Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dullard/Ctdnep1 Regulates Endochondral Ossification via Suppression of TGF‐β Signaling

Transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β signaling plays critical roles during skeletal development and its excessive signaling causes genetic diseases of connective tissues including Marfan syndrome and acromelic dysplasia. However, the mechanisms underlying prevention of excessive TGF‐β signaling in skeletogenesis remain unclear. We previously reported that Dullard/Ctdnep1 encoding a small phosphatase is required for nephron maintenance after birth through suppression of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling. Unexpectedly, we found that Dullard is involved in suppression of TGF‐β signaling during endochondral ossification. Conditional Dullard‐deficient mice in the limb and sternum mesenchyme by Prx1‐Cre displayed the impaired growth and ossification of skeletal elements leading to postnatal lethality. Dullard was expressed in early cartilage condensations and later in growth plate chondrocytes. The tibia growth plate of newborn Dullard mutant mice showed reduction of the proliferative and hypertrophic chondrocyte layers. The sternum showed deformity of cartilage primordia and delayed hypertrophy. Micromass culture experiments revealed that Dullard deficiency enhanced early cartilage condensation and differentiation, but suppressed mineralized hypertrophic chondrocyte differentiation, which was reversed by treatment with TGF‐β type I receptor kinase blocker LY‐364947. Dullard deficiency induced upregulation of protein levels of both phospho‐Smad2/3 and total Smad2/3 in micromass cultures without increase of Smad2/3 mRNA levels, suggesting that Dullard may affect Smad2/3 protein stability. The phospho‐Smad2/3 level was also upregulated in perichondrium and hypertrophic chondrocytes in Dullard‐deficient embryos. Response to TGF‐β signaling was enhanced in Dullard‐deficient primary chondrocyte cultures at late, but not early, time point. Moreover, perinatal administration of LY‐364947 ameliorated the sternum deformity in vivo. Thus, we identified Dullard as a new negative regulator of TGF‐β signaling in endochondral ossification. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Role of web site design quality in satisfaction and word of mouth generation

– The purpose of this paper is to examine a comprehensive model explaining how web site design influences consumer's emotional and cognitive responses and contributes to satisfaction and word‐of‐mouth (WOM) communication in an online shopping context. , – A total of 804 female college students completed an online survey after browsing one of two mock web sites developed to manipulate web site design quality. , – Web site design quality showed positive direct effects on pleasure, arousal, and perceived information quality and indirect effects on satisfaction and WOM intention. Pleasant shopping experience increased positive perceptions and satisfaction. The results also showed that satisfaction mediated the relationship between emotional and cognitive responses and positive WOM intention. , – Although an online survey was used to increase the reality of an online shopping experience, uncontrolled conditions may have influenced the results of the study. Further research needs to be conducted in a laboratory setting to control these factors. , – The paper theoretically extends the applicability of the stimulus‐organism‐response paradigm to satisfaction and electronic WOM intention research and fills the gap in the current online shopping literature. The paper also offers valuable information to online retailers to maximize consumer satisfaction and generate positive WOM using web site design.
HOW MAMMALS PRODUCE LARGE‐BRAINED OFFSPRING

Two explanations for species differences in neonatal brain size in eutherian mammals relate the size of the brain at birth to maternal metabolic rate. Martin (1981, 1983) argued that maternal basal metabolic rate puts an upper bound on the mother's ability to supply energy to the fetus, thereby limiting neonatal brain size. Hofman (1983) proposed that gestation length in mammals is constrained by maternal metabolic rate, implying an indirect constraint on neonatal brain size. Since individuals of precocial species have much larger neonatal brain sizes and are gestated longer for a given maternal body size than individuals of altricial species, Martin's and Hofman's ideas also require that mothers of precocial offspring have higher metabolic rates for their body sizes than mothers of altricial offspring. Data on 116 mammal species from 13 orders show that neither neonatal brain size nor gestation length is correlated with maternal metabolic rate when maternal body‐size effects are removed. For a given maternal size, there is no difference in metabolic rates between precocial and altricial species, despite a two‐fold difference between them in average neonatal brain size. However, neonatal brain size is strongly correlated with gestation length and litter size, independently of maternal size and metabolic rate. Analyses conducted within orders replicated the findings for gestation length and suggested that neonatal brain size may be at best only weakly related to metabolic rate. Differences in neonatal brain size appear to have evolved primarily with species differences in gestation length and litter size but not with differences in metabolic rate; large‐brained offspring are typically produced from litters of one that have been gestated for a long time relative to maternal size. We conclude that species differences in relative neonatal brain size reflect different life‐history tactics rather than constraints imposed by metabolic rate.
Improved local control of invasive bladder cancer by concurrent cisplatin and preoperative or definitive radiation. The National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group.

PURPOSE A prospective randomized trial was conducted to determine whether the addition of concurrent cisplatin to preoperative or definitive radiation therapy in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer improved local control or survival. PATIENTS AND METHODS Ninety-nine eligible patients with T2 to T4b transitional cell bladder cancer participated, 64% with cT3b or cT4. Patients and their physicians selected either definitive radiotherapy or precystectomy radiotherapy; patients were then randomly allocated to receive intravenous cisplatin 100 mg/m2 at 2-week intervals for three cycles concurrent with pelvic radiation, or to receive radiation without chemotherapy. Patients were stratified by clinical tumor stage and by radiation plan. The median follow-up duration is 6.5 years. RESULTS The occurrence of distant metastases was the same in both study arms. However, 25 of 48 control patients have had a first recurrence in the pelvis, compared with 15 of 51 cisplatin-treated patients (P = .036). The pelvic relapse rate in the two groups was significantly reduced by concurrent cisplatin (P = .038, log-rank test) and this effect was preserved in a stepwise Cox regression model of prognostic factors (hazards ratio, 0.50; 90% confidence interval [CI], 0.29 to 0.86; P = .036). The hazard reduction was similar for both radiation plans. Pretreatment leukocytosis and high clinical stage were independent adverse factors in a Cox model of overall survival, but the effect of cisplatin was not significant. CONCLUSION Concurrent cisplatin may improve pelvic control of locally advanced bladder cancer with preoperative or definitive radiation, but has not been shown to improve overall survival. The use of concurrent cisplatin had no detectable effect on distant metastases.
Dementia of Depression in Parkinson's Disease and Stroke

Depression is a frequent finding in patients with neurological disorders. These depressions, however, have similar phenomenology, duration, biological markers, and response to treatment as depressions in patients with no known brain injuries (i.e., functional depression). In the present article, we review evidence that suggests the dementia of depression exists among severely depressed patients with cerebrovascular lesions or Parkinson's disease (PD). We conclude that: a) in patients with either stroke lesions or PD, depression is significantly associated with cognitive deficits; b) this association is only true for patients with major depression (i.e., it is not present in patients with minor depression); and c) patients with poststroke depression and patients with PD and depression have a severity and profile of cognitive deficits similar to those found in patients with primary major depression.
Interrelating operational and financial performance measurements in a multiproduct inventory system

Financial supply chain management and working capital management are increasingly under the spotlight as effective approaches to optimising working capital levels and directing cash flows. Especially in a multiproduct environment, efficient working capital allocation can boost company performance, achieve significant cost savings and demonstrate risk-pooling benefits. In this paper, we focus on the interrelation of working capital and stocking decisions for functional, innovative and heterogeneous product portfolios. We analyse the effect of demand correlation, lead time, payment delays, portfolio sizes, and service level constraints for multiproduct portfolios. Due to the dynamic nature of working capital, we resort to simulation in order to derive managerial insights. Our results attest the importance of payment delays on the profitability of a company. In addition, we demonstrate risk-pooling benefits from a financial perspective.
Preventive Effect of a Fraxinus Excelsior L Seeds/Fruits Extract on Hepatic Steatosis in Obese Type 2 Diabetic Mice

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver is recognized as one of harmful consequences of the metabolic syndrome and hepatocytes steatosis is well connected with loss of insulin sensitivity, impaired glucose tolerance and can lead to impaired fasting glucose and type2 diabetes mellitus. Fraxinus excelsior L. seed extract has been used as traditional folk medicine by Mediterranean population and Glucevia®, a natural extract of Fraxinus excelsior L. derived from seeds/fruits of the plant and standardized to 10% Nuzhenide and GI3, has been previously reported to regulate glucose homeostasis in healthy overweight people. Methods: The effect of seven-month administration of Glucevia® on liver parameters was investigated in a diabetic mouse strain (BKS ++Lepr db (db/db)). The severity of fatty change and grading of hepatic steatosis were determined by estimating the fat hepatocytes contain in animals fed with a control diet or with a control diet supplemented with 0.07 % (w/w) of the extract. Results: Glucevia® was shown to significantly reduce fatty liver in diabetics mice (-54%; p<0.05). A concomitant improvement in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels and in aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) ratio were observed between groups (p<0.05). A significant decrease in insulin plasma level (-22%; p<0.05) was measured in Glucevia® group leading to an improvement of HOMA-IR between groups (p<0.001) while no significant change of fasting blood glucose was observed between group. Conclusion: The results observed supports the potential hepatoprotective function of Glucevia®, which seems to prevent fatty liver formation in type 2 diabetes mice model.
An Empirical Study of Critical Factors of Electronic Banking Adoption for Banking Sector in Palestine

This research paper aims to analyze a questionnaire survey to find out the determinants of adapting e-banking that are absolutely critical for successful implementation in banking sector in Palestine. Out of a possible list of 18 names of banks with more than 200 branches, 1000 bank’s customers were targeted, with 900 usable questionnaires returned, thus giving a response rate of 90 percent. The research led to the development of a criticality e-banking determinants structure, comprising 37 determinants sorted in descending order of criticality through three tiers. The growth of electronic commerce (EC) derived from the advances in information and communication technology (ICT) has significant effects on daily activities of people. The experts involved in this area try to adopt the related technology for facilitating the every-day activities of industry and service organizations that involve the communication with their clients to overcome the limitations of time and place with lowest expenses.
High dimensional wavelet methods for structured financial products

Within the last decade structured financial products have become an important tool for the risk management of financial institutions. These products had a major role in the financial crisis of 2007, partly due to oversimplifications of the mathematical models and, as a result, the market for these products strongly declined. However, a major part of these products is still on the balance sheets of companies worldwide and nowadays, the market for structured financial products is back on the rise. This thesis investigates a new numerical approach to value structured financial products. The main difficulty of the pricing these products is the inclusion of the portfolio dependency structure and the integration of the vast number of states of the portfolio. As a starting point for the numerical valuation, the model of Kraft and Steffensen (2006) has been chosen, which describes the portfolio states by a Markov chain. As the number of states increases exponentially with the number of assets in the portfolio, this model is mainly of theoretical importance. The price of a structured financial product in this model is described by a coupled system of partial differential equation, describing the value of the portfolio for each state of the Markov chain depending on the time and macroeconomic state variables. A typical portfolio of 125 assets leads to a system of 2125 coupled parabolic partial differential equations. To solve this enormous number of equations numerically with wavelet methods, two tools are essential. First, the construction of a L2-orthonormal wavelet bases is introduced and, second, an implementation of the hierarchical Tucker format, a linear algebra format for the efficient handling of extremely large matrices and vectors is described. The L2orthonormal wavelet basis serves primarily to allow for several macroeconomic state variables without increasing the condition of the associated linear system, whereas the implementation of the hierarchical Tucker format contributes to the manageability of the large amount of states in the Markov chain. A numerical experiment shows that combining these two tools, the pricing of structured financial products is possible without the so far necessary simplification of the underlying portfolio. Furthermore, an algorithm for the valuation of portfolio tranches is suggested, based on the efficient search of certain, affected states of the Markov chain.
Integrated financial management information systems implementation and its impact on public procurement performance at national government of Kenya

The recent introduction of IFMIS at the National Government of Kenya is advancement in technology aimed at improving procurement practices. IFMIS not only increases the efficiency of procurements, but also increases accountability in procurement. However, the exact effect it has on procurement performance has not been fully established by the available literature. This study aimed at establishing the implementation and impact of integrated financial management information system on procurement performance at the National Government of Kenya. The researcher used cross-sectional survey approach in conducting the study where all the ministries at the national government were studied at their National level points. The population of interest consisted of all the 18 ministries under the National Government of Kenya as such the procurement managers were targeted. This study mainly used primary data collected using questionnaires. The questionnaires included structured and unstructured questions and was administered through drop and pick later method. Data collected was quantitative in nature. The descriptive statistical tools helped the researcher to describe the data and determine the extent used. This included frequency distributions, tables, figures, percentages, means and standard deviations. Further, descriptive statistics were used to analyse the information on factors affecting the implementation of integrated financial management information system on procurement performance of the Kenyan Government Ministries. In addition, the study conducted a multiple regression analysis to show the relationship between implementation of IFMIS and procurement performance in the public sector in Kenya. The study found out that ministries under the National Government had adopted various e-procurement practices to enhance their procurement performance. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between IFMIS and procurement performance. The study found that adoption of IFMIS by ministries had a significant impact on their procurement performance. The study concluded that IFMIS adoption has a positive impact on the procurement performance. The study recommended the government should undertake more awareness programmes to create positive stance towards e-government projects amongst stakeholders where IFMIS falls. The study also recommended that the ministries should appoint procurement oversight committees that will see implementation of IFMIS on procurement practices at their respective ministries.
The role of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate in treatment for and prevention of osteoarthritis in animals.

J disease, in particular osteoarthritis, is an important cause of lameness and debilitation for humans and other animals. Presently, a number of pharmacologic agents are available for treatment for osteoarthritis, including nutraceuticals containing glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. Although to date clinical trials in veterinary patients are limited, trials conducted in humans have for the most part provided encouraging results. Results of in vitro studies suggest that these compounds may impede the progression of joint degeneration in osteoarthritis. The purpose of this review is to provide veterinary practitioners with up-to-date information regarding the mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, clinical efficacy, and safety of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. Structure of Articular Cartilage and Pathophysiology of Osteoarthritis Chondrocytes, the cellular component of articular cartilage, are responsible for the synthesis and maintenance of the extracellular matrix in which they are embedded. The extracellular matrix is composed of collagen (predominantly type II collagen) and proteoglycans, with a smaller percentage of glycoproteins (Figure 1). Type II collagen arranged in fibrils is responsible for the tensile strength of articular cartilage. Proteoglycans consist of a central protein core to which 1 or more glycosaminoglycan (GAG) side chains are attached. In turn, GAGs are composed of repeating disaccharide units of hexosamine (glucosamine or galactosamine) alternating with another residue of glucuronate, iduronate, or galactose. The largest and most predominant proteoglycan in cartilage is aggrecan. Chondrocytes synthesize aggrecan by covalently attaching GAGs (chondroitin sulfate and keratan sulfate) to a central protein core of proteoglycans in an organized manner. This core protein of the proteoglyThe role of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate in treatment for and prevention of osteoarthritis in animals
An empirical study on software engineering and software startups: Findings from cases in an innovation ecosystem

Context:Software startups are increasingly seen as opportunities in a varieties of areas; from simple applications, as personal controls, to complex solutions, involving artificial intelligence or using big data. The process of developing these solutions happens quickly and in abbreviated form. Thus, software engineering should be adapted to better understand this world of software startups in a way to assist them in their customer discovery challenges and in the search for scalable business models. Main Goal: Understand the factors that positively and negatively influence the software development of software startups and present solutions found in an empirical study on startups located in an innovation ecosystem Methodology: We conducted interviews and observations as data collection techniques in eight software startups located at a Tech Park. Keywords—Software Startups; Software Engineering.
Value Appropriation as an Organizational Capability: The Case of Ip Protection Through Patents

We develop and test a theoretical framework that describes the organizational antecedents of value appropriation capabilities in the context of obtaining patent protection. We argue that firm-level differences in how intellectual property (IP) protection and IP generation activities are co-ordinated underlie differences in the ability to obtain rapid patent protection. Using a unique dataset that combines survey and patent (application) data, and employing advanced estimation methodology we show that firm level effects on the likelihood of obtaining a fast patent grant are significantly related to the patterns of specialization and co-ordination across functional areas such as R&D, business development and law that underlie IP generation and protection
Testing the Predictability and Efficiency of Securitized Real Estate Markets

This paper conducts tests of the random walk hypothesis and market efficiency for 14 national public real estate markets. Random walk properties of equity prices influence the return dynamics and determine the trading strategies of investors. To examine the stochastic properties of local real estate index returns and to test the hypothesis that public real estate stock prices follow a random walk, the single variance ratio tests of Lo and MacKinlay (1988) as well as the multiple variance ratio test of Chow and Denning (1993) are employed. Weak-form market efficiency is tested directly using non-parametric runs tests. Empirical evidence shows that weekly stock prices in major securitized real estate markets do not follow a random walk. The empirical findings of return predictability suggest that investors might be able to develop trading strategies allowing them to earn excess returns compared to a buy-and-hold strategy.
A guide to using event study methods in multi-country settings

While the event study method has made significant contributions to strategic management research, most event study research published in management journals has analyzed the financial implications of corporate announcements in a single country. This study discusses solutions to methodological challenges that emerge when applying the event study method to multiple countries. Specifically, this study develops the world market model, illustrating how to simultaneously assess the financial impact of strategic actions in multiple countries. These challenges and solutions are illustrated by an example of a multi‐country event study analyzing 241 international alliance announcements of 23 firms in 16 countries. The findings show that the use of the single country market model in a multi‐country event study is likely to overestimate changes in firm value, demonstrating the need for this world market model. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.