limb‐sparing surgery

Retired Physician: 21/702 Pacific Highway, Killara, NSW2071 tumours greater than 5 ern should be referred for specialist opinion before any surgery. This would prevent many of the problems we still encounter in the management of these patients. An alternative would be to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in the case of suspected deep-seated or large tumours, but the cost of this, if used indiscriminately, would not be justified.
Role of Cytology in Early Diagnosis of Cerebrotendinous Xanthomas

Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis is a rare autosomal recessive lipid storage disease characterized by widespread tissue deposition of two neutral sterols, cholestenol and cholesterol, resulting in tendinous xanthomas, juvenile cataracts, progressive neurological defects, and premature death from arteriosclerosis. Because it is a treatable cause of cerebellar ataxia and dementia, its early diagnosis is desirable. Here, we have reported the case of an 11-year-old boy with this disorder who was diagnosed based on the cytological findings of fine needle aspiration and clinical features.
The free movement of services within the EU

Intra-European trade in services is hampered by national regulatory differences for service markets. The European Commission has proposed a new directive to overcome these regulatory barriers. This document assesses the effects of this new directive on trade and investment in services. Read also the accompanying press release . We have developed an index for bilateral heterogeneity in product-market regulation, and apply it to the OECD Regulation Database. We show that the heterogeneity in regulation hampers bilateral service trade in the EU, and also bilateral direct investment. We investigate how the proposed EU directive could lower the intra-EU heterogeneity in product market regulation for services, and what effect this would have on bilateral trade and investment in the Internal Market for services. We find that commercial services trade in the EU might increase by 15-30%, while the foreign direct investment stock in services might rise by 20-35%.
Employment Protection and Investment Opportunities

Even though firms’ innovation efforts dwindle in reaction to weaker employment protection legislation (EPL), we show that the value of their investment opportunities actually increases. The reason is that weaker EPL discourages innovation efforts only in firms with little comparative advantage at innovation. At the same time, however, weaker EPL increases the financial and operating flexibility of firms. This flexibility gain can explain why Tobin’s q increases in reaction to weaker EPL.
Factors affecting adoption of product virtualization technology for online consumer electronics shopping

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting the adoption of product virtualization technology (PVT) for online shopping small consumer electronics by applying a modified electronic technology acceptance model (e‐TAM) and tested model invariance male/female shoppers in the overall adoption process.Design/methodology/approach – Online surveys are completed by a US national panel of online shoppers. The data are analyzed using single‐ and multiple‐group structural equation modelling.Findings – The results provide empirical support for e‐TAM in the context of PVT acceptance for online small consumer electronics shopping. In addition, two external constructs – technology anxiety (TA) and innovativeness (INN) – show significant influences on the beliefs (perceived usefulness, ease‐of‐use and entertainment value). There is no significant gender difference in the overall adoption process of PVT.Research limitations/implications – More specific consumer characteristics such as time‐.
Control Matters: Law and Economics of Private Benefits of Control

The standard approach to the legal foundations of corporate governance is that corporate law promotes separation of ownership and control by protecting minority shareholders from expropriation. This paper takes a broader perspective on the economic and legal determinants of corporate governance. It shows that legal entitlements to corporate control and their exchange on the market are as important as investor protection. This is based on a third category of ‘idiosyncratic’ private benefits of control, which supplements the more traditional specifications as inefficient consumption of control perquisites (‘distortionary’ private benefits) or outright expropriation of shareholder value (‘diversionary’ private benefits). The framework departs from the standard principal-agent models by assuming that private benefits of control also account for a further value to be appropriated as reward of entrepreneurship in the corporate structure. The quasi-rent nature of this value makes appropriation by corporate controllers a necessary condition for efficiency ex-ante, which implies that control rights are allocated separately from ownership at the going public stage. Under certain assumptions (corresponding to legal restrictions on the behavior of controllers and non-controlling shareholders), a constrained-efficient outcome is derived ex-post as Coasian bargain between the incumbent and the insurgent at the takeover stage. To preserve interdisciplinarity of the discussion, these results are illustrated with a limited degree of formalization. The above findings have important implications for corporate law. When legal institutions effectively constrain expropriation of non-controlling shareholders, they may still distort separation of ownership and control by making ownership structures either more concentrated or more dispersed than it would be efficient. This happens when corporate law fails to provide those who run the company with entitlements to control tenure independently of how much ownership they retain. Likewise, mandatory bid regulations undermine the takeover process by restricting side payments that ultimately support efficient bargaining over the value of corporate control.
Profiling brand‐piracy‐prone consumers: an exploratory study in Hong Kong’s clothing industry

This research profiles consumers of pirated products, specifically pirated brands of clothing. Utilising a structured questionnaire and counter‐biasing statements, results from face‐to‐face street‐intercept interviews showed that low spenders on pirated brands of clothing are mainly people aged 19 to 24 with a blue‐collar occupation, relatively low monthly income, secondary education level, and no children. High spenders on pirated brands are in the age bracket 25‐34 with white‐collar jobs, a monthly income of HK$10,000‐HK$19,999, tertiary or university education, and children. Consumers identify pirated brands of clothing usually by lower price and buying location, but price was not the sole determinant for purchase. Finally, they bought the pirated brands mainly for private use. Based on these results, the paper makes recommendations to original brand manufacturers and policy makers for combating pirated products.
Rethinking Brand Loyalty in an Age of Interactivity

The assumption of customer brand loyalty is one of the major underpinnings of today’s marketing systems. Much professional and academic research is being conducted to determine how the new interactive communication systems might be used to increase or enhance brand loyalty. This exploratory study suggests that interactivity and the new interactive communication systems may actually be destroying, rather than enhancing, brand loyalty. The net promoter score is used as the criterion variable to identify brand loyalty and test the premise in two product categories, ready-to-eat cereal and salty snacks. Substantial growth in the ‘no brand preference’ category for both product areas is found. Suggestions are made for additional research to support/refute these initial findings, and if confirmed, how marketers should react and how research priorities should be changed.
Oncogenic kinase NPM/ALK induces through STAT3 expression of immunosuppressive protein CD274 (PD-L1, B7-H1)

The mechanisms of malignant cell transformation caused by the oncogenic, chimeric nucleophosmin (NPM)/anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) remain only partially understood, with most of the previous studies focusing mainly on the impact of NPM/ALK on cell survival and proliferation. Here we report that the NPM/ALK-carrying T cell lymphoma (ALK+TCL) cells strongly express the immunosuppressive cell-surface protein CD274 (PD-L1, B7-H1), as determined on the mRNA and protein level. The CD274 expression is strictly dependent on the expression and enzymatic activity of NPM/ALK, as demonstrated by inhibition of the NPM/ALK function in ALK+TCL cells by the small molecule ALK inhibitor CEP-14083 and by documenting CD274 expression in IL-3-depleted BaF3 cells transfected with the wild-type NPM/ALK, but not the kinase-inactive NPM/ALK K210R mutant or empty vector alone. NPM/ALK induces CD274 expression by activating its key signal transmitter, transcription factor STAT3. STAT3 binds to the CD274 gene promoter in vitro and in vivo, as shown in the gel electromobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, and is required for the PD-L1 gene expression, as demonstrated by siRNA-mediated STAT3 depletion. These findings identify an additional cell-transforming property of NPM/ALK and describe a direct link between an oncoprotein and an immunosuppressive cell-surface protein. These results also provide an additional rationale to therapeutically target NPM/ALK and STAT3 in ALK+TCL. Finally, they suggest that future immunotherapeutic protocols for this type of lymphoma may need to include the inhibition of NPM/ALK and STAT3 to achieve optimal clinical efficacy.
Using indigenous knowledge in traditional agricultural systems for poverty and hunger eradication : reflections on prospects in South Africa

This paper discusses the role of indigenous knowledge in traditional agriculture and its potential in contributing to food security, poverty and hunger eradication, and increased employment in South Africa. It is noted that indigenous knowledge can inform rural agricultural production, storage, processing, marketing, and food preparation, as well as the fashioning of farm tools, selection of crop and animal breeding stock, crop and animal health, and genetic manipulations to shorten crop and livestock gestation periods. As a labour-intensive but cost-effective application, indigenous knowledge proves a viable option for resource-poor farmers in their pursuit of increased output and income. The fear that the generation holding the quantum of indigenous knowledge is fast aging and dying out underpins the urgency of this discourse.
Corporate governance: Ownership structure, board structure and performance of public sector entities

This study seek to examine ownership structure, board structure and their relationship with public sector entities’ performance in Uganda. A cross-sectional and correlational research design with a sample of 85 public sector entities in Uganda was used. The findings portrayed that, CEO duality is not yet an issue as far as the performance of public sector entities in Uganda is concerned. Findings indicate that 67% of the variance in public sector entities’ performance is explained by ownership structure and board structure. Evidence has emerged that it is necessary to reduce government ownership in public sector entities in Uganda to achieve better performance. The significance of this paper is also to contribute to the dearth of literature on the African experience concerning public sector management and performance. The study is carried out in Uganda where corporate governance code is not highly developed and the sample size for this study may limit its generalization. Our findings underlie the importance of privatization in enhancing proper performance of public sector entities.
Facing the backlash: green marketing and strategic reorientation in the 1990s

This paper discusses green marketing strategies in the context faced by businesses in the middle to late 1990s. The literature suggests that this context has been characterized by a consumer backlash against green marketing, which has been created by perceived problems in the areas of green product performance and green claims in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Evidence is reported from a qualitative study which investigated corporate perceptions of this context and revealed the strategic orientations which have subsequently been employed by green marketers. The findings suggest that managers do indeed perceive the backlash to have occurred and to have been caused by the factors posited. It is argued that these understandings have assumed the role of myths in shaping organizational perceptions of the green marketing context. Four subsequent strategic routes are identified in the paper, namely passive greening, muted greening, niche greening and collaborative greening. These are described in some detail and managers’ justifications for them are presented. It is shown that each of these strategies might be appropriate for particular situations in the context of the backlash and some of the limitations of the green marketing literature in this respect are highlighted. Finally, some discussion is provided regarding the appropriateness of these strategies in the future and potential avenues for further research are identified.
Awareness of service charges and its influence on customer expectations and perceptions of quality in banking

Reports the findings of a small‐scale survey undertaken with a view to establishing the extent to which customers of retail banks are influenced in their expectations of quality and in their perceptions of service received according to their awareness of service charges imposed by banks. Finds that customers who were aware of banking charges had higher expectations of quality than those who were not. Further, customers who were aware of banking charges perceived receiving a higher quality service than those who were not aware. Although the findings were not statistically significant, the general direction of the relationship was maintained across all the variables measured.
Developing E-Banking Services for Rural India: Making Use of Socio-Technical Prototypes

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the key enablers for including underserved communities in economic and societal development across the world. Our research analyzes several banking service projects developing technical solutions for rural India. This poster presents an experience report based on systematic debriefing of involved project leaders and initiators, triangulated with additional documentation. The concept of Socio-Technical Prototype is developed and used to show how to mitigate the challenges of ICT based banking service provision for socially constrained communities. The concept of Socio-Technical Prototype extends the notion of prototypes, as it implies a full functioning implementation of the service including all relevant stakeholders. In order to not only prototype end-user functionality but also the interaction of the solution with the specific social, technical and physical environment. The implications for software engineering in the development of such large-scale prototypes and pilots are outlined.
The Dynamic Interplay of Capability Strengths and Weaknesses: Investigating the Bases of Temporary Competitive Advantage

Foundational RBV work suggests that firms possess capabilities that represent strengths and others that represent weaknesses. In contrast, contemporary research has examined capability strengths while largely ignoring weaknesses. Addressing this oversight, we examine the direct and integrated effects of sets of capability strengths and capability weaknesses on competitive advantage and its empirical correlate — relative performance. Additionally, we explore how environmental and firm-specific factors influence change in these drivers of competitive advantage over time. Results suggest that weakness sets have a negative effect on relative performance, while strength sets have an increasingly positive effect. The integrative effects of strength and weakness sets affect relative performance in a complex manner. For example, while high strength/low weakness firms perform at high levels, firms integrating high strength with high weakness per- form well, but experience considerably more variance in their realized outcomes. Lastly, we find that the strength and weakness sets change significantly over time in markets where competition is more intense, thereby undermining the durability of competitive advantage. Our theory and results indicate that achieving temporary advantage is more difficult than previously thought and that the erosion of advantage occurs routinely as a result of dynamic and interactive rivalry.
Angiopoietin 2 Mediates the Differentiation and Migration of Neural Progenitor Cells in the Subventricular Zone after Stroke*

Ischemic stroke stimulates neurogenesis in the adult rodent brain. The molecules underlying stroke-induced neurogenesis have not been fully investigated. Using real-time reverse transcription-PCR, we found that stroke substantially up-regulated angiopoietin 2 (ANG2), a proangiogenic gene, expression in subventricular zone neural progenitor cells. Incubation of neural progenitor cells with recombinant human ANG2 significantly increased the number of β-III tubulin-positive cells, a marker of immature neurons, but did not alter the number of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive cells, a marker of astrocytes, suggesting that ANG2 promotes neuronal differentiation. Blockage of the ANG2 receptor, Tie2, with small interference RNA (siRNA)-Tie2 attenuated recombinant human ANG2 (rhANG2)-increased β-III tubulin mRNA levels compared with levels in the progenitor cells transfected with control siRNA. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed that CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBPβ) up-regulated by rhANG2 bound to β-III tubulin, which is consistent with published data that there are several C/EBPβ binding sites in the promoter of β-III tubulin gene. In addition, rhANG2 enhanced migration of neural progenitor cells measured by single neurosphere assay. Blockage of Tie2 with siRNA-Tie2 and a Tie2-neutralizing antibody did not suppress ANG2-enhanced migration. However, inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases with GM6001 blocked ANG2-enhanced migration. Collectively, our data suggest that interaction of ANG2, a proangiogenic factor, with its receptor Tie2 promotes neural progenitor cell differentiation into neuronal lineage cells, whereas ANG2 regulates neural progenitor cell migration through matrix metalloproteinases, which do not require its receptor Tie2.
The Influence of Pixel Pitch and Electrode Pad Size on the Spectroscopic Performance of a Photon Counting Pixel Detector With CdTe Sensor

The quality and availability of room temperature CdTe sensor material for X-ray detection has improved significantly in the last years. A CdTe sensor with different pixel pitches and electrode pad sizes was bump-bonded to a Medipix2-MXR ASIC. With this photon counting detector we were able to investigate the influence of pixel pitch and electrode pad size on the energy response functions. The accurate knowledge of the energy response is crucial for energy resolving X-ray imaging. Therefore we exposed the detector to gamma rays of 241Am and 57Co. In the following analysis of the energy response spectra we determined the number of events in the photo peak, the energy resolution and the threshold energy where the photo peak is found (photo peak position) caused by the absorption of the 59.5 keV photons of 241Am. For the energy calibration we used the 59.5 keV photons of 241Am and the 122 keV photons of 57Co. Concerning energy resolution, energy threshold calibration and photo peak position our measurements show good agreement with the expected behaviour. The number of events in the photo peak strongly depends on the pixel pitch and the electrode pad configuration.
Customer Perspective on Mass-customized Knitwear

Abstract Knit on Demand is a research project at the Swedish School of Textiles in collaboration with the knitwear producer Ivanhoe AB and the fashion retailer SOMconcept. The background to the project is the unpredictable fashion market where garments are often produced on a forecast and not on actual demand. The essence of Knit on Demand is to let the customers themselves design the garments. Sales started in SOMconcept's store in PUB Huset, Stockholm, in September 2009 and ended in December 2010. The aim of this article is to find out what factors are crucial in the customer's experience of buying a mass-customized garment. By interviewing customers about the customization process, analyzing customer orders, and observing the customization process conclusions can be drawn.