Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serum nitric oxide (NO) levels in systemic sclerosis patients: correlation between NO levels and clinical features

Vascular damage in systemic sclerosis (SSc) may be a factor in the abnormal regulation of several vasoactive agents. It has been well confirmed that plasma endothelin‐1, as a vasoconstrictive factor, is elevated in patients with SSc. However, it is still controversial whether the levels of serum nitric oxide (NO), a strong vasodilator, are increased or decreased in SSc patients compared to healthy donors. In this study, we measured the levels of serum NO metabolites in SSc patients and determined the contribution of the excessive production of NO synthase (NOS)‐2 by skin fibroblasts to NO synthesis. Serum NO levels of 45 patients with SSc were significantly higher than those of 20 healthy volunteers. In addition, some clinical features of SSc (the extent of skin fibrosis, short disease duration, and the complication of active fibrosing alveolitis) were all correlated positively with the levels of NO metabolites in SSc patients. To evaluate the levels of NOS‐2 produced by skin fibroblasts, skin fibroblast cultures were established from SSc patients and healthy volunteers. Reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction indicated that NOS‐2 mRNA was spontaneously expressed in cultured fibroblasts derived from SSc patients, but not in those derived from healthy normal controls. Immunohistochemical staining also showed that NOS‐2 proteins were detected in SSc fibroblasts but not in normal fibroblasts. The production of NO by cultured fibroblasts was visualized directly by a reagent (DAF‐2 DA) used for the fluorescent detection of NO. Cultured SSc fibroblasts were capable of NO synthesis in culture media containing l‐arginine, whereas normal fibroblasts (with no expression of NOS‐2) did not synthesize detectable NO. These observations indicate that NO production is increased markedly in early‐stage diffuse cutaneous SSc patients with active fibrosing alveolitis, and that constitutive NOS‐2 expression in SSc fibroblasts may contribute to increased NO production.
Optical interconnects realizable with thin–film helicoidal bianisotropic mediums

Parallel–plate waveguides consisting of a thin–film helicoidal bianisotropic medium (TFHBM) layer bounded by dielectric half–spaces are shown to support guided wave propagation with guide wavenumbers dependent on the direction of signal propagation. Thus, the TFHBM interconnect behaves as a space–guide. The modal fields and power transmission distributions, as determined by the time-averaged Poynting vector, are investigated and a scheme classifying each guided wave mode as either hybrid electric or hybrid magnetic is presented.
Staphylococcus aureus Colonization in Atopic Skin Diseases

1 An epidemiologic investigation on Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) colonization in atopic skin diseases skin, and nasal positivity for S. aureus was examined in a total of 60 patients with atopic dermatitis and other atopic skin diseases. 50 healthy subjects were studied as controls. Normal skin, lesional skin, and nasal nostrils were colonized with S. aureus in 25.0%, 40.0%, and 41.7% of patients, respectively. In controls, the colonization rate of S. aureus was 2% in healthy skin and 16% in nasal nostrils (p<0.001). According to the results of antibiogram; vancomycine, tobramycine, sulbactam-ampicilline, and gentamycine were considered as the most effective drugs against S. aureus. (Journal of Turgut Ozal Medical Center 1996;3(4):299-302)
Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences::Drivers and Inhibitors to E-Commerce Adoption among

1.INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT Electronic commerce (E-commerce) is a technological innovation that enables small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to compete on the same level with their larger counterparts. And it has the potential to improve efficiency and productivity in many areas and, therefore, has received significant attention in many countries of the world. A thorough analysis of the impact of the internet and e-commerce across firms, industries and economies is necessary to separate hype from reality. However, several researchers have called for the investigation of the association between the perceptions of e-commerce and the barriers to its adoption in developing countries. It is however on record that SMEs the world over are faced with significant challenges that compromise their ability to function and to contribute optimally to the respective economies where they operate. This study was conducted in three states of Nigeria (Lagos, Abuja and Enugu states) with the use of interviews to gather relevant data; the aim of which was to understand the challenges which serve as barriers to ECommerce adoption by small and medium scale enterprises in the Nigerian context. Findings indicates that small and medium scale online present is at best unknown. The most common e-Commerce applications used by most SMEs include but not limited to the use of e-mails for communication purposes and a simple website for basic product information – information contained are usually outdated as most of these websites are hardly updated. Findings revealed, among others, that lack of and total absence of a regulatory framework on e-Commerce security, as well as technical skills, and basic infrastructures are some of the barriers to electronic commerce adoption. The findings however, provide a constructive insight to financial practitioners, governments as well as other stakeholders on the need to give e-commerce a place in all aspects of e-commerce activities.
FAMILIAL OCCURRENCE OF COMBINED PIGMENT EPITHELIAL AND RETINAL HAMARTOMAS ASSOCIATED WITH NEUROFIBROMATOSIS 2

Combined pigment epithelial and retinal hamartomas are rare lesions that usually occur sporadically in individuals without systemic abnormalities. However, they have been reported in isolated patients with neurofibromatosis 1 and 2. No familial cases have been reported. The cases of four patients with unilateral macular lesions from three consecutive generations of a single family are presented: two of the patients also have neurofibromatosis 2. The ophthalmoscopic appearance of their ocular lesions resembles combined pigment epithelial and retinal hamartomas. The morphologic differences in the lesions of these 4 patients, whose ages are 8 months, 5 years, 29 years, and 65 years, may serve to demonstrate the evolution of this type of hamartoma.
History Versus Geography: The Role of College Interaction in Portfolio Choice and Stock Market Prices

We study the link between portfolio choice and different college-based interaction – defined as the one that relates the portfolio choice of an investor to that of the other investors who went to the same college. We explain it in terms of a common cultural imprinting and the development of long-term friendship and alumni network and we directly quantify this bonding effect. We use a new dataset with information on portfolio choice – broken down at the stock level – wealth, income and demographic characteristics of a big panel of investors as well as information on the college they attended and their family situation at the time. We compare college-based interaction to other forms of social interaction, such as educational, professional and geographical interaction, properly controlling for all the standard motivations of portfolio theory, such as hedging of non-financial income risk, familiarity and information effects, wealth and income effect, a host of demographic, geographic and professional dummies, trend-chasing and momentum behaviour. All the different sources of social interaction significantly affect stock-picking as well as the choice between direct and delegated investment, both statistically and economically. College-based interaction is, however, the most important of them and the third single most important factor affecting stock picking. The impact of college-based interaction aggregates at the market level and affects stock prices. For each company, we construct measures of the degree of strength of college-based interaction among shareholders. We show that an increase in the strength of interaction reduces stock return and volatility. This can be rationalized in terms of recent theories on the impact of dispersion of beliefs in the presence of short-sale constraints.
Home Country Effects of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Sweden

This paper examines two broad issues related to foreign investment by Swedish multinationals: first the effects of outward foreign direct investment on domestic investment, exports, and employment, and second, the effects on the domestic economy from the increasing division of labor between the parents and foreign affiliates of Swedish MNCs. The paper summarizes and synthesizes the existing empirical evidence on these matters (much of which has hitherto only been available in Swedish) and discusses some possible long run effects that have not received much attention in the literature.
Knowing Who's Boss: fMRI and ERP Investigations of Social Dominance Perception

Humans use facial cues to convey social dominance and submission. Despite the evolutionary importance of this social ability, how the brain recognizes social dominance from the face is unknown. We used event-related brain potentials (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the neural mechanisms underlying social dominance perception from facial cues. Participants made gender judgments while viewing aggression-related facial expressions as well as facial postures conveying dominance or submission. ERP evidence indicates that the perception of dominance from aggression-related emotional expressions occurs early in neural processing while the perception of social dominance from facial postures arises later. Brain imaging results show that activity in the fusiform gyrus, superior temporal gyrus and lingual gyrus, is associated with the perception of social dominance from facial postures and the magnitude of neural response in these regions differentiates between perceived dominance and perceived submissiveness.
An exploratory investigation into the corporate social disclosure of selected New Zealand companies

Corporate social disclosure, that is, the communication of an organisation’s social and environmental impact through the annual report or similar medium, is an increasingly important issue, and arguably has benefits for companies and society. This study investigates the corporate social disclosures of five companies over a five-year period, with the aim of investigating trends in corporate social disclosure in large New Zealand companies who operate in industries receiving public attention for their social and environmental impact. Corporate social disclosure was measured through number of sentences disclosed, and classified into theme (environment, energy, product, community, employee health and safety, employee other and general) and evidence (monetary quantitative, non-monetary quantitative and declarative). This study found no clear trend of increasing levels of corporate social disclosure; instead there was an increase in 1997 and a decrease in 1998. Legitimacy theory, political economy theory and economic conditions represented possible explanations for this trend, demonstrating the difficulty in using a single perspective to explain corporate social disclosure. Corporate social disclosure did not significantly increase from 1996 to 2000, and disclosure was primarily ‘quantitative’ and ‘employee other’, leading this research to posit that New Zealand companies are not responding to the increased worldwide importance of corporate social disclosure. In summary, this study provides valuable empirical evidence of corporate social disclosure in New Zealand, and also provides an example of the complexity of corporate social disclosure practice, and the difficulty in applying a single theoretical perspective to explain corporate social disclosure.
ARE SEMI-AUTONOMOUS REVENUE AUTHORITIES THE ANSWER TO TAX ADMINISTRATION PROBLEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES? A PRACTICAL GUIDE

This paper describes and analyzes the experiences of several developing countries that have adopted the growing trend toward establishing semi-autonomous revenue authorities (SARAs) to administer tax collections. By removing the basic tax administration functions from the traditional line departments in the ministry of finance and granting the SARA a greater degree of autonomy to administer its own internal systems, the expectation has been that real revenue collections will be enhanced, taxrelated corruption and evasion will be reduced, and taxpayer services will be improved. After carrying out an in-depth analysis of five SARA cases and taking into account the results of studies done by others, this paper concludes that SARAs have neither lived up to expectations nor can they be categorized as having failed. Tax administration efficiencies have risen and receded, and SARAs have not proven to be quick-fix panaceas. They do provide a platform from which tax administration efficiencies can be generated, but their mere establishment offers no guarantee of success. ii * Arthur Mann is a Senior Economist at Development Alternatives, Inc. and a member of the panel of experts of the Fiscal Reform in Support of Trade Liberalization worldwide program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authorities -A Practical Guide
Diagnosability of stochastic chemical kinetic systems: a discrete event systems approach

We consider the problem of detecting events of interest in a stochastic chemical kinetic system from the perspective of discrete-event systems theory. We define a class of discrete-event systems, timed stochastic automata, that is well-suited for modeling stochastic chemical kinetics and define tA-tAA-diagnosability, two appropriate notions of diagnosability for this class of system. We develop the construction of a timed stochastic diagnoser that is used to provide online updates of the probability that an event of interest has occurred and a means for offline testing of diagnosability conditions. The results of the paper are illustrated using a model of stochastic gene expression.
The role of cell cycle regulatory proteins in the pathogenesis of melanoma

&NA; The transformation of melanocytes to melanoma cells is characterised by abnormal proliferation resulting from alterations in cell cycle regulatory mechanisms. This occurs through alterations in the two major cell cycle regulatory pathways, the retinoblastoma (Rb) and p53 tumour suppressor pathways. This review summarises the current knowledge of alterations in these two pathways at G1/S transition and specifically the role of the key cell cycle regulatory proteins pRb, p16INK4a (p16), cyclin D1, p27Kip1 (p27), p53 and p21Waf1/Cip1 (p21) in the pathogenesis of melanoma. It also considers their prognostic significance. Current data indicate that alterations of cyclin kinase inhibitor (cdki) levels are implicated in the pathogenesis of melanoma and may be useful prognostic markers. However, large validation studies linked to comprehensive clinical follow up data are necessary to clarify the prognostic significance of cell cycle regulatory proteins in individual patients.
Simulated disability exercises and their impact on attitudes toward persons with disabilities

Two separate graduate rehabilitation counselling groups from a mid-south university either did or did not take part in a wheelchair sensitivity training pilot study designed to enhance their understanding as to what life might be like for persons who use a wheelchair. Twenty students were individually accompanied on a designated route across campus by a non-disabled graduate researcher. Eighteen other graduate students formed a control group and did not participate. Both groups completed a contextually different 14-item Likert type questionnaire designed to assess their perceptions of persons with physical disabilities based on either the sensitivity exercise or their experience in the rehabilitation programme. Results from this quasi-experimental study suggested that regardless of whether they participated in the sensitivity training, both groups perceived they would become better counsellors. t-Tests revealed significant differences in the two groups' responses to questions pertaining to daily frustrations experienced by persons with physical disabilities and a pre-occupation with how accessible places are. Other differences noted were that persons with physical disabilities must feel different from being stared at and must have a harder time in society. Implications of the utility and misuses of these one-time experiences are explored.
Evolving practices in critical care and potential implications for management of acute kidney injury.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication in hospitalized patients, with an incidence of 3 to 10% (1–4). In-hospital mortality rates that are associated with AKI remain high, in the range of 30 to 70% (5–8), despite significant improvements in dialytic technology as well as important advances in critical care, which have resulted in improved survival for other critical illnesses, including acute lung injury and sepsis (9). These improvements include continuous renal replacement therapies, which allow for continuous removal of solutes and fluid and may be tolerated better from a hemodynamic standpoint, and biocompatible dialysis membranes, which are associated with reduced complement and granulocyte activation. In general, indications for dialysis in the acute care setting have been extrapolated from those that are applied in chronic kidney disease, including volume overload that is refractory to diuretic therapy; electrolyte abnormalities (in particular hyperkalemia); uremic complications (pericarditis or pleuritis); severe acidosis (pH < 7.20); and selected toxic ingestions, such as methanol, ethylene glycol, and other water-soluble agents (10,11). However, the evidence base supporting specific dialysis practices in the acute care setting is limited. For example, several studies that were completed in the 1960s and 1970s compared “early” and “late” initiation of dialysis, using blood urea nitrogen (BUN) to define early and late (Table 1). These studies primarily were cohort studies that used historical controls, not randomized, clinical trials. The results of these investigations, along with extrapolation from the ESRD population, promoted recent practice patterns. Currently, many nephrologists often delay dialysis in the acute care setting until the patient has an impending complication of AKI, such as hyperkalemia leading to cardiac arrhythmias, acidosis resulting in hypotension, or oliguria leading to volume overload or hypoxemia, or until the BUN exceeds 100 mg/dl (18). Given differences in protein catabolism, …
Does Securities Transaction Tax Distort Market Microstructure? Evidence from Indian Stock Market

Tapping into the "psychology" of the market, speculators resort to "noise-trading" rather trading on the basis of the real value of the stock and this behavior has the potential to distort the market microstructure as evidenced in most developed and developing financial markets. The popular international practice of curbing such "noise-trading" has been the introduction of securities transaction tax on a broad range of financial transactions. In consonance with the international practice and the general philosophy that financial stability should be treated as public good, Indian policy makers have introduced securities transaction tax in October, 2004 despite divergent opinions on the effect of STT on financial markets. The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of STT on market volatility and liquidity in Indian stock market. The data comprises of eleven frequently traded equity instruments listed at National Stock Exchange, India and spans over a period of 2 years before and 2 years after the introduction of securities transaction tax. Owing to the heteroscedasticity behavior of time series data, ARCH family of model is used to study the impact. The results indicate that the introduction of securities transaction tax has had no impact on market volatility and also it does not distort the liquidity in Indian stock market. Further, the result also implies an interesting fact that the informational efficiency of the market is not affected by the introduction of STT.
Debt vs. Equity: Role of Corporate Governance

This paper examines the relationship between corporate firm's ownership and capital structure in context of an emerging market economy, India. We use firm-level time series data of listed companies from 1994 through 2000 and analyze the firm's corporate financing behavior in connection with its corporate governance arrangements, specially its shareholding pattern. Our results show that the debt structure is non-linearly linked to the corporate governance (ownership structure). We find that firms with weaker corporate governance mechanisms, dispersed shareholding pattern, in particular measured by the entrenchment effects of group affiliation, tend to have a higher debt level. Firms with higher foreign ownership or with low institutional ownership tend to have lower debt level. We do not find any significant relationship between ownership of directors and corporate with the capital structure.
Do Analysts Know But Not Tell? The Case of Going-Concern Opinions

This study explores whether security analysts recognize firms’ going-concern problems and report appropriately to investors. We find that analysts signal their anticipation of the publication of a going-concern modified (GCM) audit report in two ways: 1) they downgrade more aggressively stock recommendations of GCM firms than stock recommendations of control firms as the event date approaches; 2) they are more likely to cease coverage of a GCM firm than a control firm over the one-year period prior to the GCM date. We further show that analysts react to the publication of an actual GCM audit report by stopping coverage of such firms immediately subsequent to the event disclosure. Our results suggest that analysts know that the future viability of GCM firms is jeopardized but do not say it clearly to retail investors, who constitute the main clientele of these firms. Consistent with the SEC concerns about analyst recommendations, we conclude that investors cannot rely solely on analyst recommendations since they are reluctant to report negatively (i.e, “underperform” or “sell”) even in this extreme bad news domain. We further conclude that analyst relative pessimism and coverage cessation is likely to be associated with negative expectations about firms’ future prospects.
FLY-EAR INSPIRED MINIATURE DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONES : MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

To address the challenges in developing miniature directional microphones, a novel micro-fabricated directional microphone inspired by the superacute ears of the parasitoid fly Ormia ocharacea is presented in this paper. It consists of two clamped circular silicon diaphragms structurally coupled by an oxide/nitride composite bridge. The separation between the diaphragm centers is 1.25 mm, about the same size as the fly ear. A finite element model is developed to achieve a better understanding of the microphone device and guide the optimal design of the miniature microphones. Using a low coherence fiber optic interferometer detection system, the experiment shows that the directional sensitivity of this device is equivalent to a conventional microphone pair that is 9 times larger. Validating the feasibility to replicate the fly ear in a man-made structure, this work is expected to significantly impact many different fronts that require miniature sensors for sound source localization.