Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of immune derangements in patients with different malignancies

Immune function was evaluated in 109 patients with carcinoma of the breast, bladder, head and neck, and lung. Patients with head and neck cancer showed the most profound derangements of immune function; patients with lung cancer showed no detectable abnormalities. Non‐irradiated patients with disseminated head and neck cancer had significantly depressed lymphocyte counts (mean 1357/mm3, P <.05), E‐rosette forming cells (mean 770/mm3, P <.05), and response to phytohemagglutinin (P <.05) as compared to controls. This immunodeficiency was detected in patients with localized as well as advanced disease. Although significant differences were noted between patients with head and neck cancer and the other tumors, these differences were minimized by radiation therapy. All irradiated patients showed comparable degrees of immune dysfunction. Absolute Fc‐receptor cells were depressed in all irradiated patients and in non‐irradiated patients with disseminated breast cancer.
Myxoma Virus Expressing Human Interleukin-12 Does Not Induce Myxomatosis in European Rabbits

ABSTRACT Myxoma virus (MV) is a candidate for oncolytic virotherapy due to its ability to selectively infect and kill tumor cells, yet MV is a species-specific pathogen that causes disease only in European rabbits. To assess the ability of MV to deliver cytokines to tumors, we created an MV (vMyxIL-12) that expresses human interleukin-12 (IL-12). vMyxIL-12 replicates similarly to wild-type MV, and virus-infected cells secrete bioactive IL-12. Yet, vMyxIL-12 does not cause myxomatosis, despite expressing the complete repertoire of MV proteins. Thus, vMyxIL-12 exhibits promise as an oncolytic candidate and is safe in all known vertebrate hosts, including lagomorphs.
Automatic Document Topic Identification Using Hierarchical Ontology Extracted from Human Background Knowledge

The rapid growth in the number of documents available to end users from around the world has led to a greatly-increased need for machine understanding of their topics, as well as for automatic grouping of related documents. This constitutes one of the main current challenges in text mining. In this work, a novel technique is proposed, to automatically construct a background knowledge structure in the form of a hierarchical ontology, using one of the largest online knowledge repositories: Wikipedia. Then, a novel approach is presented to automatically identify the documents' topics based on the proposed Wikipedia Hierarchical Ontology (WHO). Results show that the proposed model is efficient in identifying documents' topics, and promising, as it outperforms the accuracy of the other conventional algorithms for document clustering.
Corporate governance practices’ influence on customer loyalty in Nigerian retail banks

Orientation: Customer loyalty is crucial in the retail banking sector, given the increasing competition within the industry and from emerging non-traditional players.Research purpose: This study sought to establish the influence of corporate governance practices on customer loyalty in Nigerian retail banks.Motivation for the study: Conducting a study of this nature highlights how corporate governance practices contribute to customer loyalty in the retail banking sector of Nigeria as a developing country in Africa.Research design, approach and method: Premised on relationship marketing and stakeholder theoretical orientations, the study used a sample of 424 bank customers scientifically selected from eight commercial banks identified within Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria. A six-construct survey instrument was used to collect relevant data. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) version 3 was utilised to ascertain the interaction between customer loyalty and corporate governance practices domains.Main findings: The result of the PLS-SEM model established that all corporate governance practices had a positive effect on customer loyalty at a very significant level (p < 0.01), except transparency and disclosure, which had an inverse relationship and effect on customer loyalty, though at a non-significant level (β = -0.005, p = 0.93). Presence of competent bank management had the highest positive influence on customer loyalty.Practical/managerial implications: The findings of this study will be useful for bank management and role players in the financial and other service sectors on the importance of good corporate governance and specific attributes of the identified corporate governance that are critical for business success.Contribution/value-add: This study was able to identify corporate governance practices from customers’ perspective, which is a departure from the traditional shareholder perspective in business studies. It has advanced the relatively known terrain in corporate governance and business literature by opening up new debates on the relevance of corporate leadership beyond the confines of the boardroom.
Association of fractures with caffeine and alcohol in postmenopausal women: the Iowa Women's Health Study

Abstract Objective To assess whether alcoholic and caffeinated beverages are associated with risk of fractures in women. Setting Population-based sample surveyed by post. Subjects A total of 34703 postmenopausal Iowan women aged 55–69 years were surveyed. Design A cohort of women reported alcoholic and caffeinated beverage intake and were followed for 6.5 years for fracture occurrence. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed using Cox proportional hazards regression. Covariates included age, tobacco use, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), oestrogen use and calcium intake. Results At least one fracture was reported by 4378 women (389 upper arm, 288 forearm, 1128 wrist, 275 hip, 416 vertebral and 2920 other fractures). The adjusted RR for highest versus lowest caffeine intake quintiles was 1.09 (95% CI 0.99–1.21) for combined fracture sites. Wrist fractures were associated positively (RR for extreme quintiles 1.37, 95% CI 1.11–1.69) and upper arm fractures were negatively associated (RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.48–0.94) with caffeine intake. The age-adjusted RR of total fractures for highest versus lowest frequency of beer usage was 1.55 (95% CI 1.25–1.92) and for liquor was 1.25 (95% CI 1.03–1.54). No other association was found between any specific fracture site and alcohol intake. Conclusions We found a modest increase in fracture risk associated with highest caffeine intake, varying by site. Alcohol intake was low, but it also showed a weak positive association with fracture risk.
Mechanism of receptor‐mediated modulation of the delayed outward potassium current in guinea‐pig ventricular myocytes.

1. Receptor‐mediated modulation of the delayed outward potassium current (IK) was investigated in guinea‐pig single ventricular cells by using whole‐cell voltage clamp and intracellular dialysis. 2. Isoprenaline increased IK in a dose‐dependent manner with a half‐maximum dose of 1.8 X 10(‐8) M. Isoprenaline (10(‐6) M) maximally increased IK by a factor of 2.85. This effect did not depend on the concentration of intracellular Ca2+ [( Ca2+]i). 3. External application of 10(‐5) M‐forskolin and internal application of 5 X 10(‐5) M‐cyclic AMP or 5 X 10(‐6) M of the catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP‐dependent protein kinase (PKA) also increased IK about 3‐fold. The effect of isoprenaline on IK was masked by previous application of cyclic AMP. 4. All the above phosphorylating agents increased the amplitude of IK without a significant change in the current kinetics. 5. In the presence of 10(‐5) M‐forskolin, an additional application of 10(‐8) M‐12‐O‐tetradecanoylphorbol‐13‐acetate, an activator of protein kinase C (PKC), produced a further increase in IK, suggesting that the active sites of PKA and PKC on the IK channel are different. 6. Acetylcholine (10(‐6) M) suppressed IK when the current was previously enhanced by 2 X 10(‐8) M‐isoprenaline, but had little effect in the absence of isoprenaline. 7. We conclude that beta‐adrenergic modulation of IK is mediated by cyclic AMP‐dependent phosphorylation but not by an increase in [Ca2+]i, that PKA and PKC enhance IK independently, and that acetylcholine antagonizes beta‐adrenergic stimulation of IK most probably by inhibiting adenylate cyclase.
Insights into evaluating road safety advertising based upon the Step Approach to Message Design and Testing (SatMDT)

This conceptual paper aims to provide an important methodological contribution in regards to evaluating the effectiveness, or persuasiveness, of road safety advertising messages. The methods and measures identified are offered in accordance with recommendations posited within Lewis, Watson, and White’s (2016) social-psychological framework of persuasion, the Step approach to Message Design and Evaluation (SatMDT). Insights are offered into how greater confidence may be placed upon conclusions drawn regarding the effectiveness of messages when an array of outcome measures is implemented. These measures must assess both message acceptance and rejection and acceptance should be assessed using both direct and indirect measures.
Social Media Marketing in Medical Profession - An Empirical Study of Lucknow City (India)

In today’s technology driven world, the social networking sites have become an avenue where retailers can extend their marketing advertisements or campaigns to a wider range of consumers across the globe. The tools and approaches for communicating with customers have changed greatly with the emergence of social media; therefore, businesses must learn how to use social media in a way that will align with their respective business goals. Advertising has gone a long journey from print media to social media and today social media is such an important platform which cannot be ignored by the businesses to remain sustainably competitive in the market with a personal fame of their brand. As far as medical profession is concerned, the practice of physicians and surgeons normally do not call for advertisement as they rely on publicity through Word-of-Mouth endorsement. If we talk about practicing doctors Word-of-Mouth publicity does what an advertisement cannot do. There are four aspects of social media in medical professional advertisement i.e. the overall acceptance of social media marketing by the patients, the category-wise acceptance of social media marketing by the patients, the overall acceptance of words-of-mouth publicity on social media platform by the patients and the category-wise acceptance of words-of-mouth publicity on social media by the patients. The present paper focuses attention on finding out the relative usefulness of social media marketing with an eye on Word-of-Mouth publicity generated through the use of social media in medical profession.
A 220pJ/pixel/frame CMOS image sensor with partial settling readout architecture

To reduce power consumption in a CMOS imager readout path, we use partial settling of the column values into a SAR-ADC, creating a 320H×240V prototype sensor with two column-shared 10-bit ADCs, which consumes 2.2mW at 130 fps. The measured INL and DNL with a third order correction of partial settling behavior is +1.855LSB/-1.855LSB and +0.337LSB/-0.179LSB, respectively. The input referred readout noise is 5e- with a conversion gain of 90uV/e-.
A systematic evaluation of the therapeutic effectiveness of sacroiliac joint interventions.

BACKGROUND The contribution of the sacroiliac joint to low back and lower extremity pain has been a subject of debate with extensive research. It is generally accepted that approximately 10% to 25% of patients with persistent low back pain may have pain arising from the sacroiliac joints. In spite of this, there are currently no definite conservative, interventional, or surgical management options for managing sacroiliac joint pain. In addition, there continue to be significant variations in the application of various techniques as well as a paucity of literature. STUDY DESIGN A systematic review of therapeutic sacroiliac joint interventions. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the accuracy of therapeutic sacroiliac joint interventions. METHODS The available literature on therapeutic sacroiliac joint interventions in managing chronic low back and lower extremity pain was reviewed. The quality assessment and clinical relevance criteria utilized were the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Review Group criteria for randomized trials of interventional techniques and the criteria developed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for observational studies. The level of evidence was classified as good, fair, or poor based on the quality of evidence developed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Data sources included relevant literature published from 1966 through December 2011 that was identified through searches of PubMed and EMBASE, and manual searches of the bibliographies of known primary and review articles. OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome measure was pain relief (short-term relief = up to 6 months and long-term > 6 months). Secondary outcome measures were improvement in functional status, psychological status, return to work, and reduction in opioid intake. RESULTS For this systematic review, 56 studies were considered for inclusion. Of these, 45 studies were excluded and a total of 11 studies met inclusion criteria for methodological quality assessment with 6 randomized trials and 5 non-randomized studies. The evidence for cooled radiofrequency neurotomy in managing sacroiliac joint pain is fair.The evidence for effectiveness of intraarticular steroid injections is poor.The evidence for periarticular injections of local anesthetic and steroid or botulinum toxin is poor. The evidence for effectiveness of conventional radiofrequency neurotomy is poor.The evidence for pulsed radiofrequency is poor. LIMITATIONS The limitations of this systematic review include a paucity of literature on therapeutic interventions, variations in technique, and variable diagnostic standards for sacroiliac joint pain. CONCLUSIONS The evidence was fair in favor of cooled radiofrequency neurotomy and poor for short-term and long-term relief from intraarticular steroid injections, periarticular injections with steroids or botulin toxin, pulsed radiofrequency, and conventional radiofrequency neurotomy.
Reverse transcriptase activity for quantitation of HIV‐1 subtype C in plasma: Relation to RNA copy number and CD4 T‐cell count

The present study monitored the changes in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load using a reverse transcriptase (RT) assay and an HIV‐1 RNA based assay, and relates these data to the dynamics of CD4 cell counts. The samples examined originate from a prospective study of HIV‐1 subtype C infected, untreated Ethiopians followed twice yearly over a period of up to 5 years. The ExaVir Load test, version 1, was used for isolation and quantitation of HIV‐1 RT in plasma. The RT activities recovered were compared to the HIV‐1 RNA copy numbers, which had been determined previously by the NucliSens HIV‐1 QT Test. There was a significant correlation between the data obtained in the two tests (r = 0.65, P < 0.0001). During follow‐up, the median RT and RNA levels increased more or less in parallel up to approximately four times the values at admittance. CD4 cell counts, which had also been determined previously, decreased slowly but continuously from approximately 310 to 190 CD4 cells/ml. In the majority of individual patients, there was an inverse correlation between CD4 T‐cell counts and RT activity, and with the RNA copy number, and the data obtained by either test could be used to predict CD4 T‐cell counts. The ExaVir Load test thus provides data equivalent to the estimation of the number of HIV‐1 RNA copies for the prediction of CD4 T‐cell counts. It is based on a simple technique, can be run in any routine diagnostic laboratory, and is a competitive alternative for use in resource limited settings. J. Med. Virol. 78:161–168, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Human coronaviruses in severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases in southwest India

Acute viral respiratory infections (AVRI) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among all age groups globally. Except for Influenza virus and Respiratory Syncytial virus, mostly viral aetiology of AVRI remains undiagnosed. Lately, human coronaviruses (HCoVs) have emerged as an important aetiology of AVRI. A laboratory based retrospective cross sectional study was conducted in which respiratory samples (throat swabs) of patients (n = 864), with Influenza negative SARI, of all age groups between Jan 2011–Dec 2012 were tested for HCoVs including MERS‐CoV using Conventional and real time PCR assays. The prevalence of HCoV among SARI cases was 1.04% (9/864) [95% CI: 0.36–1.72]. Of these four (44.44%) were identified as HCoV OC43, three (33.33%) as HCoV NL63 and two (22.22%) as HCoV 229E. No HCoV HKU1 was detected. The samples were also negative for SARS‐CoV and MERS‐CoV. The results of this study documents low prevalence of human coronaviruses in SARI cases in south western India and the absence of highly pathogenic human coronaviruses. As the study included only SARI cases the prevalence reported could be an under estimate when it is extrapolated to community. J. Med. Virol. 88:163–165, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
THE IMPACT OF THE STATE OBSTACLES ON CONTAINMENT AND PROGRESS OF BITCOIN

This The virtual currency is a paramount in a strong economical situation of any country in the future, especially the countries that try to lead the world with its economy, this currency has been created to replace the traditional currency of the countries that can be issued by any central bank and put a value for it, but the virtual currency is a currency that no one can control and manipulate its value and no one can use it to control any country economical situation (c.f. Selgin, 1988). The virtual currency helps poor countries to develop its economy because it will have the same currency that any developed country has with the same value. But the virtual currency will face a lot of problems before entering to market(Gandal, N., &Halaburda, H. (2014) and will face a lot of barriers that will stop the development of the state economy, some of those problems are: the culture of the country and the government laws and policies, plus there is an important problem that it will face and it represent by the economic agreements and the Unified Banks Network (e.g. Jerin, 2014). To solve those problems the research will use the qualitative method with an interpretive research philosophy, that helps the research to use specific case study that have similar situation to collect the second data and use the interview to collect the primary data.The interview that is made with experts will show some solution that answer the research question and it can be applied and the step to apply it to receive to needed solution to let the virtual currency be accepted in the market (Gandal, N., &Halaburda, H. (2014). Therefore, the government started to encourage the citizen and the companies to use this new currency, and they created an environment that helps those users to trust and accept it.This currency will face a lot of obstacles and problems at the beginning, the government will try to put plans and long term strategies to solve these problems before they occur, starting from creating and issuing new laws and policies arriving to create a large and strong educational advertising to let the citizen know this new currency and its benefits.Also, the private sectorsare responsible too, especially the bank sectors because they have the principle relation with this field and they have to motivate their customers to use it (Gans, J., &Halaburda, 2013). From this research, we will try to find some solutions that the concerned sector need to apply to let the virtual currency enter the market and let the citizen trust it and start trading with it (Gandal, N., &Halaburda, H. (2014).
The Elk-1 and Serum Response Factor Binding Sites in the Major Immediate-Early Promoter of Human Cytomegalovirus Are Required for Efficient Viral Replication in Quiescent Cells and Compensate for Inactivation of the NF-κB Sites in Proliferating Cells

ABSTRACT The major immediate-early promoter (MIEP) region of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) plays a critical role in the regulation of lytic and latent infections by integrating multiple signals supplied by the infecting virus, the type and physiological state of the host cell, and its extracellular surroundings. The interaction of cellular transcription factors with their cognate binding sites, which are present at high densities within the enhancer upstream from the MIEP core promoter, regulate the rate of IE gene transcription and thus affect the outcome of HCMV infection. We have shown previously that the NF-κB binding sites within the MIEP enhancer and cellular NF-κB activity induced by HCMV infection are required for efficient MIEP activity and viral replication in quiescent cells (P. Caposio, A. Luganini, G. Hahn, S. Landolfo, and G. Gribaudo, Cell. Microbiol. 9:2040-2054, 2007). We now show that the inactivation of either the Elk-1 or serum response factor (SRF) binding site within the enhancer also reduces MIEP activation and viral replication of recombinant HCMV viruses in quiescent fibroblasts. In these cells, we show that the expression of either Elk-1 or SRF is required for optimal IE gene expression, and that the HCMV-stimulated activation of the MEK1/2-ERK1/2 signaling axis leads to Elk-1 transcriptional competency. Furthermore, the replication kinetics of recombinant viruses in which NF-κB, Elk-1, and SRF binding sites all are inactivated demonstrate that the higher levels of Elk-1 and SRF binding to MIEP in proliferating cells can compensate even for a lack of HCMV-induced NF-κB-mediated MIEP transactivation. These observations highlight the importance of the combination of different MIEP binding sites to optimize IE gene expression in cells in different physiological states.
Opportunistic Access to PAL Channel for Multi-RAT GAA Transmission in Spectrum Access System

Spectrum Access System (SAS) is a three tier spectrum sharing framework proposed by the FCC. In this framework the aggregate interference of tier-3 General Authorised Access (GAA) users should be below a predetermined threshold anywhere within the tier-2 Priority Access Licensee (PAL) exclusion zone. GAA are expected to use a diverse range of Radio Access Technologies (RATs) with different levels of loading. We propose an optimal transmit power and probability of spectrum utilisation allocation scheme for GAA users that meets the average aggregate interference constraint within the GAA network. Most of the capacity maximisation studies consider the instantaneous aggregated interference from secondary users. In this paper we present an average aggregated interference method to optimise the capacity of GAA users in a single channel. Simulation results suggest that we can significantly increase the capacity of the channel by considering the probability spectrum utilisation of GAA users.
Internal brand orientation: conceptualisation, scale development and validation

ABSTRACT Internal branding is increasingly acknowledged as a potential route to acquiring sustainable competitive advantage. However, to date no systematic attempt has been made to operationalise from an organisational perspective all imperatives for achieving brand internalisation. To address this omission, we introduce internal brand orientation as a new construct that provides a measurable and more succinct picture of internal branding. Following the literature in measurement theory, we report a series of complementary studies and develop a scale which comprises two dimensions: top management brand commitment and shared brand values. The new scale demonstrates strong psychometric evidence of reliability and validity, facilitating future research in the area. Findings can be used as a guidance by business executives in their effort to turn employees into brand ambassadors and motivate everyone in the organisation towards brand supportive behaviours.