Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth of Myxovirus parainfluenza Type 3 in Organ Cultures of Guinea Pig Tissue

Craighead, J. E. (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.). Growth of Myxovirus parainfluenza type 3 in organ cultures of guinea pig tissue. J. Bacteriol. 92:751–761. 1966. —Organ cultures of adult guinea pig nasal mucosa, lung, and pleura were infected with Myxovirus parainfluenza type 3. Observations were made on the growth of virus at intervals after inoculation. An inoculum of 102.5 tissue culture infectious doses (tcid50) initiated infection in each of the tissues. Cultures of nasal mucosa yielded up to 106.0tcid50 per 6 hr for periods of as long as 2 weeks. Virus production was not affected by the “immune” status of the animal used as a source of tissue. Introduction of antiserum into the medium appeared to suppress virus release but failed to “cure” the infection. Interferon was not detected in fluids bathing the nasal mucosa. Cultured fragments of lung produced virus for 28 days after inoculation. As much as 105.0tcid50 per 6 hr was released by the tissue. Pleural mesothelial cells lining the diaphragm yielded up to 106.0tcid50 per 6 hr over a 14-day period. Histological sections showed that the tissues retained differentiated morphological features during maintenance in vitro. Cytological changes unequivocally associated with infection were not recognized. The techniques described give reproducible, quantitative results. Organ cultures are feasible for the study of virus growth and cytopathology in differentiated tissues.
Hypometric Allocentric and Egocentric Distance Estimates in Parkinson Disease

Objective and Background:Persons with Parkinson disease (PD) show hypometric movements and make hypometric estimates of imagined actions. These deficits may be related to misestimates of the length of body parts. Our objective was to learn whether patients with PD are impaired in their estimations of their arm’s length and standard units of distance. Methods:We tested 20 patients with PD, all on therapeutic doses of dopaminergic medications, and 13 healthy controls. In half of the trials, the participants stood so that either their right or left shoulder was adjacent to a wall; in the other half, their right or left shoulder was 5 feet from the wall. In the egocentric testing condition, they were asked to move their body toward or away from the wall to what they considered was an arm’s length from the wall. In the allocentric testing condition, they were to move toward or away from the wall so that their proximal shoulder was a standard unit distance of 1, 2, or 3 feet from the wall. Results:The patients with PD made much greater hypometric (too close to the wall) errors. Since at 5 feet from the wall they had to move farther to underestimate distances, their errors cannot be explained by hypometric movements. The results did not differ significantly by egocentric or allocentric estimation, side of shoulder proximity, or side of PD onset. Conclusions:Our findings support the idea that the egocentric and allocentric hypometria associated with PD is a perceptual rather than motor disorder.
Effective Exit Planning in Regional Small Businesses-A Borrow from the 'Specialised Clusters' Approach

Efficient functioning small businesses and their continuance over time, independent of the owner(s), carry high significance for remote regions' longterm social and economic sustainability. This empirical investigation of exit planning practices among regional small businesses in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia, provides evidence that the particular environment in which these businesses operate determine and drive owners' strategic exit planning initiatives. Regional SMEs are prone to peculiar internal and external variables with inertial forces that continuously impact on the owners' decision to exit or continue into the business. Resorting to Schatzki's (2002) 'site of the social' theoretical construct, this paper argues that the 'exit planning' social practice among regional SMEs can be efficiently developed and institutionalized at a wider level on their peculiar 'site' of being regional and small. Thus, a borrow from the 'specialised clusters' technique on the part of State government is the best way forward to effectively tackle the phenomenon.
Influenza vaccination by pharmacists in a health sciences center: A 3-year experience.

OBJECTIVE To assess the design and implementation of influenza vaccination clinics across campus, assess participant satisfaction with the pharmacist-led clinics, and educate and increase visibility of the role of pharmacists as vaccinators. SETTING University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC), a comprehensive health sciences center. PRACTICE INNOVATION The College of Pharmacy on the OUHSC campus developed and implemented a vaccination program to increase influenza vaccination of OUHSC employees. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Number of employees receiving influenza vaccination, employee satisfaction with the pharmacist-led clinics, and employee awareness of the pharmacist's role in vaccination. RESULTS Reported OUHSC employee influenza vaccination rates increased from approximately 35% before implementation of the pharmacy-based program to 54% in 2012 after implementation. The increase was attributed to maintaining no out-of-pocket costs for employees, offering various clinic locations, and using media resources to educate employees about influenza infection and vaccination. Employees reported high satisfaction with the influenza vaccination clinics and with receiving vaccinations from pharmacists and student pharmacists. In the first 2 years of the program, the percentage of surveyed employees "very familiar" with the pharmacist's role in vaccinations increased from 23% to 66%. CONCLUSION A college of pharmacy on a large health sciences center developed and successfully implemented an influenza vaccination program, providing an accessible and convenient route for influenza prevention to employees, as well as enhanced the visibility of pharmacists as vaccination providers.
Loss of heterozygosity studies in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck.

BACKGROUND Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) studies have been pivotal in identifying tumor suppressor genes involved in the pathogenesis of a number of cancers. In squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck region (SCCHN), LOH studies using the Southern blot technique are scarce. METHODS SCCHNs were obtained immediately after surgical resection from 78 patients. Histologic confirmation was made by frozen section and tumors with less than 50% malignant cells were excluded. DNA was digested with restriction enzymes, and after Southern blotting the membranes were hybridized with radio-labeled probes. Chromosome arms analyzed included 1p, 3p, 4p, Sq, 8p, lOp, 11p, 11q, 13q, 17p, 17q, 18q, 21q, and 22q. RESULTS The average rate LOH was 25% per chromosome arm. Significantly higher rates of LOH were observed for chromosome arms 5q (56%) and 17p (45%). Other investigators have reported high rates of LOH for the H- ras-1 locus, and chromosome arms 11p, 11q, and 13q. However, these results were not confirmed in this study. For patients with stage 1 or 2 tumors, the overall LOH rate was 13%, and for patients with stage 3 or 4 disease the rate was 23%. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.025). CONCLUSIONS tumors progress to higher stages, they appear to accumulate an increasing number of genetic abnormalities. Chromosome arms 5q and 17p contain tumor suppressor genes which are likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of SCCHN:
Preparation of human hepatocellular carcinoma-targeted liposome microbubbles and their immunological properties.

AIM To prepare the human hepatocellular carcinoma-(HCC)-targeted liposome microbubbles and to investigate their immunological properties. METHODS Human hepatocarcinoma specific monoclonal antibody HAb18 was attached to the surface of home-made liposome microbubbles by static attraction to prepare the targeted liposome microbubbles. The combination of HAb18 with liposome microbubbles was confirmed by the slide agglutination test and immunofluorescent assay. Their immunological activity was measured by ELISA. Rosette formation test, rosette formation blocking test and immun-ofluorescent assay were used to identify the specific binding of targeted liposome microbubbles to SMMC-7721 hepatoma cells, and cytotoxicity assay was used to detect their effect on human hepatocytes. RESULTS The targeted liposome microbubbles were positive in the slide agglutination test and immunofluorescent assay. ELISA indicated that the immunological activity of HAb18 on the liposome microbubbles was similar to that of free HAb18. SMMC-7721 cells were surrounded by the targeting liposome microbubbles to form rosettes, while the control SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells were not. Proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells and normal human hepatocytes was not influenced by the targeted liposome microbubbles. CONCLUSION The targeted liposome microbubbles with a high specific biological activity have been successfully prepared, which specifically bind to human hepatocarcinoma cells, and are non-cytotoxic to hepatocytes. These results indicate that the liposome microbubbles can be used as a HCC-targeted ultrasound contrast agent that may enhance ultrasound images and thus improve the diagnosis of HCC, especially at the early stage.
Risk factors for aggressive behaviour are of limited value in predicting the violent behaviour of acute involuntarily admitted patients

Violent behaviour within 8 and 28 days respectively was related by a multivariate statistical procedure to risk factors for aggressive behaviour in an epidemiologically representative sample of 105 acute involuntarily admitted patients. Previous violent behaviour by the patient was found to correlate significantly with aggressive behaviour during the first 8 days of admission, and abuse of drugs other than alcohol was found to correlate significantly with aggressive behaviour during the first 28 days of admission. Determination coefficients were very low, and it is concluded that risk factors associated with aggressive behaviour are of limited value in predicting aggressive behaviour among acute involuntarily admitted inpatients.
Positive Feedback Trading and Investor Sentiment

ABSTRACT This article examines how investor sentiment affects positive feedback trading behavior. By analyzing the daily closing total return of CSI 300 index and its individual returns of stocks, we find that relatively high or low sentiment induces active positive feedback trading. With a specific indicator of sentiment, we explain the microstructure setting of the relationship between positive feedback trading and sentiment. We adopt the classical feedback model from Sentana and Wadhwani (1992) to measure positive feedback trading behavior. By adding sentiment factor to the model, we successfully explain how sentiment influences the behavior of both feedback traders and rational investors. The empirical findings suggest that positive feedback traders are more likely to trade when the prices of most securities move forward together. When the sentiment of feedback traders is at an intermediate level, the feedback trading behavior is insignificant.
Body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes and the risk of anti-hypertensive drug treatment: 12-year follow-up of middle-aged people in eastern Finland.

We analysed the association of body mass index (BMI) with blood pressure (BP) at baseline, whether BMI predicts the incidence of anti-hypertensive drug treatment during a 12-year follow-up and whether this risk is independent of the original BP level and, finally, how diabetes associates with the incidence of anti-hypertensive drug treatment. The study population comprised 15,438 men and women in eastern Finland aged between 30 and 59 years who were not using anti-hypertensive drug treatment during baseline surveys in 1972 and 1977. At baseline BP increased linearly by increasing BMI. The proportion of hypertensive subjects, defined as either DBP > or = 95 mm Hg or SBP > or = 160 mm Hg, was 18% among the leanest men, BMI < 20 kg/m2, but 61% among the most obese, BMI > or = 30 kg/m2. Among women these proportions were 11% and 54%, respectively. Among the normotensive subjects at baseline, the BMI associated risk ratio of the incidence of anti-hypertensive drug treatment, adjusted for age and study year, was 1.14 (per kg/m2; P < 0.001) in men and 1.11 (P < 0.001) in women. After a further adjustment for DBP and SBP at baseline, risk ratios were 1.13 (P < 0.001) and 1.07 (P < 0.001), respectively. Diabetes associated with the risk of anti-hypertensive drug treatment independently from BMI, DBP and SBP. Because BMI correlates with BP cross-sectionally, and it also predicts the future increase in BP independently from the baseline BP, excess weight is undoubtedly one of the most important risk factors for hypertension. Weight control is the most natural primary intervention method in the inter-relation of obesity, hypertension and diabetes and in the prevention of subsequent cardiovascular diseases.
Using Phenotype MicroArrays to Determine Culture Conditions That Induce or Repress Toxin Production by Clostridium difficile and Other Microorganisms

Toxin production is a central issue in the pathogenesis of Clostridium difficile and many other pathogenic microorganisms. Toxin synthesis is influenced by a variety of known and unknown factors of genetics, physiology, and environment. To facilitate the study of toxin production by C. difficile, we have developed a new, reliable, quantitative, and robust cell-based cytotoxicity assay. Then we combined this new assay with Phenotype MicroArrays (PM) technology which provides high throughput testing of culture conditions. This allowed us to quantitatively measure toxin production by C. difficile type strain ATCC 9689 under 768 culture conditions. The culture conditions include different carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur sources. Among these, 89 conditions produced strong toxin induction and 31 produced strong toxin repression. Strong toxin inducers included adenine, guanosine, arginine dipeptides, γ-D-Glu-Gly, methylamine, and others. Some leucine dipeptides and the triple-leucine tripeptide were among the strongest toxin repressors. While some results are consistent with previous observations, others are new observations that provide insights into toxin regulation and pathogenesis of C. difficile. Additionally, we have demonstrated that this combined assay technology can be applied broadly to a wide range of toxin producing microorganisms. This study is the first demonstration of simultaneous assessment of a large number of culture conditions influencing bacterial toxin production. The new functional cytotoxin quantitation method developed provides a valuable tool for studying toxigenic microorganisms and may also find applications in clinical and epidemiological research.
Robust global minimization of active contour model for multi-object medical image segmentation

The performance of active contour model is limited to the zero level set functions and energy weight coefficients, which affect the accuracy of the segmentation results seriously. A new robust global minimization of active contour model is proposed in this paper to eliminate those limitations for multi-object medical image segmentation. The zero level set functions are initialized with the coarse results extracted by spatial fuzzy C-means clustering, while the energy weight coefficients are also estimated with the coarse results. The level set evolution starts from the regions near the true boundaries. Therefore, the energy functional converges to global minimum instead of falling into local minimum. These improvements lead to more robust segmentation results. The proposed algorithm is verified with multi-object medical image segmentation. The results demonstrate that compared with traditional algorithm the performance of the proposed algorithm is better for multi-object medical image segmentation in presence of complex shapes and weak boundaries.
Assessment of Time Management Attitudes Among Health Managers

These days, working people are finding it difficult to manage their time, get more done at work, and find some balance in their work and personal lives. Successful time management is often suggested to be a product of organizing skills, however, what works for one person may not work for others. Context current competence assessment formats for physicians, health professionals, and managers during their training years reliably test core knowledge and basic skills. However, they may underemphasize some important domains of professional medical practice. Thus, in addition to assessments of basic skills, new formats that assess clinical reasoning, expert judgment, management of ambiguity, professionalism, time management, learning strategies, and teamwork to promise a multidimensional assessment while maintaining adequate reliability and validity in classic health education and health care institutional settings are needed to be worked on. It should be kept in mind that institutional support, reflection, and mentoring must accompany the development of assessment programs. This study was designed to describe the main factors that consume time, effective hours of work, time management opportunities, and attitudes and behaviors of health professionals and managers on time management concept through assessment by the assessment tool Time Management Inquiry Form (TMIQ-F). The study was conducted at the State Hospital, Social Security Hospital, and University Hospital at Kırıkkale, Turkey between October 1999 and January 2000, including 143 subjects defined as medical managers and medical specialists. According to the results, a manager should give priority to the concept of planning, which may be counted among the efficient time management techniques, and educate him/herself on time management.
A new tuning maximum congestion window for improving TCP performance in MANET

In terms of improving TCP performance in Mobile Ad Hoc-NETwork (MANET), it is well known that small congestion window size of TCP connection improves TCP performance. We propose a new TCP algorithm to improve TCP performance in MANET. The basic idea of our approach is that TCP receiver estimates the optimum window size and then sets congestion window limit to an optimal value by the advertised window. It is found that our algorithm, using ns-2 simulator, improves TCP performance up to 60% in various topologies in MANET.
The Bologna Process in Israel as a reflection of EU-Israel relations

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to examine the Israeli perceptions towards the Bologna Process as well as outline its reactions to it. Specifically, the article investigates the landscape of interests among Israeli policy-makers (from both political and institutional levels) in relation to the European higher education reforms. Through interviews with policy-makers and a qualitative analysis of official documents and political discussions, the article also follows how the response to Bologna in Israel has developed, and how the Bologna Process was perceived in Israel. Relying on the theoretical frameworks of normative power and external perceptions, the article elaborates how the Bologna Process’ trajectory in Israel reflects a wider picture of EU-Israeli relations, and Israeli perceptions of Europe and the EU. The study contributes to the discussion of the use of European higher education policies as a tool in foreign policy, as part of the tool kit of Europe's normative power. Thus, the article calls to enhance research of higher education and other ‘soft policy’ areas in the study of foreign policy and international relations.
Ten Tips for Authors of Scientific Articles

Writing a good quality scientific article takes experience and skill. I propose 'Ten Tips' that may help to improve the quality of manuscripts for scholarly journals. It is advisable to draft first version of manuscript and revise it repeatedly for consistency and accuracy of the writing. During the drafting and revising the following tips can be considered: 1) focus on design to have proper content, conclusion, points compliant with scope of the target journal, appropriate authors and contributors list, and relevant references from widely visible sources; 2) format the manuscript in accordance with instructions to authors of the target journal; 3) ensure consistency and logical flow of ideas and scientific facts; 4) provide scientific confidence; 5) make your story interesting for your readers; 6) write up short, simple and attractive sentences; 7) bear in mind that properly composed and reflective titles increase chances of attracting more readers; 8) do not forget that well-structured and readable abstracts improve citability of your publications; 9) when revising adhere to the rule of 'First and Last' - open your text with topic paragraph and close it with resolution paragraph; 10) use connecting words linking sentences within a paragraph by repeating relevant keywords.
A 2.1Gbps 12-channel transmitter with phase emphasis embedded serializer for UHD intra-panel interface

A 2.1Gbps 12-channel transmitter with phase emphasis embedded serializer for an intra-panel interface is presented. Phase emphasis is introduced into the final 2:1 stage of a 20:1 serializer to reduce the data-dependent jitter without increasing IO capacitance, by making the transition timing depend on previous data. This is combined with LVDS channel drivers which control the common-mode voltage and swing of the output signal over a wide range to match the condition of each channel. Using both phase and amplitude emphasis, the transmitter can compensate for channel losses exceeding 10dB, and eye jitter is reduced by 38%: phase emphasis is responsible for about half of this reduction. Fabricated in 28nm CMOS, the transmitter occupies 1.35mm2. The proposed transmitter is verified with 55-inch UHD (3840×2160) resolution TFT-LCD intra-panel interface.
A DNA binding mutation in estrogen receptor‐α Leads to suppression of Wnt signaling via β‐catenin destabilization in osteoblasts

Estrogen receptors (ERs) play vital roles in the function and remodeling of bone. Their cellular mechanisms can broadly be categorized into those involving direct DNA binding (classical) or indirect DNA binding (non‐classical). The generation of non‐classical ER knock‐in (ERα−/NERKI) mice provides a unique opportunity to define these pathways in bone. We previously demonstrated that ERα−/NERKI mice exhibit an osteoporotic phenotype; however, the mechanism(s) for this remain unresolved. Gene expression analyses of cortical bone from ERα−/NERKI mice revealed suppression of lymphoid enhancer factor‐1 (Lef1), a classic Wnt‐responsive transcription factor that associates with β‐catenin. Since Wnt signaling is generally considered bone anabolic, this observation leads to the hypothesis that NERKI‐induced suppression of Wnt signaling may contribute to the low bone mass phenotype. We generated ERα−/NERKI mice crossed with the Wnt‐responsive TOPGAL transgenic mouse model and observed significantly less β‐galactosidase activity in ERα−/NERKI mice, confirming suppression of Wnt activity in vivo. Adenoviral expression of the NERKI receptor using an in vitro cell system resulted in the induction of several secreted antagonists of Wnt signaling. Furthermore, expression of NERKI abrogated Wnt10b‐dependent Wnt activation using a lentiviral‐mediated reporter assay. Finally, expression of NERKI destabilized β‐catenin cellular protein levels and disrupted ER/β‐catenin interactions. Collectively, these data suggest the osteoporotic phenotype of ERα−/NERKI mice may involve the suppression of Lef1‐mediated Wnt signaling through both the stimulation of secreted Wnt inhibitors and/or disruption of normal β‐catenin function. J. Cell. Biochem. 113: 2248–2255, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.