Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intervening to reduce weight gain in pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus in Cree communities: an evaluation.

BACKGROUND A high prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus and type 2 diabetes has been observed among the Cree of James Bay, Quebec. To address this problem, a diet and activity intervention during pregnancy, which was based on social learning theory, was initiated in 4 Cree communities. METHODS A prospective intervention compared dietary, weight and glycemic indicators for 107 control subjects and for 112 women who received the intervention during the course of their pregnancy. A control period in 4 communities (July 1995-March 1996) was followed by an intervention period (April 1996-January 1997) when subjects were offered regular, individual diet counselling, physical activity sessions and other activities related to nutrition. RESULTS The intervention and control groups did not differ at baseline regarding their mean age (24.3 years [SD 6.29] v. 23.8 years [SD 5.86]), mean prepregnancy weight (81.0 kg [SD 19.46] v. 78.9 kg [SD 17.54]) and mean gestational age at recruitment (17.1 weeks [SD 7.06] v. 18.5 weeks [SD 6.92]). The intervention did not result in differences in diet measured at 24-30 weeks' gestation, rate of weight gain over the second half of pregnancy (0.53 kg per week [SD 0.32] v. 0.53 kg per week [SD 0.27]) or plasma glucose level (50 g oral glucose screen) between 24 and 30 weeks (7.21 mmol/L [SD 2.09] v. 7.43 mmol/L [SD 2.10]). Mean birth weights were similar (3741 g [SD 523] v. 3686 g [SD 686]), as was maternal weight at 6 weeks post partum (88.1 kg [SD 16.8] v. 86.4 kg [SD 19.0]). The only changes in dietary intake were a reduction in caffeine (pregnancy) and an increase in folate (post partum). INTERPRETATION This intervention had only a minor impact on diet; finding ways of encouraging appropriate body weight and activity levels remains a challenge.
Theorizing on Entrepreneurial Orientation in International Business : a Synthetic Review

Both, entrepreneurship and international business have been topics of interest for academicians, businessmen and policy-makers around the world. Now it is obvious that entrepreneurs also do business internationally. International entrepreneurship is still a new research domain within international business studies and current empirical investigations focus on entrepreneurial orientation while internationalizing. The main objective of the paper is to discuss the concept of the international entrepreneurial orientation, by linking entrepreneurial orientation and internationalisation of the firm. The article is based on in-depth literature review and its critics.
A Population of Heterogeneous Breast Cancer Patient-Derived Xenografts Demonstrate Broad Activity of PARP Inhibitor in BRCA1/2 Wild-Type Tumors

Background: Breast cancer patients who do not respond to neoadjuvant therapy have a poor prognosis. There is a pressing need for novel targets and models for preclinical testing. Here we report characterization of breast cancer patient-derived xenografts (PDX) largely generated from residual tumors following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Experimental Design: PDXs were derived from surgical samples of primary or locally recurrent tumors. Normal and tumor DNA sequencing, RNASeq, and reverse phase protein arrays (RPPA) were performed. Phenotypic profiling was performed by determining efficacy of a panel of standard and investigational agents. Results: Twenty-six PDXs were developed from 25 patients. Twenty-two were generated from residual disease following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and 24 were from triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). These PDXs harbored a heterogeneous set of genomic alterations and represented all TNBC molecular subtypes. On RPPA, PDXs varied in extent of PI3K and MAPK activation. PDXs also varied in their sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents. PI3K, mTOR, and MEK inhibitors repressed growth but did not cause tumor regression. The PARP inhibitor talazoparib caused dramatic regression in five of 12 PDXs. Notably, four of five talazoparib-sensitive models did not harbor germline BRCA1/2 mutations, but several had somatic alterations in homologous repair pathways, including ATM deletion and BRCA2 alterations. Conclusions: PDXs capture the molecular and phenotypic heterogeneity of TNBC. Here we show that PARP inhibition can have activity beyond germline BRCA1/2 altered tumors, causing regression in a variety of molecular subtypes. These models represent an opportunity for the discovery of rational combinations with targeted therapies and predictive biomarkers. Clin Cancer Res; 23(21); 6468–77. ©2017 AACR.
Major Global International Business Models and Their Suitability for Lithuanian Business

— he purpose of research is to analyze the international business management models of various world countries, to identify their similarities and differences and to determine what specific features of these models could be applied to Lithuanian international business. The research methods used are comparative analysis of scientific literature and empirical analysis. The theoretical basics of main international business management models, i.e. American, European and Japanese models are discussed in the article. American and Japanese models are usually considered as opposite poles, whereas the European business management model is a link incorporating the features of both models. However, it should be noted that the USA and Japan are unified geographical and socio-cultural units, where business traditions are perceived in a similar way in any geographical location of the countries. Europe differs significantly in this respect - over the centuries the countries developed as isolated units and became distinctive. The article analyzes of various types of European international business management models’, emphasizing their regional peculiarities. Lithuanian enterprises collaborate with subjects of many countries, which differs in historical, traditions, political, socials and other aspects. Thus Lithuanian enterprises use various types of business management models, emphasizing their regional peculiarities. This paper analyzes the similarities and differences of business management models that are used by international companies in Lithuania. Using the results of this empirical research analysis, the recommendations in the international business management area are proposed for companies in Lithuania.
Health care screening for people with mental handicap living in the community.

OBJECTIVE--To determine what contact people with mental handicap had had with their general practitioner in the previous year; what prescribed drugs they were taking and whether these had been reviewed; when hearing and vision had last been screened; and what medical problems were found on examination. DESIGN--Case series. SETTING-Day centre for adults with mental handicap. SUBJECTS--A balanced sample of 75 of the 150 people attending the day centre. 10 Were excluded because consent was not given. RESULTS--The subjects did not consult their general practitioners more frequently than the general population but were more likely to be taking prescribed drugs, and 57% of these prescriptions had not been reviewed by a doctor. Thirty three people failed vision screening, including 13 who wore glasses. Twenty seven of the 62 who were testable had a hearing impairment. CONCLUSIONS--As only eight out of 65 people examined in the study did not have an appreciable problem brought to light, screening seems to be worth while. Whether such screening needs to be done by a medically qualified person needs further research.
Classification, Ranking, and Top-K Stability of Recommendation Algorithms

Recommendation stability measures the extent to which a recommendation algorithm provides predictions that are consistent with each other. Several approaches have been proposed in prior work to defining, measuring, and improving the stability of recommendation algorithms. Previous studies have focused primarily on understanding and evaluating recommendation stability in prediction -oriented settings, i.e., recommendation settings where it is crucial to provide the precise prediction of a user’s preference rating for an item. However, the research literature has been largely silent on the topic of recommendation stability in other important types of settings, such as classification -oriented (i.e., where it is important to accurately classify the item as relevant versus irrelevant, without having to quantify the user’s preference precisely), ranking -oriented (i.e., where it is important to provide accurate relative ranking of items to users), or top -K oriented (i.e., where it is important to suggest K items that are most appealing to the user). Therefore, this paper builds on prior work by generalizing the notion of stability to a broader set of recommendation settings and developing corresponding stability metrics. The paper also provides a comprehensive empirical analysis of classification, ranking, and top-K stability performance of popular recommender algorithms on real-world rating data sets under a variety of settings.
Nasal mucosal response to repeated challenges with pollen allergen.

In order to explore the dynamics of the cellular response of the airway mucosa to allergen exposure, controlled daily allergen challenges were performed for 7 days during the pollen-free winter months in nine patients with strictly seasonal allergic rhinitis caused by birch pollen allergen. Symptoms obtained after the challenge were related to morphologic changes within and on the surface of the nasal mucosa. Cell samples were obtained daily prior to challenge from the nasal mucosa using mucosal imprints on plastic strips, brush samplings from the nasal mucosa, and nasal lavage. For light microscopy, the cellular material obtained by brushing and nasal lavage were cytocentrifuged onto object slides. Histamine was measured in the cell pellets that were obtained using the lavage and brush procedures as well as in the lavage supernatant fluid. Four symptoms (sneezes, itching, secretion, and blockage) were recorded and expressed individually as well as in the form of a composite symptom score. Nasal blockage was measured using a nasal peak flow meter. The patients displayed an increase in nasal symptoms after the allergen challenge, which was further increased between Days 2 to 7 (p less than 0.05). The light microscopic evaluation of the lavage revealed an immediate increase in eosinophils from 2.3 to 13.1% and was maintained on the same level throughout the period of challenges. A similar increase was noted in the brush specimens, and a strong correlation was obtained between these two methods of sampling. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Comparative analysis of Rev function in human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2

The Rev proteins of the related but distinct human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2) display incomplete functional reciprocity. One possible explanation for this observation is that HIV-2 Rev is unable to interact with the HIV-1 Rev-response element (RRE1). However, an analysis of the biological activity of chimeric proteins derived from HIV-1 and HIV-2 Rev reveals that this target specificity does not map to the Rev RNA binding domain but is instead primarily determined by sequences known to mediate Rev multimerization. Both HIV-1 and HIV-2 Rev are shown to bind the RRE1 in vitro with identical RNA sequence specificity. The observation that HIV-2 Rev can inhibit RRE1-dependent HIV-1 Rev function in trans indicates that the direct interaction of HIV-2 Rev with the RRE1 also occurs in vivo. These data suggest that HIV-2 Rev forms a protein-RNA complex with the RRE1 that leads to only minimal Rev activity. It is hypothesized that this low level of Rev function results from the incomplete and/or aberrant multimerization of HIV-2 Rev on this heterologous RNA target sequence.
Trellis-coded modulation with bit interleaving and iterative decoding

This paper considers bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) for bandwidth-efficient transmission using software radios. A simple iterative decoding (ID) method with hard-decision feedback is suggested to achieve better performance. The paper shows that convolutional codes with good Hamming-distance property can provide both high diversity order and large free Euclidean distance for BICM-ID. The method offers a common framework for coded modulation over channels with a variety of fading statistics. In addition, BICM-ID allows an efficient combination of punctured convolutional codes and multiphase/level modulation, and therefore provides a simple mechanism for variable-rate transmission.
Multifunctional diversification for the Italian wine producers: the state of the art in the adoption of deepening strategies

◦Purpose (mandatory): The paper aims at underlining how the application of deepening, broadening and regrounding strategies (as defined by the Van der Ploeg “Triangle”) might help Italian wineries to maintain themselves competitive as they face new challenges on the internal market. ◦Design/methodology/approach (mandatory) Starting from an overview of the use of deepening, broadening and regrounding strategies in the Italian primary sector, the paper analyses the state of the art of the implementation of the main forms of deepening strategies by the wine producers using Census data and a specific direct survey. ◦Findings (mandatory) The paper highlights how the level of implementation of certain deepening strategies is still very far from its potential extent. The findings help to understand that the difficulties in filling this gap are basically due to both the hesitancy with which a very tradition-driven production sector approaches innovation and the structural problems of the sector.
The Impact of Managerial Attitudes on Export Behavior

This study examines the managerial attitudes of 49 exporters and 47 non- exporters In the machinery manufacturing and food processing Industries. The results Indicate that non-exporters perceive the costs and risks of exporting significantly differently than do exporters. Furthermore, there are significant differences even among the exporters of machinery (industrial products) and the exporters of food (consumer goods). The research shows that negative perceptions create a significant barrier to exporting.
Application of a Hybrid Text Mining Approach to the Study of Suicidal Behavior in a Large Population

To fulfill the promise of electronic health records to support the study of disease in populations, efficient techniques are required to search large clinical corpora. The authors describe a hybrid system that combines a search engine and a natural language feature extraction and classification system to estimate the annual incidence of suicide attempts and demonstrate an association of adverse childhood experiences with suicide attempt risk in a cohort of 250,000 patients. The methodology replicated a previous finding that a positive association between suicide attempt incidence and a history of childhood abuse, neglect or family dysfunction exists, and that the association is stronger when multiple adverse events are reported.
Going Paperless with Electronic Data Safes: Information Ecology Fit and Challenges

In private households, once received paper-based documents are increasingly substituted by electronic documents. In order to “get organized”, an individual nowadays needs to oversee a plethora of digital and physical information items stored at various locations. As a technological solution, cloud-based storage services such as an Electronic Data Safe (EDS) emerge as a home for all digital valuables. In this paper, we analyze how such an EDS fits into an individual’s information ecology by drawing upon the results of a qualitative interview study with 39 users of three different EDS services. We develop a typology of the content that is kept safe in an EDS, reflect upon the motivations and upon an EDS’s role with respect to other cloud-based storage services individuals are using. The challenges of maintaining a digital, personal archive are depicted and “data value zones” are introduced as a sensitizing concept to reflect upon problematic areas.
Research Plan

Traditional biology has changed dramatically in the past two decades to the degree that advancements in the 21st century will be dominated by research at the convergence of biological, physical, and information sciences. Driven by large scientific endeavors such as the human genome project, it has become very much an information science, closely tied to tools and methods of the mathematical sciences (e.g. modeling, algorithms, etc.). In parallel, high-throughput sequencing, expression profiling and proteomics technologies are generating exponentially growing amounts of data. This interplay between the mathematical and biological sciences, and the necessity to process and annotate this new data gave rise to a new, interdisciplinary field, called bioinformatics. My Ph.D. was focused on mathematical and algorithmic solutions to problems in bioinformatics, in particular in the field of evolutionary tree reconstruction (phylogenetics). The problems I have investigated are characterized by a scarcity of accurate, fast methods. This is partly due to the following reasons: • Lack of understanding of the biological factors influencing the evolutionary process. • Almost all problems arise in this field are computationally hard. My research has sought to address these two issues. I have done so by pursuing a number of directions: • Understand existing mathematical models and inspect how well they represent the actual biological processes. • Introduce new efficient algorithmic procedures to address established problems. • Develop new models for evolutionary processes using large biological data sets.
Studies in cryo-immunology. I. The production of antibodies to urogenital tissue in consequence of freezing treatment.

andimmunodiffusion. Thetissue thatwassubjected todestructive freezing bymeansofthis surgical procedure wasthecoagulating gland andseminal vesicle ofrabbit. Aprobe carrying liquid nitrogen andathermocouple assembly formeasuring temperature changes wasutilized. Control rabbits weremanipulated inthesamewaybutwithnofreezing. Alarge numberofrabbits subjected totissue freezing exhibited thedevelopment of arapid antibody response, achieving amaximumtitre in7-10days, followed bya decline. Thisantibody response hasbeencompared tothatseenfollowing isoimmunization byinjection. Asanadditional comparison, several rabbits wereautoimmunized byinjection ofhomogenate fromtheir ownaccessory tissue; these rabbits also produced antibodies. Itwasfoundthatthetimesequence intheantibodyproduction wasquite similar forauto- andisoimmunization, butwasquite distinctive forcryo-stimulation. Byseveral meansofevaluation, itwasshownthattheantibody response to thefreezing oftissue wasanautoantibody. Itwasnot, however, anantibody against serumy-globulin. Theconsequences ofthefreezing oftissue arethusseentosimulate theeffects ofincorporating adjuvant. Thismethod ofproducing autoantibodies andofinvestigating thenature oftheresponse hasbeentermed cryo-immunology.
Gene Expression Profiling of Human Myeloid Leukemic MV 4-11 Cells Treated with 5-Aza-2 ’-deoxycytidine

The pyrimidine analog, 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) is a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor that triggers DNA demethylation leading to the reactivation of epigenetically silenced tumor suppressor genes. To understand the shift in gene expression which mediates the beneficial 5-aza-dC effects in leukemia, we have treated human myeloid derived leukemic cells with 5-aza-dC. Target genes were identified first in MV4-11 cells using a genome-wide gene expression profiling assay to detect differences in treated and untreated cells. From this analysis six genes were identified (HOXA4, HOXD4, HOXD8, HOXD12, CD9 and RGS2) as being significantly different expressed after treatment. To validate microarray data, we performed quantitative PCR on these genes from multiple leukemic cells. The results suggest that these genes are epigenetically regulated indicating that dysregulation of HOXA4, HOXD4, HOXD8, HOXD12, CD9 and RGS2 expression may play an important role in establishing the malignant phenotype in AML.
Purification and Characterization of an Antimicrobial Peptide, Insect Defensin, from Immunized House Fly (Diptera: Muscidae)

ABSTRACT The house fly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae), is involved in phoretic movement of pathogenic agents, but it has a very efficient defense mechanism against infection. It is believed that antimicrobial peptides play a significant role in the defense system of the house fly. Here, we isolated a peptide from the immunized house fly pupae, measured its molecular mass (3987.6 Da) by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/ time of flight-mass spectrometry, and determined its amino acid sequence by using the Procise Protein Sequencing System (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). The peptide was confirmed as a member of the insect defensin family. It displayed high activity against gram-positive bacteria but lower activity against gram-negative bacteria and fungi. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction showed that the house fly defensin gene was constitutively expressed in naive pupae and strongly up-regulated after immunization. House fly defensin is an amphiphilic peptide with a structure similar to that of the CS&agr;&bgr; scaffold of insect defensin A from the flesh fly, Phormia terraenovae Robineau-Desvoidy. To our knowledge, this is the first isolated and characterized house fly antimicrobial peptide, and our work may provide useful information for developing pharmacologically active antimicrobial agents.
Upregulation of Micro RNA-146a (miRNA-146a), A Marker for Inflammatory Neurodegeneration, in Sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease (sCJD) and Gerstmann–Straussler–Scheinker (GSS) Syndrome

A mouse- and human-brain-abundant, nuclear factor (NF)-кB-regulated, micro RNA-146a (miRNA-146a) is an important modulator of the innate immune response and inflammatory signaling in specific immunological and brain cell types. Levels of miRNA-146a are induced in human brain cells challenged with at least five different species of single- or double-stranded DNA or RNA neurotrophic viruses, suggesting a broad role for miRNA-146a in the brain's innate immune response and antiviral immunity. Upregulated miRNA-146a is also observed in pro-inflammatory cytokine-, Aβ42 peptide- and neurotoxic metal-induced, oxidatively stressed human neuronal-glial primary cell cocultures, in murine scrapie and in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. In AD, miRNA-146a levels are found to progressively increase with disease severity and co-localize to brain regions enriched in inflammatory neuropathology. This study provides evidence of upregulation of miRNA-146a in extremely rare (incidence 1–10 per 100 million) human prion-based neurodegenerative disorders, including sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (sCJD) and Gerstmann–Straussler–Scheinker syndrome (GSS). The findings suggest that an upregulated miRNA-146a may be integral to innate immune or inflammatory brain cell responses in prion-mediated infections and to progressive and irreversible neurodegeneration of both the murine and human brain.