Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Information technology and business-process redesign

Business‐process redesigns (BPR) and information technology (IT) are natural partners, yet this relationship has not been fully exploited. Those organizations that have used IT to reengineer processes have benefited enormously. This article argues that those aspiring to do business process redesign must begin to apply the capabilities of information technology. Process redesign is not always successful and almost always accompanied by pain or at least unpleasant side effects. Many companies have undertaken reengineering efforts only to abandon them with little or no positive result. How can you increase the odds for success? Here are a few lessons from the front.
Partial versus full range of back extension endurance testing using the Swiss ball in discogenic low back pain patients: A comparative study

Abstract Background and aim: Decreased back extensor muscles endurance is the most common significant finding in patients with discogenic low back pain (DLBP). The aim of this study was to determine whether the holding time at partial range of motion (ROM) is different from full ROM during back extension endurance testing. Methods: Fifty consecutive chronic DLBP patients (35 males, 15 females) aged between 25 and 65 years were recruited using a purposive sample. First, pain, back disability and sagittal mobility were measured to establish eligibility. Second, back extension endurance holding time was tested by measuring back extension on the Swiss ball at partial and full ROM. Results: The mean holding time, in seconds, for first partial and first full back extension was 20.9 (SD = 12.7) and13.2 (SD = 9.8) (p < 0.001), respectively. The mean holding time for second partial and second full back extension was 22.1 (SD = 16.1) and 14.6 (SD = 10.2) (p < 0.001), respectively. The holding time was analysed using paired-sample t-test. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICCs) for partial and full back extension endurance testing was 0.93 and 0.96, respectively. Conclusion: The patients had increased holding time when back extension endurance testing was performed at partial as opposed to full range of motion.
Integrated service delivery: Exploratory case studies of enterprise portal adoption in UK local government

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce enterprise portals and show their ability to provide integrated services in the local government domain.Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes the development and early stage deployment of enterprise portals within two country councils in the UK.Findings – In both cases the portal is seen as a key element of their e‐government activities, enabling the councils to meet Central Government targets in this area. The intention is for the portals to provide a single location for residents, businesses and council staff, wishing to access the online information and transactional services provided by the councils. The portals offer the councils a number of very significant benefits that will improve service delivery to citizens, including the ability to share information across their own directorates and also to improve working with other agencies.Research limitations/implications – This study is based on just two organizations, both based in the UK.
Disease proteomics of endocrine disorders revealed by two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry

Endocrine disorders such as dwarfism and diabetes show abnormalities in many different organs even if a certain hormone is the primary cause of the disease. One of the aims of proteomics is to elucidate an abnormal hormone network underlying dysfunction in the disease through quantitative and qualitative proteome analyses of various organs. In a comprehensive study of the rdw rat with hereditary dwarfism, we found the accumulation of ER proteins in the rdw thyroid. Contrary to the initial notion that the dwarfism of the rat was caused by genetic mutations related to pituitary hormones, the primary cause is a missense mutation in the thyroglobulin gene. To understand at the protein level cellular damage caused by oxidative stress, we developed a proteomic method and applied to detecting protein carbonyls in various organs of a diabetes model OLETF rat. The method would provide a means toward clarifying a comprehensive view of oxidative modifications of proteins in diabetes. We review 2‐DE‐based disease proteomics of endocrine disorders in general, with particular attention paid to our proteome projects by a 2‐DE method with an agarose IEF gel in the first dimension (agarose 2‐DE) and LC‐MS/MS.
Post‐transplant proteinuria associated with everolimus: Definition of main features with proteomics

Little is known on both the composition and mechanism(s) of proteinuria associated with the use of mTOR inhibitors, in particular of Everolimus (E). We characterized urinary proteins utilizing an integrated proteomics approach (quantitative essays, 2‐DE, MALDI‐TOF, Western blot) in 48 renal transplant recipients who were alternatively treated with E (n = 31) or with enteric coated mycophenolic acid (EC‐MPA) (n = 17). Twelve E patients (39%) developed high (>3 g/day) or intermediate proteinuria (1–3 g) compared to four (23%) of the EC‐MPA group. Urinary proteins (p<0.001), β2 microglobulin (p<0.001) and α1microglobulin (p<0.025) were higher in E than in EC‐MPA, appeared more rapidly and were inversely correlated with the day of treatment. Proteomics showed a marked increase of all urinary components in E and EC‐MPA patients, major changes involving typical components of glomerular damage (albumin, α1‐Zn glycoprotein, α2HS glycoprotein, leucin‐richα2‐glycoprotein) and specific bio‐markers for E (clusters of α1‐antitrypsin fragments and monoclonal λ chains). Finally, inter‐α‐trypsin‐inhibitor heavy chain H4 precursor was decreased in E and EC‐MPA urine compared to normal urine. In conclusion, E induced massive and generalized proteinuria of mixed glomerular and tubular origin that was correlated with the start of treatment and reached a nephrotic range in few cases. Specific urinary markers reflect renal alterations related to the transplant or specific alterations associated with the drug.
Building Better Caregivers

An aging population and wartime injuries has led to a growing population needing caregivers. This article evaluates a pilot study of an Internet-based, skills-enhancement workshop developed for the United States Department of Veteran Affairs. Sixty caregivers are enrolled. Either the caregivers or people being cared for are Veterans living in California, Southern Nevada, or Hawaii. Measures include health indicators, health behaviors, and health care utilization. Baseline measures are compared to the same measures at 3 months using paired t tests. Participation in the program is examined, including number of sessions and number of posts. Caregivers show significant reductions in caregiver burden, depression, pain, and stress. Caregiver self-efficacy and two exercise measures show improvement. The care partners’ overall health show improvement (p<.05). The program successfully reaches rural residents, and participation is high. The Building Better Caregivers program is acceptable to caregivers, whose health, emotional health, and health behaviors show improvement. Caregivers successfully participate in the program.
Impairments and their Assessment in Stroke Patients

脳卒中の機能障害は多岐に渡るが，本稿では脳卒中の中核的機能障害である運動麻痺と痙縮に的を絞り，それらのとらえ方と評価法について検討する。 運動麻痺についてはブルンストロームによる片麻痺の回復段階と脳卒中機能障害評価法（Stroke Impairment Assessment Set, SIAS）の麻痺側運動機能評価，痙縮についてはModified Ashworth ScaleとModified Tardieu Scaleを対比して検討する。 また，脳卒中患者のバランス能力評価についても筆者らの研究結果も含めながら検討する。
A nomological model of RFID privacy concern

Purpose – Radio frequency identification (RFID) can bring a lot of benefits to supply chain management. However, privacy issues caused by RFID surface constantly and can impede widespread implementation of RFID. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model to explicate the construct of concern for information privacy (CFIP). Design/methodology/approach – The authors review and synthesize the extant and pertinent literature on RFID and privacy issues. Starting with previous theorization of CFIP, its four constituent dimensions are examined – collection, unauthorized secondary use, improper access, and errors – within the context of RFID‐related privacy issues.Findings – The authors situate CFIP within a nomological model, which advances that: awareness of the RFID technology itself, awareness of information security risks entailed by RFID use, and awareness of privacy protective measures are direct antecedent to CFIP; and CFIP directly influences a person's trust in the RFID technology.Social.
MRSA Transmission Dynamics Among Interconnected Acute, Intermediate-Term, and Long-Term Healthcare Facilities in Singapore.

Background Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the most common healthcare-associated multidrug-resistant organism. Despite the interconnectedness between acute care hospitals (ACHs) and intermediate- and long-term care facilities (ILTCFs), the transmission dynamics of MRSA between healthcare settings is not well understood. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study in a network comprising an ACH and 5 closely affiliated ILTCFs in Singapore. A total of 1700 inpatients were screened for MRSA over a 6-week period in 2014. MRSA isolates underwent whole-genome sequencing, with a pairwise single-nucleotide polymorphism (Hamming distance) cutoff of 60 core genome single-nucleotide polymorphisms used to define recent transmission clusters (clades) for the 3 major clones. Results MRSA prevalence was significantly higher in intermediate-term (29.9%) and long-term (20.4%) care facilities than in the ACH (11.8%) (P < .001). The predominant clones were sequence type [ST] 22 (n = 183; 47.8%), ST45 (n = 129; 33.7%), and ST239 (n = 26; 6.8%), with greater diversity of STs in ILTCFs relative to the ACH. A large proportion of the clades in ST22 (14 of 21 clades; 67%) and ST45 (7 of 13; 54%) included inpatients from the ACH and ILTCFs. The most frequent source of the interfacility transmissions was the ACH (n = 28 transmission events; 36.4%). Conclusions MRSA transmission dynamics between the ACH and ILTCFs were complex. The greater diversity of STs in ILTCFs suggests that the ecosystem in such settings might be more conducive for intrafacility transmission events. ST22 and ST45 have successfully established themselves in ILTCFs. The importance of interconnected infection prevention and control measures and strategies cannot be overemphasized.
Immunotherapy of Allergic Disorders: Traditional and Novel Approaches.

For approaches to the immunotherapy of allergic respiratory diseases now under study at Johns Hopkins are reviewed. Traditional high dose parenteral immunization with mixtures of allergens corresponding to patients' allergic sensitivities is being evaluated in the long-term management of allergic asthma in children. Oral desensitization employing doses of short ragweed extract 100 fold higher than for parenteral therapy has been proven safe and efficacious and is now being modified to render it practicable. Intradermal injections of autologous IgG immune complexes with D. pteronyssinus antigens has been reported to improve symptoms and reduce IgE synthesis; a trial to replicate these findings is underway. Immunization with immunodominant peptides from Fel d. I is also under development as a novel immunoregulatory intervention with potential clinical application.
An exploratory study of the weather and calendar effects on tourism web site usage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the weather and calendar effects on the usage pattern of a tourism web site.Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyses data from a yearlong web log involving 21,655,089 visitors to a popular tourism web site. The weather factors include rain, snow, cloud cover, and the calendar factors include seasons and holidays in order to test the proposed model.Findings – Using data from the Korea Tourism Organisation and the Korean Meteorological Administration, the results show that when it was rainy, cloudy, summer or a workday, the number of visitors to the tourism information web site was higher.Originality/value – The results provide managers involved in the tourism industry with useful insights for effective use of web sites by running them more efficiently and setting up appropriate marketing strategies in terms of the weather and calendar variables.
Ontological content-based filtering for personalised newspapers: A method and its evaluation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a new ontological content‐based filtering method for ranking the relevance of items for readers of news items, and its evaluation. The method has been implemented in ePaper, a personalised electronic newspaper prototype system. The method utilises a hierarchical ontology of news; it considers common and related concepts appearing in a user's profile on the one hand, and in a news item's profile on the other hand, and measures the “hierarchical distances” between these concepts. On that basis it computes the similarity between item and user profiles and rank‐orders the news items according to their relevance to each user.Design/methodology/approach – The paper evaluates the performance of the filtering method in an experimental setting. Each participant read news items obtained from an electronic newspaper and rated their relevance. Independently, the filtering method is applied to the same items and generated, for each participant, a list of news items ra.
The Meal as a Gift—The Meaning of Cooking Among Retired Women

The aim of this qualitative interview study was to delineate the meaning of preparing, cooking, and serving meals among retired single living and cohabiting women. Sixty-three women living in two Swedish cities and their rural surroundings participated. The findings showed that the profound meaning was to do something for others. The whole procedure of preparing a meal could be seen as preparing a gift. Four phases were identified: finding out what to serve, cooking with fresh ingredients, presenting the gift in a beautiful manner, and enjoying the gift in commensality. Cohabiting women went on cooking with duty and joy as they had done before retirement as long as their power was maintained. For widows, especially those who had recently lost their spouse, the whole meaning of cooking and eating was lost, and among these women there is a risk of poor nutritional intake.
Chaperoning heat shock proteins: Proteomic analysis and relevance for normal and dystrophin‐deficient muscle

Molecular chaperones play a key role in normal muscle function and during physiological adaptations to extensive exercise and numerous forms of cellular stress. The various classes of HSPs and related chaperones are also involved in the molecular pathogenesis of a large number of neuromuscular diseases. Several MS‐based proteomic studies have recently shown that the expression levels of molecular chaperones are severely altered in dystrophin‐deficient muscles. Dystrophin isoform Dp427 (where Dp427 is dystrophin protein of 427 kDa) is a large membrane cytoskeletal protein and its deficiency is the primary underlying cause of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Current efforts have focused on the establishment of a comprehensive biomarker signature of dystrophinopathy in order to improve diagnostic methods, establish reliable prognostic factors and identify novel therapeutic targets. Following an introduction into the biology of HSPs and their general role in skeletal muscle, this review outlines the proteomic profiling of molecular chaperones in dystrophinopathy. The focus is especially on the molecular fate of HSPs cardiovascular HSP (HSPB7), αBC (HSPB5), HSP70 (HSPA) and HSP90 (HSPC) in dystrophin‐deficient muscles and their involvement in progressive muscular dystrophy. Furthermore, the potential usage of distinct chaperones as disease markers of secondary pathobiochemical changes for the evaluation of novel treatment options is discussed.
Lysine ubiquitination and acetylation of human cardiac 20S proteasomes

Altered proteasome functions are associated with multiple cardiomyopathies. While the proteasome targets polyubiquitinated proteins for destruction, it itself is modifiable by ubiquitination. We aim to identify the exact ubiquitination sites on cardiac proteasomes and examine whether they are also subject to acetylations.
The untapped potential of proteomic analysis in pediatric pulmonary hypertension

Analysis of the human proteome has become increasingly sophisticated, and offers invaluable potential insight into the pathophysiology of human disease. The increasing standardization of methods, speed, and sophistication of mass spectrometric analysis, availability of reliable antibodies, and dissemination of information among the scientific community has allowed for exponential growth of our knowledge base. The continued effort to provide a molecular explanation for future medical applications based on biomarker discovery is epitomized by the outstanding efforts of the human proteome project, whose goal is to generate a map of the human proteome. However, proteomic analysis is underrepresented in pediatric illness; given the unique challenges of research in the pediatric population, proteomic analysis represents enormous untapped potential, especially in the further elucidation of the pathophysiology of rare diseases such as pulmonary hypertension (PH). In this article, we will describe the unique challenge of pediatric research, the importance of alternative avenues such as proteomics for in‐depth analysis of pediatric pathobiology at the cellular level, the specific need for proteomic investigation of pediatric PH, the current status of PH proteomics, and future directions.
Targeted methods for quantitative analysis of protein glycosylation

Quantification of proteins by LC‐MS/MS‐MRM has become a standard method with broad projected clinical applicability. MRM quantification of protein modifications is, however, far less utilized, especially in the case of glycoproteins. This review summarizes current methods for quantitative analysis of protein glycosylation with a focus on MRM methods. We describe advantages of this quantitative approach, analytical parameters that need to be optimized to achieve reliable measurements, and point out the limitations. Differences between major classes of N‐ and O‐glycopeptides are described and class‐specific glycopeptide assays are demonstrated.
Relationship Between Viremia and Specific Organ Damage in Ebola Patients: A Cohort Study

Background Pathogenesis of Ebola virus disease remains poorly understood. We used concomitant determination of routine laboratory biomarkers and Ebola viremia to explore the potential role of viral replication in specific organ damage. Methods We recruited patients with detectable Ebola viremia admitted to the EMERGENCY Organizzazione Non Governativa Organizzazione Non Lucrativa di Utilità Sociale (ONG ONLUS) Ebola Treatment Center in Sierra Leone. Repeated measure of Ebola viremia, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), bilirubin, creatine phosphokinase (CPK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), activated prothrombin time (aPTT), international normalized ratio (INR), creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were recorded. Patients were followed up from admission until death or discharge. Results One hundred patients (49 survivors and 51 nonsurvivors) were included in the analysis. Unadjusted analysis to compare survivors and nonsurvivors provided evidence that all biomarkers were significantly above the normal range and that the extent of these abnormalities was generally higher in nonsurvivors than in survivors. Multivariable mixed-effects models provided strong evidence for a biological gradient (suggestive of a direct role in organ damage) between the viremia levels and either ALT, AST, CPK LDH, aPTT, and INR. In contrast, no direct linear association was found between viremia and either creatinine, BUN, or bilirubin. Conclusions This study provides evidence to support that Ebola virus may have a direct role in muscular damage and imbalance of the coagulation system. We did not find strong evidence suggestive of a direct role of Ebola virus in kidney damage. The role of the virus in liver damage remains unclear, but our evidence suggests that acute severe liver injury is not a typical feature of Ebola virus disease.
Enhancing Family Engagement in Interventions for Mental Health Problems in Youth

Much progress has been made in helping families improve their relationships and provide effective environments for their children. However, an ongoing challenge in implementing these practices is to actively engage families in interventions for youth. Most effective treatments for youth require some level of caregiver involvement. Research has identified many barriers that prevent families from seeking services for their child and/or from fully participating in these services. Fortunately, a growing literature has now emerged about the necessary ingredients for fostering family participation in psychosocial services. The purpose of this article is to build off the work of Affronti and Levison-Johnson (2009) by describing specific methods for promoting initial and sustained parent motivation in residential care service delivery.
Fit to Drive: A Pilot Study to Improve the Physical Fitness of Older Drivers

This pilot study aimed to explore whether maintaining a driver's license could motivate older adults to participate in a regular fitness program, and determine whether gains in fitness could result in self-perceived improvements in driving. Physical measures and questionnaires were collected from 19 participants and 5 controls. For the intervention group, men showed significant gains in one measure of endurance, while women showed gains in strength, endurance, agility, flexibility, and hand reaction time. Half of the participants felt their driving skills had improved, and 40% reported an increase in driving confidence. Controls showed some improvements in endurance and foot reaction time but no self-reported improvements in driving. This study contributes to the understanding of older adults' motivation for activity participation, and suggests that improvements in physical conditioning may have a positive impact on driver safety.
Risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease : a pivotal role for metabolic factors

Prediction of the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and coronary heart disease has considered a large number of factors that may have important effects on risk. Data from recent publications of the Framingham Heart Study are reviewed from the perspective of how metabolic factors contribute to increased risk for T2DM, coronary heart disease, and vascular disease. Persons with impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance were found to have increased risk of coronary artery calcification, left ventricular hypertrophy among women, and augmented risk to develop coronary artery disease events. The metabolic syndrome risk factor burden and fasting insulin were also shown to affect the risk of developing future T2DM. Risk estimation for the development of T2DM showed that each of the five metabolic syndrome traits (increased waist girth, elevated blood pressure, low high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, high triglycerides, and impaired fasting glucose) were important predictors for the development of T2DM in middle-aged men and women. Both T2DM and coronary heart disease are consequences of persons with elevated blood glucose levels, insulin resistance, and an increasing burden of metabolic syndrome traits.