Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pharmacokinetic Interaction of Salbutamol Co-administered with Vasicine Isolated from Adhathoda vasica on Rabbit

Background: The study aims at the establishment of pharmacokinetic interaction between vasicine and salbutamol in low and high dose combinations on rabbits. Methods: Previously developed in vitro simultaneous estimation method of vasicine and salbutamol was further validated by recovery study in the spiked plasma sample. Pharmacokinetic interaction study was performed on the rabbit at 30 and 60 mg/kg vasicine administered with 2 and 4 mg/kg salbutamol orally based on literature reports. Vasicine and salbutamol were extracted from plasma up to 12 hr post drug administration, analyzed by HPLC and pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. Results: HPLC co-analysis of vasicine and salbutamol in the spiked plasma samples showed recovery in the range of 92.44 to 99.14% and RSD less than 1%. Vasicine showed the limit of quantification 136 ng/ml with interday and intraday variation less than 1% indicating reproducibility. Co-administration of vasicine and salbutamol significantly (p < 0.001) elevates elimination rate constant, decreases clearance, biological half-life and volume of distribution of salbutamol compared to administration alone. Salbutamol showed high (p < 0.001) clearance and AUC value, whereas vasicine showed significantly high (p < 0.01-0.001) elimination rate constant, clearance, volume of distribution and AUC when co-administered. Conclusions: Combined administration of vasicine and salbutamol has drastically increased the bioavailability of salbutamol though vasicine bioavailability was practically unchanged. This study signifies that concurrently administered salbutamol with vasicine can induce occurrence of serious life threatening adverse event may be due to additive vasodilatory effect.
Advancement and Validation of new Derivatives Spectrophotometric Method for Individual and Simultaneous Estimation of Diclofenac Sodium and Nicotinamide

Derivative spectrophotometry, which is primarily based on the first and second derivative spectra of absorption, was applied for individual and simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of diclofenac sodium (DS) and nicotinamide (NAM) in the ultraviolet region. The method depends on 1st and 2nd derivative UV spectrophotometry, with the amplitude of peak-to-base line, peak to peak, the area under peak at selected spectrum intervals and zero-crossing at certain wavelengths for each compound measurement. Under optimal conditions, a linear working range of 5-80 μg. ml-1 and 10-140 μg. ml-1 for (DS) and (NAM) with correlation coefficient R2 between 0.9938-0.9998. The mean % recoveries were found to be in the range of 97.95-102.50 % for two drugs. The proposed technique has been effectively applied to the estimation of (DS) and (NAM) in pharmaceutical formulations.
New Insights into the Role of Membrane Interactions and Conformational Dynamics in Intramembrane Proteolysis by GlpG Rhomboid

The rhomboid family of intramembrane serine proteases can catalyze proteolysis of substrates that are normally embedded in the cell membrane, making them key players in a diverse range of biological processes. While X-ray crystal structures provide detailed insights into the mechanism of intramembrane hydrolysis, questions remain concerning how transmembrane (TM) substrates are able to gain access to the rhomboid active site, and whether interactions with the membrane environment can influence its structure and function. In this thesis, these questions were investigated using the E. coli rhomboid ecGlpG. In Chapter 3, the effect of hydrophobic mismatch between lipid and protein was investigated using families of amphiphiles with saturated alkyl chains. While ecGlpG displayed maximal activity against a water-soluble model substrate when solubilized in detergents containing 10-12 carbon atoms, shorter and longer chain detergents led to loss of activity. An even larger effect was observed when ecGlpG was reconstituted into phospholipid bicelles, with no proteolytic activity being detected in 14-carbon lipids. These results suggest that mismatch between the hydrophobic regions of the catalytic TM domain (TMD) and the local membrane environment is detrimental to proteolysis. To obtain further insight into the structure and dynamics of ecGlpG, sample conditions were identified in Chapter 4 that enabled, for the first time, the acquisition of NMR spectra showing signals from the ecGlpG TMD. While significant peak broadening prevented chemical shift assignment, the sensitivity and resolution of peaks corresponding to the tryptophan indole NH group allowed their use as structural probes. These were employed in Chapter 5 to characterize the open conformation of ecGlpG that is postulated to facilitate substrate entry. These spectra showed evidence of an open conformation in which the intact
Usability of soil survey soil texture data for soil health indicator scoring

ABSTRACT Soil textural information is an important component underlying other soil health indicators. Soil texture analysis is a common procedure, but it can be labor intensive and expensive. Soil texture data typically are available from the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database, which may be an option for determining soil health texture groups (SHTG). The SSURGO database provides soil texture information in the soil map unit (SMU) name, taxonomic class category (family), and detailed values (≤ 2 mm soil fraction) of percent sand, silt and clay by soil horizon. The objective of this study was to examine the possibility of using SSURGO data for SHTG at the 147-ha Cornell University Willsboro Research Farm in New York state as an alternative for soil texture data determined manually on collected soil core samples. Comparative results revealed that representative values for soil texture from the SSURGO database generally matched measured mean values for all SMUs.
Investigating the structure and function of the plant photosynthetic membrane using atomic force microscopy and Monte Carlo simulations

The relative spatial organisation of protein complexes involved in the light reactions of photosynthesis in plants, (photosystem II (PSII), cytochrome b6f (cytb6f), photosystem I (PSI), and ATP synthase) remains unknown, but is crucial as it determines the diffusive path of mobile electron carriers plastoquinone (PQ) and plastocyanin (PC). Protocols were developed for purifying grana and stromal lamellae membranes for atomic force microscopy (AFM) in model plants spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and Arabidopsis thaliana. The development of methods to purify stromal lamellae from spinach for AFM allowed for the nanoscale imaging of PSI and ATP synthase for the first time. The 3.2 nm, stroma-protruding subunits of PSI were clearly visible in the AFM images, facilitating its identification. Contrary to the consensus that PSI in plants is monomeric, 25% of PSI were found to exist as dimers, which may facilitate diffusion of protein complexes within the stromal lamellae. ATP synthase was present and intact within the purified stromal lamellae membranes and showed the same height and width as purified Bos taurus ATP synthase incorporated into a DOPC lipid bilayer. The implications of the observed organisation of PSII, cytb6f, and PSI for the rate of electron transport were investigated using Monte Carlo simulations. AFM data revealed that long-range (>100 nm) diffusion distances are required of the thylakoid luminal protein plastocyanin (PC). The simulations revealed that the diffusion of PC is significantly restricted due the crowded nature of the thylakoid lumen and was affected by the size of the grana/stromal lamellae interface. It was proposed that the size of the interface is, therefore, the result of a compromise between a large interface, which maximises the rate of PC transport, and a small interface which minimises the excitation energy spillover from PSII to PSI.
Efeitos da entrevista motivacional em adolescentes infratores

Abstract The motivational interview is a brief intervention that aims to stimulate behavioral changes, and it has been applied in this research toadolescent drug users, and identifying the changes after the motivational interviewing. The sample group consisted of 50 adolescent drugusers who had committed offenses. All of them were evaluated by means of a standard protocol, then they received five motivationalinterview sessions and were subsequently reevaluated. The findings of the follow-up were: definitive increases in the number of days of abstinencefrom marijuana and alcohol, a reduction in the usage of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, abstinence from cocaine, crack and solvents. Therewere also significant changes in the pre-contemplation motivational stage as well as the cognitive beliefs regarding substance use. The datashows that, after motivational interviewing, there were changes in the patterns of drug consumption, in the motivational stages and in thecognitive beliefs of the drug-using adolescent offenders.Uniterms
A Study on the User Satisfaction of Public Library Users in Korea

본 연구는 전국 공공도서관 이용자를 대상으로 이용자만족도 조사를 실시한 후, 현재 우리나라 공공도서관의 서비스가 이용자의 만족을 얼마나 성취하고 있는 가를 분석하고, 도서관의 서비스별 품질을 나타내는 세부항목별 요인들이 도서관의 전반적 만족도에 미치는 영향관계를 파악하고자 하였다. 이용자만족도 지표는 공공도서관에 대해 이용자들이 지각하는 도서관의 전반적인 품질을 측정할 수 있도록 설계하였으며, 6개 변인(장서, 직원, 시설 프로그램, 온라인서비스, 정보제공정도)으로 구성되었다. 분석결과 도서관 전체 이용자만족도는 정보제공정도, 시설, 직원 변인이 높게 나타난 반면 온라인서비스 및 프로그램 변인은 상대적으로 낮은 만족도를 보여주었다. 또한 도서관의 서비스별 품질 중 장서, 직원, 시설, 프로그램, 온라인서비스, 정보제공정도 전체 요인이 전반적 만족도에 통계적으로 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으며, 그 중에서 정보제공정도와 시설, 장서 요인 순으로 큰 영향력을 발휘하는 것으로 파악되었다.
Age Dependence in MNC Subsidiary Mortality: The Inverted S-Curve Hypothesis

This study examines age dependence in the mortality of multinational corporations’ (MNCs’) subsidiaries by integrating various “theory fragments” of organizational ecology. Using a “nonmonotonic logic”, we hypothesize an inverted S-curve relationship between subsidiary age and subsidiary mortality. We highlight the needs to redefine the concept of “organizational inertia” based on organizational routines and to give centrality to organizational size for its underlying size-differentiated routines. Accordingly, we hypothesize that the inverted S-curve is moderated by subsidiary size with the curve remaining inverted S-shaped for smaller subsidiaries and changing to inverted U-shaped for large subsidiaries. Empirical tests supported both hypotheses. Results suggest that a nonmonotonic approach can aid in reaching a more conclusive answer about age dependence; and that organizational size serves to harmonize conflicting theoretical predictions and empirical findings.
Debt Financing and Firm Growth: European Evidence on Startups

This paper investigates the bank financing policy of new small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), its evolution and its relevance during early growth stages over their first 10 years. We use a large European panel dataset on early-stage SMEs founded in 2007–2015. The study provides useful advice for practitioners and managers regarding the controversial relationship between debt financing and the life cycle. First, our results reveal the dynamics of firms’ financial behavior relative to age. The relation between debt financing and entrepreneurial firms’ growth is remarkably unstable over time. Debt is positively related to firm startup stage growth and decreases over time. Second, debt financing is significantly related to firm productivity over time and the probability of bankruptcy. We perform additional analyses to expand our baseline results and suggest future research directions.
Analysing India’s Exchange Rate Regime

We analyse India's exchange rate regime through the prism of exchange market pressure. We estimate the various regimes that India’s de-facto exchange rate has been through during the period from 2000 to 2020. We find four specific regimes of the Indian rupee differentiated by the degree of flexibility of the exchange rate. We document the manner in which EMP in India has either been resisted through foreign exchange market intervention, or relieved through exchange rate change, across these four de-facto exchange rate regimes. In particular, we find that after the 2008 global financial crisis the rupee-dollar exchange rate was relatively more flexible and the share of exchange rate in EMP absorption was the highest. After 2013 there was a change in the way the EMP was absorbed. The exchange rate was actively managed using spot as well as forward market intervention. We also find that the response of the RBI to EMP has been asymmetric. When there is pressure to appreciate, the RBI has typically responded by purchasing reserves. On the other hand, in the periods in which there has been pressure to depreciate, only a tiny fraction of reserves are used for resisting the pressure. Such pressure is absorbed by rupee depreciation.
On the dynamics and climatology of surface flow over the Equatorial oceans

The surface circulation over the Equatorial Atlantic and Eastern Pacific is investigated using 60-year average ship data with a one-degree square resolution. At the height of the Northern summer, a zonally oriented speed maximum extends across the Eastern part of the oceans at about 4–5 N, near where the cross-equatorial flow recurves from Southeast to Southwest. This separates a band of strong divergence immediately to the North of the Equator from the convergence belt further poleward. Strongest convergence occurs about 350 km South of the confluence between Northern and Southern Hemisphere trades, and within a region of high directional steadiness of wind. A negative wind stress curl induces upwelling and low sea surface temperature immediately South of the Equator, and downwelling to the North. In most of the Northeast trades and the Southeast trades of the Southern Hemisphere during July–August, frictional energy dissipation not offset by cross-isobaric flow produces a gradual slowing of the current and downstream convergence. As the Southern Hemisphere trades flow North from the Equator over the Eastern part of the oceans, the Coriolis acceleration increases acting to the right, enhancing the cross-isobaric angle and resulting in net kinetic energy generation, the aforementioned speed maximum and attendant zone of strong divergence. Continuation of this Coriolis effect recurves the flow from Southeast to Southwest, which further downstream diminishes the cross-isobaric angle, thus impairing kinetic energy generation and resulting in a band of maximum convergence. A positive relation is found between the latitude of the discontinuity separating Northern and Southern Hemisphere trades and the latitude and intensity of the zonally oriented convergence/divergence bands, both seasonally and on a year-to-year basis. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1978. tb00859.x
Understanding stressor–strain relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of social support, adjustment to remote work, and work–life conflict

Abstract This study investigates how the transition to remote work during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic is experienced by employees. We investigate to what extent perceived work stressors relate to psychological strain through perceptions of social support, work–life conflict, and adjustment to remote work. The findings expound the mechanisms underlying psychological strain in the context of sudden organizational change. Specifically, this study shows that both challenge stressors and hindrance stressors have negative impact on adjustment to remote work, whereas hindrance stressors are more strongly negatively related to social support. The study further demonstrates that there is hardly any buffering impact of job control, work structuring, and communication technology use on the implications of these work stressors. These findings contribute to our theoretical understanding and provide actionable implications for organizational policies in facilitating employees' adaptation to remote work.
Analysis of Very Important Pharmacogenomics Variants in the Chinese Lahu Population

Background Genetic polymorphism, obviously, has a potential clinical role in determining differences in drug efficacy; however, there are no reports about the pharmacogenomic information of the Lahu population. Therefore, our research aimed to screen the genotypic frequencies of the very important pharmacogenomics (VIP) mutations and determined the differences between Lahu and the other 11 populations. Methods Agena MassARRAY (AgenaMassARRAY) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping technique was used to detect 81 VIP mutations of pharmacogenomics genes in Lahu, and their genotypic frequencies were compared with the other major 11 populations. Chi-square tests were used to identify different loci among these populations. Finally, the genetic structure and pairwise Fst values of Lahu and the other 11 populations were analyzed. Results We found that the distribution of allele frequencies within different pharmacogenes in Lahu showed significantly different with other populations. Additionally, the pairwise F-statistics (Fst) values and genetic structure revealed the variants in the Lahu population as well were mostly related to the Han Chinese in Beijing, China (CHB) and the Japanese population in Tokyo, Japan (JPT) genetically. Conclusion This study will provide a theoretical basis for safe drug use and help to establish the appropriate individualized treatment strategies in the Lahu population.
UNMASC: tumor-only variant calling with unmatched normal controls

Abstract Despite years of progress, mutation detection in cancer samples continues to require significant manual review as a final step. Expert review is particularly challenging in cases where tumors are sequenced without matched normal control DNA. Attempts have been made to call somatic point mutations without a matched normal sample by removing well-known germline variants, utilizing unmatched normal controls, and constructing decision rules to classify sequencing errors and private germline variants. With budgetary constraints related to computational and sequencing costs, finding the appropriate number of controls is a crucial step to identifying somatic variants. Our approach utilizes public databases for canonical somatic variants as well as germline variants and leverages information gathered about nearby positions in the normal controls. Drawing from our cohort of targeted capture panel sequencing of tumor and normal samples with varying tumortypes and demographics, these served as a benchmark for our tumor-only variant calling pipeline to observe the relationship between our ability to correctly classify variants against a number of unmatched normals. With our benchmarked samples, approximately ten normal controls were needed to maintain 94% sensitivity, 99% specificity and 76% positive predictive value, far outperforming comparable methods. Our approach, called UNMASC, also serves as a supplement to traditional tumor with matched normal variant calling workflows and can potentially extend to other concerns arising from analyzing next generation sequencing data.
A Scoping Review of the Evidence regarding Assessment and Management of Psychological Features of Shoulder Pain

Methods A scoping review of research studies identified through PubMed, EMBASE, and CINAHL and graduate theses identified using Google Scholar was conducted to determine studies and systematic reviews that addressed the management of psychological aspects of shoulder pain with or without neck pain. The search terms included psychological factors, anxiety, depression, catastrophic thinking, fear of movement, and psychological treatments. Two investigators screened study titles and abstracts. Data extraction, content analysis, and thematic coding focused on the dimensions of pain addressed (emotional, behavioural, and cognitive) and treatment approaches used (dimensions targeted, specific treatment parameters) and the linkage between treatment targets/rationale with interventions/outcomes measured. Results Ten studies (seven randomized trials and three cohorts) were identified that addressed the psychological aspects of shoulder pain. Out of seven RCTs, four compared psychological interventions with usual care. Eight studies used cognitive approaches, including emotional freedom techniques (EFT), pain coping strategies (PCS), physical-cognitive-mindfulness training (PCMT), psychological flexibility, face-to-face cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT), and cognitive therapy using virtual reality (V.R.). Three studies used the behavioural approaches as their intervention, including behavioural therapy and Graded Exercise Therapy (GET). Pain intensity was addressed as the primary outcome in two studies and as a secondary outcome in five studies. Cognitive factors were evaluated in 50% of the articles using nine different measures. Emotional factors were evaluated in 80% of articles using ten different measures. Reduction of pain intensity and catastrophic thinking concerning pain was achieved in most studies using a biopsychosocial approach (70%). Applying a behavioural approach was associated with reductions in kinesiophobia and pain catastrophizing. Cognitive approaches had a positive association with reductions in the emotional aspect of pain. Only one study specifically linked rationale or specific physical and psychosocial treatment targets with the treatments provided and outcomes measured. Conclusions Small pools of studies indicate that the rationale and treatment targeting are poorly defined in biopsychosocial interventions for shoulder pain. However, these benefits have been demonstrated when cognitive or behavioural components are added to the standard physical treatment of shoulder pain. A better definition of treatment targets, description of intervention components, and linkage of outcomes to targets are needed to advance our understanding of optimizing bio-psychosocial approaches.
Foreign Direct Investment, Regional Innovation, and Green Economic Efficiency: An Empirical Test Based on the Investigation of Intermediary Effect and Threshold Effect

Based on the theoretical mechanism analysis of FDI, regional innovation, and green economic efficiency, this article uses China's provincial panel data to calculate the provincial green economic efficiency level based on the three-stage DEA method and uses the system GMM model, intermediary effect model, and threshold model to empirically test the specific effects and transmission paths of FDI on the efficiency of the green economy. Research shows that FDI is one of the important factors that promote the improvement of green economic efficiency. Subregional tests have found that FDI has a significant regional heterogeneity in promoting the efficiency of the green economy. The mediation effect test found that the mediation effect of regional innovation is significant, and FDI can significantly promote the growth of green economic efficiency through regional innovation. The threshold effect analysis found that there are significant and effective double thresholds for regional economic levels, and the impact of FDI on green economic efficiency is heterogeneous within different threshold intervals. The research conclusions provide new inspiration for China to allocate FDI more rationally and efficiently under the new development pattern.