Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in discharge and solute dynamics between hillslope and valley-bottom intermittent streams

To gain understanding on how alluvial zones modify water and nutrient export from semiarid catchments, we compared monthly discharge as well as stream chloride, carbon, and nitrogen dynamics between a hillslope catchment and a valley-bottom catchment with a well-developed alluvium. Stream water and solute fluxes from the hillslope and valley-bottom catchments showed contrasting patterns between hydrological transitions and wet periods, especially for bio-reactive solutes. During transition periods, stream water export decreased >40% between the hillslope and the valley bottom coinciding with the prevalence of stream-to-aquifer fluxes at the alluvial zone. In contrast, stream water export increased by 20–70% between the hillslope and valley-bottom catchments during wet periods. During transition periods, stream solute export decreased by 34–97% between the hillslope and valley-bottom catchments for chloride, nitrate, and dissolved organic carbon. In annual terms, stream nitrate export from the valley-bottom catchment (0.32 ± 0.12 kg N ha −1 yr −1 [average ± standard deviation]) was 30–50% lower than from the hillslope catchment (0.56 ± 0.32 kg N ha −1 yr −1 ). The annual export of dissolved organic carbon was similar between the two catchments (1.8 ± 1 kg C ha −1 yr −1 ). Our results suggest that hydrological retention in the alluvial zone contributed to reduce stream water and solute export from the valley-bottom catchment during hydrological transition periods when hydrological connectivity between the hillslope and the valley bottom was low.
Ion‐binding properties of Calnuc, Ca2+ versus Mg2+– Calnuc adopts additional and unusual Ca2+‐binding sites upon interaction with G‐protein

Calnuc is a novel, highly modular, EF‐hand containing, Ca2+‐binding, Golgi resident protein whose functions are not clear. Using amino acid sequences, we demonstrate that Calnuc is a highly conserved protein among various organisms, from Ciona intestinalis to humans. Maximum homology among all sequences is found in the region that binds to G‐proteins. In humans, it is known to be expressed in a variety of tissues, and it interacts with several important protein partners. Among other proteins, Calnuc is known to interact with heterotrimeric G‐proteins, specifically with the α‐subunit. Herein, we report the structural implications of Ca2+ and Mg2+ binding, and illustrate that Calnuc functions as a downstream effector for G‐protein α‐subunit. Our results show that Ca2+ binds with an affinity of 7 μm and causes structural changes. Although Mg2+ binds to Calnuc with very weak affinity, the structural changes that it causes are further enhanced by Ca2+ binding. Furthermore, isothermal titration calorimetry results show that Calnuc and the G‐protein bind with an affinity of 13 nm. We also predict a probable function for Calnuc, that of maintaining Ca2+ homeostasis in the cell. Using Stains‐all and terbium as Ca2+ mimic probes, we demonstrate that the Ca2+‐binding ability of Calnuc is governed by the activity‐based conformational state of the G‐protein. We propose that Calnuc adopts structural sites similar to the ones seen in proteins such as annexins, c2 domains or chromogrannin A, and therefore binds more calcium ions upon binding to Giα. With the number of organelle‐targeted G‐protein‐coupled receptors increasing, intracellular communication mediated by G‐proteins could become a new paradigm. In this regard, we propose that Calnuc could be involved in the downstream signaling of G‐proteins.
Quantitation of HER-2/neu and c-myc gene amplification in breast carcinoma using fluorescence in situ hybridization.

HER-2/neu and c-myc amplification or overexpression have been reported to be associated with poor prognosis in breast carcinoma. The prognostic significance, however, remains somewhat controversial, partly because of discrepancies among different methodologies used for detection of the oncogene amplification or overexpression. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has recently been shown to be a useful technique for analyzing genetic alterations in interphase nuclei in various tumors. In this study, FISH was used to quantitate HER-2/ neu and c-myc gene amplification in touch preparations of frozen tissue from 100 node-negative breast carcinomas. HER-2/neu amplification was found to be associated with an abnormal DNA index (P < .001) and tumor size (P < .04). Amplification of c-myc was associated with S phase (P < .0003), abnormal DNA index (P < .003), and a negative estrogen receptor status (P < .01). The coamplification of both oncogenes was strongly associated with an abnormal DNA index (P < .0001) and with tumor size (P < .009). The use of FISH for detection of HER-2/neu gene amplification was 92% concordant with immunocytochemistry (ICC) used for detection of overexpression of HER-2/neu protein. Fifteen of the 100 cases were both amplified for HER-2/neu by FISH and positive by ICC analysis. Seven cases without HER-2/neu gene amplification demonstrated HER-2/neu protein overexpression by ICC. One HER-2/neu-amplified case was negative by ICC. Repeat analysis of a subset of cases showed FISH to be a more reproducible method than ICC in the analysis of HER-2/neu in touch preparations of breast carcinoma. FISH is a rapid and reproducible method that allows the accurate measurement of the level of oncogene amplification within interphase nuclei. The use of FISH should provide a more accurate assessment of the prognostic significance of oncogene amplification in breast carcinoma.
Power-factor correction using Cuk converters in discontinuous-capacitor-voltage mode operation

The characteristics of Cuk power converters in discontinuous-capacitor-voltage mode operation are studied. A Cuk power converter in this mode of operation is an inherent power-factor corrector and features soft turn-off switching. Simulation and experimental results are reported to verify the theoretical analysis. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of power factor correction circuits using Cuk power converters in discontinuous-inductor-current mode operation and Cuk power converters in discontinuous-capacitor-voltage mode operation are discussed.
Financial and Non Financial Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility

Accounting, economic, social and political, and slack resources theories provide different perspectives to addressing corporate social responsibility in relation to disclosure, corporate financial performance e.t. c. This paper aims to identify the determinants financial and non financial of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Jordan . The annual reports determine a sample of 60 industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange for a period from 2006 to 2010 in Jordan were used as a basis for the study. The results of the analysis imply that companies that are expected to be large in size firm, age of firm, maintaining growth and are highly leveraged are more likely to voluntary disclose social responsibility information. The result lends partial support to agency and political economy theories.
Long-term risk of cardiovascular events with rosiglitazone: a meta-analysis.

CONTEXT Recent reports of serious adverse events with rosiglitazone use have raised questions about whether the evidence of harm justifies its use for treatment of type 2 diabetes. OBJECTIVE To systematically review the long-term cardiovascular risks of rosiglitazone, including myocardial infarction, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality. DATA SOURCES We searched MEDLINE, the GlaxoSmithKline clinical trials register, the US Food and Drug Administration Web site, and product information sheets for randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses published in English through May 2007. STUDY SELECTION Studies were selected for inclusion if they were randomized controlled trials of rosiglitazone for prevention or treatment of type 2 diabetes, had at least 12 months of follow-up, and monitored cardiovascular adverse events and provided numerical data on all adverse events. Four studies were included after detailed screening of 140 trials for cardiovascular events. DATA EXTRACTION Relative risks (RRs) of myocardial infarction, heart failure, and cardiovascular mortality were estimated using a fixed-effects meta-analysis of 4 randomized controlled trials (n = 14 291, including 6421 receiving rosiglitazone and 7870 receiving control therapy, with a duration of follow-up of 1-4 years). RESULTS Rosiglitazone significantly increased the risk of myocardial infarction (n = 94/6421 vs 83/7870; RR, 1.42; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-1.91; P = .02) and heart failure (n = 102/6421 vs 62/7870; RR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.52-2.88; P < .001) without a significant increase in risk of cardiovascular mortality (n = 59/6421 vs 72/7870; RR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.63-1.26; P = .53). There was no evidence of substantial heterogeneity among the trials for these end points (I(2) = 0% for myocardial infarction, 18% for heart failure, and 0% for cardiovascular mortality). CONCLUSION Among patients with impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes, rosiglitazone use for at least 12 months is associated with a significantly increased risk of myocardial infarction and heart failure, without a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular mortality.
Quantification of fractal properties of postural sway patterns as a step toward fall prevention

In a first step to preventing falls in the elderly, postural sway was examined by use of fractal dimension analysis to gain understanding into the different balance patterns associated with age and disease. It was thought that the complex fractal-like patterns of center of pressure displacement breakdown and change with natural aging and disease, with this breakdown associated to fall risk. To test this hypothesis, center of pressure displacement and associated data were collected from 10 healthy young individuals, 10 healthy elderly individuals, and 10 individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Detrended fluctuation analysis was performed to determine the fractal dimension of each individual’s data in both the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral sway directions, with both eyes open and eyes closed. The fractal dimension revealed the pattern of sway with respect to the equilibrium position. It was found that for both short-term (less than one second) and longer-term time intervals, significant statistical differences in the fractal dimensions allowed some group differentiation. Most significantly, in the medial-lateral direction the long-term fractal dimension allowed differentiating of the Parkinson’s group from both healthy groups with eyes open, and from the healthy elderly group with eyes closed. This study led to a better understanding of the effects of Parkinson’s disease on balance. It was found that, on average, individuals with Parkinson’s disease experience more variability, resulting in a less consistent sway pattern, in the medial-lateral direction than the healthy groups. This may be to make up for a restricted limit-of-stability in the anterior-posterior direction due to rigidity associated with the disease. As individuals with Parkinson’s disease are at higher risk of falling than age-matched peers, the differences in sway pattern found in this study may be responsible for the prevalence of falling in this population. 1 This paper has not been peerreviewed and should not be referenced in open literature.
STUDIES ON FERMENTATIVE PRODUCTION OF CITRIC ACID BY Aspergillus niger ISOLATE USING SORGHUM MALT AND IT ’ S OPTIMIZATION

Abstract: Citric acid is a tri carboxylic organic acid is the most important acid produced by fermentation used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The present work deals with the determination of optimum growth conditions for citric acid production by submerged fermentation by using strain of A.niger MTCC662 respectively. Isolation, screening and mutated the A.niger strain induced by UV irradiation, diethylsulphate and Co 60 by providing different types of media and the submerged fermentation was carried out under various growth parameters like temperature, pH and media of Sorghum malt as substrate. Strain improvement studies for maximum production of citric acid obtained after the fermentation. Maximum yield was obtained from mutant type of A. niger MTCC 662 than wild strains were about 12.0g/100ml and 8.2g/100ml. It could be concluded that the A.niger MTCC662 mutant strains have produced high yield than wild strain of A.niger MTCC662 cultures.
Classical and quantum Malus laws.

The classical and the quantum Malus' Laws for light and spin are discussed. It is shown that for spin-1/2, the quantum Malus' Law is equivalent in form to the classical Malus' Law provided that the statistical average involves a quasi-distribution function that can become negative. A generalization of Malus' Law for arbitrary spin-s is obtained in the form of a Feynman path-integral representation for the Malus amplitude. The classical limit of the Malus amplitude for large s is discussed.
Acute and Long‐Term Clinical Outcome After Endoscopic Pulmonary Vein Isolation: Results from the First Prospective, Multicenter Study

Clinical Outcome After Endoscopic PVI. Introduction: The acute and long‐term outcome of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using an endoscopic ablation system (EAS) has only been reported in single‐center studies. The current prospective, multicenter study assessed the acute and 1‐year outcome following PVI using the EAS.
Nutrition assessment in critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess whether subjective global assessment (SGA) is useful in identifying malnutrition and outcomes in the intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS After obtaining institutional approval, 124 consenting patients were enrolled in this study. Patients were evaluated at admission using clinical data, SGA, height, weight, triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), mid-arm circumference (MAC), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II), and Simplified Acute Physiologic Score (SAPS). Patients were classified as well nourished, moderately malnourished, or severely malnourished with SGA. RESULTS According to SGA, 62% (n = 77) of the patients were classified as well nourished, 26% (n = 33) as moderately malnourished, and 11% (n = 14) as severely malnourished. Body weight, body mass index (BMI), MAC, TSF, and mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC) were lower, whereas APACHE II and SAPS II scores and mortality were higher in the malnourished groups compared with the well-nourished group. The SGA rating correlated significantly with age, body weight, percentage of weight loss, serum albumin level, APACHE II and SAPS II scores, and mortality. Anthropometrics data were correlated with SGA. Mortality rate was correlated with high APACHE II score, SAPS II score, days in the ICU and low BMI, MAMC, and serum albumin level. CONCLUSIONS The results support that SGA is simple and may predict the patient's outcomes in the ICU.
structure in a 2 . 5-Mb region on the long arm of chromosome 21 Strong correlation between meiotic crossovers and haplotype data

2006 16: 208-214; originally published online Dec 29, 2005; Genome Res. Chimge, Richeng Gao, Li Shen, Weichung J. Shih, Kenneth Lange and Honghua Li Tereshchenko, Guohong Hu, James Y. Li, Yi Chu, Marco A. Azaro, Christina J. DeCoste, Nyam-Osor Danielle M. Greenawalt, Xiangfeng Cui, Yujun Wu, Yong Lin, Hui-Yun Wang, Minjie Luo, Irina V. structure in a 2.5-Mb region on the long arm of chromosome 21 Strong correlation between meiotic crossovers and haplotype
Employing Pivot Language Technique Through Statistical and Neural Machine Translation Frameworks : The Case of Under-Resourced Persian-Spanish Language Pair

The quality of Neural Machine Translation (NMT) systems like Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) systems, heavily depends on the size of training data set, while for some pairs of languages, high-quality parallel data are poor resources. In order to respond to this low-resourced training data bottleneck reality, we employ the pivoting approach in both neural MT and statistical MT frameworks. During our experiments on the Persian-Spanish, taken as an under-resourced translation task, we discovered that, the aforementioned method, in both frameworks, significantly improves the translation quality in comparison to the standard direct translation approach.
Melt Extrusion and Spray Drying of Carbamazepine and Dipyridamole with Polyvinylpyrrolidone/Vinyl Acetate Copolymers

Aim: Carbamazepine and dipyridamole are class II compounds (BCS) whose oral bioavailability is limited by poor solubility. The use of glass solutions to improve the bioavailability of this class of compound has been an area of research for a number of years. The influence of polymer parameters (Tg, hydrophilicity, solubility parameter, and ability to hydrogen bond) on glass solution properties is investigated. Methods: Carbamazepine and dipyridamole glass solutions are prepared with PVP/VA 64 and PVP/VA 37 by spray drying and melt extrusion. The products are then characterized by XRPD, thermal, and spectroscopic methods. Yield, physical stability, and dissolution profiles are also assessed. Results: The properties of the polymer greatly influenced the ability to produce glass solutions. With decreases in Tg and hydrophilicity, melt extrusion became the more viable of the two preparative techniques. Although glass solutions were successfully prepared, the greater the difference in component solubility parameter, the less physically stable the formulation. Conclusion: Consideration must be given to the characteristics of the polymer when selecting for glass solution formulation. Although a number of process parameters can be varied for melt extrusion and spray drying, their ability to overcome fundamental differences in the physical parameters discussed is limited.
Taking charge of the challenge: Factors to consider in taking your first nurse practitioner job

Purpose: To describe factors that ensure a smooth transition from nurse practitioner (NP) student to independent NP during the first year of practice. Data sources: Two contrasting case examples, the authors' experiences, and selected professional literature. Conclusions: Key points to consider upon searching or taking a first NP job include patient, colleague, and clinic factors. Patient factors include mix of patient presentations, complexity of patient presentations, insurance status, and population. Colleague factors include mentorship, charting, mix of providers, and availability of providers. Perhaps most importantly, clinic factors include productivity expectations, practice mission, charting systems, on‐call requirements, supervision of other staff, and teaching status. Together, these factors can largely determine whether an NP's days are satisfying or frustrating in a new job. Implications for practice: The transition from NP student to independent NP can be daunting. Although nursing schools and practice sites have responsibilities to ensure the transition is smooth, the new NP is ultimately responsible for the transition.
Social interactions within and between two distant populations of house mouse

A b s t ra c t. we studied agonistic behaviour of male and female house mice from two distant populations (Bohemia and Eastern Turkey) each belonging to a different subspecies (Mr.r ntusculus ntusculus and Mus ntusculus domesticus respectively). Two hundred dyadic interactions in a neutral cage were performed following a balanced design. The effects of sex, population, testing order, and their mutual interactions on the neutral cage behaviour were evaluated. In both populations, male-male interactions were more agonistic than the femalefemale ones. Males from Turkey (M. m. domesticus) were much more agonistic than M. musculus males from Bohemia (M. nt musculu.s). They exhibited considerably more agonistic interactions not only in male-male but also in male-female encounters. Moreover, males from Turkey were regularly the winncrs of both interpopulational and intersexual encounters. Interactions between mice of different populations showed that mice discriminated individuals from the other population as opponents or even sexual partners, however, females spent more time sniffing males belonging to their own population.
Founder Control, Opacity and Value Creation in Family Firms

The extant literature on family-controlled firms in the U.S. presents a mixed picture on how family control affects opacity and value creation. In this study, we show that the mixed results arise from the differences among family firms with regard to the presence of founders and the extent of decision rights held by them. Specifically, we find that family firms in which founders are present and have significant decision rights (influence), are more transparent and have higher valuations, compared to similar non-family firms. In further analysis, we show that founders improve the operating efficiency of their firms and this partly explains the additional value creation in founder firms. We find all these effects to be stronger when founders have greater decision rights (influence). In contrast, non-founder family firms are more opaque than their non-family counterparts. Furthermore, we document cross-sectional variations in the impact of Founder-CEOs on opacity and value based on their tenure and horizon. For Founder-CEOs, firm opacity increases (decreases) and value decreases (increases) with founder tenure (founder horizon).
Vasculogenesis, Angiogenesis and the Molecular Organisation of Endothelial Junctions in the Early Human Placenta

Vasculogenesis and angiogenesis are regulated by the capacity of endothelial cells to adhere to each other and form new tubes. The presence and role of junctional adhesion molecules during physiological vasculogenesis is unknown. Using ultrastructural and immunocytochemical approaches, we compared the junctional phenotype of developing vessels of the first-trimester human placenta with vessels in the last trimester; the latter include newly formed terminal capillaries and the quiescent vascular bed. First-trimester placental vessels contained the adherens junctional molecules, vascular endothelial cadherin and α- and β-catenin but lacked plakoglobin, the component of fully differentiated adherens junctions. Furthermore, these vessels did not contain the transmembrane tight junctional molecules occludin and claudin-1 and -2. This profile reflects the phenotype of terminal capillaries but differs from large vessels of the full-term placenta. Electron microscopic studies revealed that endothelial tight junctions are present in the first-trimester placenta. Thus, occludin and claudin-1 appear to play no part in the formation of endothelial tight junctions, but are a later requirement. In the early placenta, the predominant growth factor appears to be vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), whilst at term, angiopoietin-1 was present in large vessels, with intense angiopoietin-2 immunofluorescence (and VEGF) located in terminal villous capillaries. Thus, endothelial junctions in the human placenta possess two distinct molecular phenotypes, i.e. stable or dynamic, dependent on maturity and plasticity. These distinct phenotypes may be influenced by the angiopoietins/VEGF present in the placenta.