Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of Normal Thyroid Gland Volume On Ultrasound In Normal Adults In Jos, North Central Nigeria

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: This study was done to establish a standard ultrasonographic measurement of the thyroid gland volume in normal adults in Jos University Teaching Hospital. Background: The thyroid gland is one of the largest endocrine glands in the body weighing about 10-25g. It regulates the rate of metabolism, the growth and rate of function of many other systems in the body. These it does, by producing thyroid hormones, principally thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). The accurate estimation of the size of the thyroid is very important for the evaluation and management of thyroid disorders. Thus, knowing the normal size in a geographic location would form a baseline for detecting abnormalities. Ultrasonography is a cheap, readily available, easy to perform and non-invasive method to image the thyroid gland, hence its use in this resource limited setting. METHODOLOGY: This is a cross sectional study of sonographic measurement of thyroid gland volume on 400 normal (healthy) adults in Jos, Plateau State, Northern part of Nigeria. All examinations were performed using LOGIC 5, a real-time ultrasound machine using a 10MHZ linear transducer and ultrasound transmission gel to act as a coupling gel. Measurements of each lobes and isthmus were obtained in longitudinal (length), transverse (width) and depth (breath) in centimeters (cm). Blood samples were taken for thyroid function tests. The weight and heights were obtained. The data obtained were statistically analyzed using SPSS software version 17. The results were presented in forms of tables, graphs and chart. RESULTS: The mean thyroid volume for males 6.03cm ± 2.22 was higher than that of females 5.62cm ± 2.14. The mean right lobe volume (RLV) was 3.09cm ± 1.47 and that of males and females were 3.16cm ± 1.34 and 3.04cm ± 1.55 respectively. The mean left lobe volume (LLV) was 2.69cm ± 1.37 and that of males and females were 2.89cm ± 1.32 and 2.57cm ± 1.39 respectively. The right lobe volume was significantly greater than the left lobe (p=0.000). The total mean isthmus volume was 0.27cm ± 0.31. The mean isthmus volume in males 0.3±0.28 is significantly higher than that of females 0.24±0.23 (p=0.025) CONCLUSION: The volume obtained in this study was slightly lower than those reported by previous studies in Nigerian adults. The right lobe volume was higher than that of the left and the volume was higher in males compared to females.
Financial performance of eponymous firms in the Czech Republic

Past literature suggests that firms that bear the name of the owners, also known as eponymous firms, have superior profitability. The goal of this paper is to test the differences in the financial performance indicators between eponymous and other Czech firms. In a sample of 17,833 privately held firms operating in the Czech Republic, owned by Czech individuals or families and having complete financial data for 2014-2017, we find that eponymous firms have a significantly higher return on assets. However, no difference in return on equity has been found. We also show that eponymous firms have lower asset turnover and labour productivity, use less debt financing and have greater liquidity. In this sense, their financial characteristics are close to those of family businesses. Overall, eponymous firms are younger than other firms, but there are no significant differences in the size of the firms. The results suggest that firms named after the founder are more likely to perform well.
Care or Hurt? Exploring Emotional Blackmail on Social Media based on Social Capital Theory

The effect of social media on users’ well-being is inevitable. Some phenomena that occur when people interact (e.g. emotional blackmailing, bullying), have adapted themselves to the virtual environment. Despite numerous studies about the negative effects of social media, there have not been any studies that addressed the problem of emotional blackmail on social media. This study explores emotional blackmail, particularly by using social capital theory, to investigate how each dimension of social capital affects emotional blackmail and how emotional blackmail affects users’ well-being and perceived stress. A survey conducted on 127 international students in Taiwan reveals that social media consumption is associated with higher emotional blackmail. Furthermore, each dimension of social capital is associated with decreased emotional blackmail and increase users’ perceived stress. More importantly, emotional blackmail is also found to reduce users’ well-being. This study contributes to the body of information systems research by investigating the unfavorable effects of social media usage.
Analysis of Potassium Bromate in Bread and Flour Samples Sold in Jalingo Metropolis, Northern Nigeria

Twenty different bread brands and four wheat flour brands were randomly obtained from bakeries and retail outlets in Jalingo metropolis, North-eastern Nigeria. The samples were analysed for potassium bromate using standard methods. The results obtained revealed the presence of potassium bromate in all the bread and flour samples analysed. The concentration of bromate in the bread samples ranged from 2.51 – 11.52 μg/g while for the flour samples, the concentration ranged from 2.94 – 6.86 μg/g. This study shows that bakers in Jalingo, Nigeria still make use of potassium bromate as bread improver despite its ban in 1993 by the Nigerian National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Many studies have established that potassium bromate can cause detrimental health effects in humans. This implies that Consumers of the investigated bread brands sold in Jalingo face potential health risks associated with ingestion of bromate.
Is Fund Management Skill More Valuable in Noisy Times?

Is fund management skill more valuable in noise trading times —a natural setting to detect skill — when asset prices drift from intrinsic values, short-selling is limited, and value-relevant information is costlier? Our results demonstrate that skilled fund managers generate persistent excess risk-adjusted returns especially in high sentiment and stock mispricing states. We find that fund managers with the highest (lowest) skill create, on average, $7.71 ($5.64) million of added value (loss) conditional on high sentiment periods, relative to $3.74 million for the entire sample period, while they experience a value loss of $0.18 ($30.32) million in low sentiment periods. This pattern persists after we control for lucky bias, using the “false discovery rate” approach, which permits to disentangle manager “skill” from “luck”. JEL Classification: G11, G14, G20, G23
STRAIN DISTRIBUTION ON ORAL IMPLANTS WITH DIFFERENT DESIGNS OF CONNECTIONS

Nowadays, oral implants can be fabricated with different types of connections. These connections are usefull for helping the insertion of the implant and as anti-rotational element of the abutment. This work aims to analyze stress distribution over dental implants. The implants were fabricated with the same external design, differing only at the connections: external hexagon (EH), internal hexagon (IH), internal conical (IC) and one without connection to the abutment (one piece, OP). The samples were immersed in photoelastic models and submitted to two compressive loads: (1) axial load 1; and (2) 6.5mm away from the center – load 2. Points over the implants were analyzed, in those the maximum shear stresses were determined. Graphics were made by the analyzed points and their areas were calculated in the two loads situations, for the total implant body and only at the platform region. It could be concluded that for load 1 the connections did not present differences for the stress distribution over the implants. But for load 2, IH presented the lowest values, and EH presented the highest, in all regions analysed.
Another Look at Information Costs and Home Bias: Evidence from Earnings Opacity and Financial Analysts’ Forecasts

This paper investigates the relation between the home bias in equity holdings, financial analysts’ forecasts and earnings opacity. We revisit the role of information asymmetries and information cost, focusing on forecast accuracy and measures of earnings opacity. Using high quality cross-border holdings data and introducing an estimator based on sample moments of order higher than two to reduce the bias induced by measurement errors, we confirm, improve and extend previous results obtained recently by Ahearne et al. (2004). First, we show that financial analysts’ forecast accuracy may contribute to explaining the lack of diversification observed in U.S. portfolios. Second, we shed light on the relationship between earnings opacity measures and the home bias in equity holdings.
Interestingly, native arsenic in the Michael vein acted as a trap for uranium during supergene

Formation of native arsenic in hydrothermal base metal deposits and related supergene 3 U 6+ enrichment: the Michael vein near Lahr, SW Germany 4 5 Manuel Scharrer, Katharina Sandritter, Benjamin F. Walter, Udo Neumann & Gregor Markl 6 7 1 Department of Geoscience, University of Tuebingen, Wilhelmstr. 56, D-72074 Tübingen 8 2 Present address: Institute for Applied Geoscience, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 9 Adenauerring 20b, D-76313 Karlsruhe 10 Corresponding author: Manuel Scharrer 11 12
The Puzzle of Educated Unemployment in West Africa

Unemployment rates in urban West Africa are increasing or hump-shaped in education. This is puzzling because educated workers could downgrade to low-skilled self-employed jobs to escape unemployment. We argue that the public sector plays a role in this pattern and study how recent public policies affect (educated) unemployment, worker allocation across sectors and incomes. To this end we develop a search and matching model with heterogeneous workers who participate in a labour market with three sectors (public, private-formal and self-employment). We estimate the model using data from the West African 1-2-3-Survey. Low job arrival rates, low search efficiency when self-employed, and differential job destruction explain a large part of educated unemployment, while public sector wage distortions are relatively small. Public sector vacancy creation crowds out the private-formal sector, pushes workers into unemployment and self-employment, and benefits those with high education at the expense of those with little or no education. Indirect labour market policies such as subsidies to private-formal vacancy posting and facilitating entry into self-employment effectively decrease unemployment, have a positive impact on incomes, and are more egalitarian. These later policies should be preferred over public vacancy creation.
Ameliorative Effect of Glycyrrhizic Acid against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Rats

Ameliorative Effect of Glycyrrhizic Acid against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Rats Waleed Barakat, Sherif El-kannishy, Shimaa M Elshazly, Amr A A Mahmoud and Naglaa A Ahmed Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabuk University, Tabuk 71491, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt Analytical Toxicology Emergency Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, University of Mansoura, Egypt Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt Abstract Doxorubicin (DOX) is a potent anticancer drug whose application is hampered by its cardiotoxicity mediated by oxidative stress and inflammation. Glycyrrhizic acid (glycyrrhizin) is a natural compound that exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant action. The present study aimed to examine whether the administration of glycyrrhizic acid can produce protective effect against acute DOX cardiotoxicity. Cardiotoxicity was induced in rats by intraperitoneal injection of DOX (15 mg/kg). Results revealed that DOX administration exhibited elevated serum level Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) myocardial TNF-α content, in addition to reduced myocardial Catalase (CAT) activity. Pretreatment with glycyrrhizic acid (100 mg/kg, orally) for nine days markedly ameliorated all these changes and substantially reduced the myocardium peroxidative damage. The protective effects obtained by glycyrrhizic acid may be via its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and suggest its possible use to prevent or reduce doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.
Why Do the Poor and Less Educated Vote More ? Explaining the Reverse Relationship Between Socio-Economic Status and Turnout in Africa

The conventional wisdom in the literature of political participation is that individuals with high socio-economic status (wealthy/affluent and educated) are more likely to vote compared to those with low socio-economic status (less educated and less affluent/poor). However, when this is extended to the context of Africa, the result tends to be reversed. In this article, we investigate why poor and less educated Africans are more likely to participate in the political process. Building on resource, mobilisation and institutional theories, we begin by generating theory-driven hypotheses about the relationship between socio-economic status and turnout in Africa which are tested using the sixth round of Afrobarometer survey data. Our findings challenge the claim that resource-poor Africans are more likely to vote because they are the primary target of vote-buying efforts; instead, our results suggest that less affluent/poor and uneducated Africans tend to vote more frequently when the voting procedure is easy (i.e. under a closed ballot system) and when there are few political parties.
Serum tumor necrosis factor alpha and C-reactive protein increase in breast cancer patients

Background: Breast cancer is now the second most commonly cancer diagnosed in women and remains the leading cause of cancer death among females in less developed countries. Inflammation molecules liked C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) are suspected to be involved in breast carcinogenesis, The objective of this study was to determine the levels of serum tumor necrosis factor alpha and C-reactive protein in breast cancer patients. Methods: A case-control study was carried out involving 36 confirmed breast cancer patients within the ages of 45-60 years attending General Hospital Owerri and 36 apparently non breast cancer within the ages of 45-60 years served as control. Tumor necrosis factor alpha and CRP were determined by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent method. An independent students ttest was used to analyse the data. Results: The serum levels of TNF-α and CRP in breast cancer patients were significantly raised when compared with the control. Conclusion: Tumor necrosis factor alpha and high sensitivity Creactive protein may be beneficial for diagnosis of breast cancer.
Revisiting the Causality between Smartphone Usage and Academic Performance: A Large-Scale Survey

Despite the rapid technological advances, the usage of smartphones among college students has been broadly discouraged, because a number of studies have demonstrated a strong causality between smartphone usage and poor academic performance. Nonetheless, there is a lack of studies that simultaneously test the impacts of the use of multiple smartphone applications on academic performance while considering the possible mediating effect of students’ internal status and life habits. Based on a large-scale survey with over 10,000 college students, this study aims to offer robust empirical evidence that appropriate use of certain applications factually motivates a better academic performance. Specifically, our model assumes a direct impact of the use of five types of applications on academic performance, as well as their indirect impacts mediated by cultivation of nomophobia and other habits related to smartphone usage.
The First Time in Private Equity: A Closer Look on Management Teams

First time funds lack the performance history that is typically used by interested investors during their due diligence. As an alternative signal, I investigate the predictive power of the managers’ biography for capital raising, investment strategy, and performance. Evaluating a comprehensive data set on 567 newly raised buyout funds, 6,229 investments, and 1,388 individuals reveals the team and investment characteristics of successful managers. Professional experience dominates education and diversity measures in fund raising. However, subsequent performance is then primarily driven by the partners’ strategic investment choices which in turn are driven by their previous attainments.
The effect of Morinda citrifolia L. (Noni) in drinking water on egg production and egg quality of Sentul Chickens

Morinda citrifolia (Noni) is a common plant used as alternative to synthetic feed additive in poultry production. The study was aimed to determine the effect of Noni juice in drinking water on production and egg quality of Sentul Chickens. Sentul Chicken is an indigenous chicken of Indonesia that has dual purpose potential. A total of 20 birds of female Grey Sentul Chickens aged 22 weeks were reared for eight weeks. The observed variables were hen day production, yolk and albumen indexes, as well as cholesterol content of yolk egg. The results showed that addition of Noni fruit juice to drinking water significantly increased egg production and reduced the yolk index. Moreover, the treatments reduced the cholesterol of yolk of Sentul Chickens. The study reveals that increasing levels of Noni fruit juice in drinking water also had positive effects on egg production and egg quality. Further studies are, however, needed to have better understanding about the use of Noni fruit in enhancing egg production and egg quality of Sentul chickens.
Does Foreign Competition Affect Stock Market Liquidity?

We examine the effect of trade liberalization on stock markets, and find a negative association between foreign competition and stock liquidity. Our results hold using an instrumental variable methodology and in a quasi-natural experiment setting. We identify a deterioration in the informational environment in response to increases in foreign competition, as the channel through which foreign competition affects stock liquidity. Specifically, we find that the negative effect that foreign competition has on stock liquidity is less evident amongst better monitored firms and firms with greater analyst coverage. Our paper is the first to highlight the unintended consequences of trade liberalisation on financial markets. JEL Classification: G15, G31, G34
Do Acquirers Announce Better Deals after Disclosing Bad News?

We examine whether negative corporate news affects a manager’s decision to announce valueenhancing merger and acquisitions (M&As) attempts. Using an archive of electronically disseminated company press releases, we show that the percentage of negative firm-specific news before an M&A announcement is positively associated with the acquirer’s three-day cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) around the merger announcement. Also, CARs are more favorable for cash deals involving large and privately owned targets when the announcements are made after a large percentage of negative news. These results are consistent with the notion that managers are more inclined to undertake value-enhancing acquisitions when investors monitoring activities and managers’ career concerns are heightened following negative news disclosures.
The Life Cycle of Family Ownership: A Comparative Study of France, Germany, Italy and the U.K

Using firm level data for France, Germany, Italy and the U.K., this paper analyzes the evolution of the ownership of the top 1,000 companies, both private and listed in all four countries over the period 1996-2006. We find that family firms in the U.K. follow a life cycle and evolve into widely held companies as they age, while those in Continental European do not. More generally, we show that ownership of family firms is more stable in Continental Europe than in the U.K. and less likely to be dispersed via the market for corporate control. The stability of family firms may be related to their profitability relative to non family firms: in Continental Europe (but not in the U.K.) family firms are more profitable than non family firms. Continental European family firms are older and more likely to be controlled by a nonfounding family than their U.K. counterparts. Our analysis highlights the importance of private firms which represent more than two thirds of the top 4,000 companies. JEL Classification: G32, G34
The Influence of Technology Readiness on Satisfaction and Destination Loyalty toward Augmented Reality Technologies

Technology has been changing the travel experience of visitors. Particularly, Augmented Reality is one of the emerging technologies, which widely used in cultural heritage tourism sites. This study is based on a new technology acceptance model and future modified this model to examine the relationship between product beliefs, consumer satisfaction with AR, and destination loyalty in cultural heritage sites. Moreover, this paper examined the role of technology readiness forming travellers’ loyalty of destination with a kind of travel technology--AR. The results show that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have significant effects on the satisfaction of AR towards the travellers’ loyalty of destination. TR is found to have moderating effects on this model.
Why Do Repurchases Affect Share Prices?

Repurchases increase share prices, but the reasons for this are controversial. By using data on 140 closed-end funds, which have transparent prices for both shares and asset values, we are able to provide new evidence. There is a small increase in price at the time of the announcement, which is consistent with a market-timing arbitrage. The longterm effects over the next four years are much larger: fund prices outperform by around 4% per annum, while fund assets outperform by around 3% per annum. The latter result implies a ‘real’ effect on operating performance, which cannot be explained by arbitrage (repurchase) profits or by changes in liquidity. These long-term gains are consistent with a ‘governance theory of repurchases’, in which the announcement and execution of repurchases signals that directors have increased their oversight of managers. *Cass Business School, City University, London EC1Y 8TZ, U.K. #Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K. Telephone number: + 44 (0) 24 7652 4542 (Gordon.Gemmill@wbs.ac.uk) JEL classifications: G32; G35
Study of Toxicity, Immunological and some Cytopathic Effects of Vibrio cholerae supernatant ایرتكب قلاع يف ةیضرملا تاریثأتلا ضعبو ةیعانملاو ةیمسلا تاریثأتلا ةسارد Vibrio cholerae

Crude Vibrio cholerae extract was produced by centrifugation and filtration then the amount of protein was estimated by Folinlowry method and was found equal to 550 microgram/ml. Extract activity was set by infant suckling mouse method. Toxicity was determined by measuring LD50 and was found equals to 57microgram/ml. Rabbit Anti-bacterial extract antibodies was titrated by precipitation method and the result showed that the titer is 40. Ouchterlony double immunodifussion test between several dilutions of the crude bacterial extract and rabbit antiserum showed positive results in 1/40 and 1/80 of the extract dilutions. The cytopathic effect of extract on mice hearts was also studied by injecting number of mice with 55 and 27.5 microgram/ml concentration of the crude extract and it showed that it has no certain effect on this organ.