Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[Effects of cyclic mechanical stretch on the activity of STAT3 in human bronchial epithelial cell (16HBEC)].

OBJECTIVE To study the effects of cyclic mechanical stretch on the activity and expression of STAT3 in Human bronchial epithelial Cell (16HBEC). METHODS The 16HBECs were subjected to cyclic mechanical stretch by the four-point bending system at 0.5 Hz of 1 kPa, 2 kPa, 3 kPa, 4 kPa for 30 min or for 30 min, 1 h, 3 h, and 6 h of 3 kPa respectively. The mRNA level of STAT3 was semi-quantified by RT-PCR; STAT3 protein and phosphorylated STAT3 were detected by western blot. RESULTS Phosphorylation level of STAT3 Tyr705 was higher under 3 kPa cyclic mechanical stretch than the others. 3 kPa stretch phosphorylatd STAT3 Tyr705 in 16HBE cells in a time-dependent manner. The phosphorylation of STAT3-Tyr705 was significantly increased at 30 min compared with the control group (P<0.05), and reached the highest phosphorylation level at 1 h, then showed a sharp descending tendency. There was no effect of 3 kPa stretch on the phosphorylation of STAT3 Ser727, expression of STAT3 protein or mRNA levels. CONCLUSION STAT3 played an important role in the response and signal transduction of 16HBECs to the cyclic mechanical stretch stimulation through the phosphorylation of STAT3 Tyr705.
COMPARISON OF SERUM AND PLASMA FOR DETERMINATION OF BLOOD BIOCHEMICAL VALUES IN MALAYSIAN FLYING FOXES (PTEROPUS VAMPYRUS)

Abstract The effects of the anticoagulant sodium heparin and time of centrifugation on 20 biochemical analytes in the blood of Malaysian flying foxes (Pteropus vampyrus) were evaluated. Paired plasma and serum samples were centrifuged at 1 hr and 6 hr postcollection. Heparinization and time of centrifugation did not significantly affect albumin, cholesterol, triglycerides, amylase, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransaminase, alkaline phosphatase, calcium, sodium, and total carbon dioxide levels. Plasma was associated with higher globulin and lower potassium values. Glucose and chloride levels decreased significantly over time, whereas phosphorus levels increased. Serum creatine kinase activity at 6 hr postcollection was significantly higher than the other creatine kinase means. Sodium levels were not significantly affected by sodium heparin as used as an anticoagulant in this study.
Internal carotid artery aneurysms occurring at the origin of fetal variant posterior cerebral arteries: surgical and endovascular experience.

OBJECTIVE A fetal variant posterior cerebral artery (fetal PCA) is an embryological remnant in which the PCA is primarily supplied via the anterior cerebral circulation. Internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysms originating from the takeoff of fetal PCA vessels deserve special attention before surgical or endovascular obliteration because of a greater potential for ischemic injury. We present the first series of ICA-posterior communicating artery (PComA) aneurysms originating at the takeoff of fetal PCA vessels that were treated by surgical or endovascular intervention. METHODS A retrospective chart review was conducted for all patients who underwent surgical and endovascular treatment of an ICA-PComA aneurysm at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center during a 15-year period (1991-2006) to identify cases with aneurysms originating from fetal variant PCAs. Data were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. RESULTS During a 15-year period, 271 patients were treated for 273 ICA-PComA aneurysms. Aneurysms occurring at the origin of fetal PCAs were identified in 30 patients (11%). There were 23 women (77%) and seven men (23%) (sex difference, P = 0.0035). Twenty-four patients underwent surgical clipping, whereas six patients underwent endovascular coiling. The mean aneurysm size was 7 mm. The mean ischemia time with temporary clipping (12 cases) was 4.5 minutes. Intraoperative rupture occurred in four surgical cases (17%). Postoperative angiography demonstrated occlusion of the fetal PCA in one case after clip ligation (3%), with an ensuing occipital infarct yet no clinical symptoms. CONCLUSION ICA-PComA aneurysms originating from fetal PCA vessels may pose a more substantial risk for infarction and subsequent neurological sequelae with surgical or endovascular obliteration. Fetal variant circulations were identified at the PComA origin in 11% of ICA-PComA aneurysm patients and were more commonly encountered in women. The decision of surgical versus endovascular treatment of fetal PCA aneurysms must be carefully considered, given the greater potential for ischemic injury with parent vessel occlusion.
The immunogenicity of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine versus 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine in adults aged 50-80 years.

BACKGROUND Infections with pneumococci are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the elderly population. Although 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) is recommended for elderly persons, the potential benefits of conjugate vaccine use in this age group remain unclear. METHODS We performed an open-label, randomized study that compared 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (7vPnC) with PPV in 599 adults aged 50-80 years. Vaccinees received either 1 dose of 7vPnC or PPV or 1 dose of 7vPnC followed by a dose of 7vPnC or PPV 6 months later. Groups were stratified so they contained similar numbers of individuals aged 50-59, 60-69, and 70-80 years. Concentrations of immunoglobulin G specific for the serotypes in 7vPnC were measured before and 4-6 weeks after each vaccination and 1 year after enrollment. RESULTS Although baseline antibody levels were slightly lower in the older age groups, responses (fold rises) to either vaccine did not depend on age. Single-dose 7vPnC was superior for only 3 serotypes. Administration of a second dose of PPV or 7vPnC was similarly immunogenic in adults primed with 7vPnC, and titers after a second dose were similar to the first. CONCLUSIONS Pneumococcal vaccines retain their immunogenicity when administered into the eighth decade of life, but a second dose, when assessed by antibody titers alone, has little utility. 7vPnC vaccines do not lead to subsequent hyporesponsiveness. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION http://www.clinicaltrials. gov/NCT00197821.
The Value of Amniotic Fluid Interleukin‐6, White Blood Cell Count, and Gram Stain in the Diagnosis of Microbial Invasion of the Amniotic Cavity in Patients at Term

PROBLEM: Subclinical microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity occurs in 18.8% of women with term labor and intact membranes and in 34% of patients with term PROM and is a risk factor for the development of puerperal infection related morbidity. Although amniotic fluid white blood cell count, interleukin‐6 determination, and Gram stain examination have been used for the diagnosis of intrauterine infection in patients with preterm labor and preterm premature rupture of membranes, no information is available about the accuracy and specific cut‐off values for these tests in patients at term. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of the amniotic fluid Gram stain examination, white blood cell count, and interleukin‐6 determination in the identification of microbial invasion of the amniotic cavity in patients at term with and without PROM.
Working Memory: The Interface between Memory and Cognition

Working memory may be defined as the system for the temporary maintenance and manipulation of information, necessary for the performance of such complex cognitive activities as comprehension, learning, and reasoning. Used in this sense, the term refers to an area of research that may or may not prove to be dependent on a single coherent system. Such a system is proposed within a broad and relatively speculative overview of human memory that emphasizes the putative role of working memory. This is followed by a brief account of a particular model of working memory, and a more detailed discussion of the way in which the various subcomponents of the model relate to other aspects of memory and cognition.
Facilitating the Formalisation of Entrepreneurs in the Informal Economy: Towards a Variegated Policy Approach

Purpose - – Although it has been recognised that many entrepreneurs operate in the informal economy, little is so far known about their reasons for doing so. The purpose of this paper is to begin to unravel entrepreneurs’ rationales for trading in the informal economy in order to consider what policy measures need to be adopted to facilitate their formalisation. Design/methodology/approach - – To do this, the results of an empirical survey are reported conducted in Ukraine during 2006/2007 with 331 individuals who had started-up or owned/managed an enterprise. Findings - – Revealing that the rationales for entrepreneurs operating in the informal economy markedly differ according to whether they are wholly or partially informal entrepreneurs operating temporarily or permanently in the informal economy, the result is a call for a move beyond a “one-size-fits-all” policy approach and towards a variegated public policy approach whereby policy measures are tailored to tackling the different types of informal entrepreneurship, each of which operate informally for varying reasons. Research limitations/implications - – No evidence yet exists of whether the rationales for engaging in each type of informal entrepreneurship, and the consequent policy measures that need to be used to formalise each type, are more widely valid. Further research to evaluate this is required. Originality/value - – This is the first paper to start to move beyond a “one size fits all” policy approach when considering how to facilitate the formalisation of entrepreneurs in the informal economy.
Short-term stabilization versus long-term price stability: evaluating Namibia`s membership of the Common Monetary Area

It was found in this paper that (i) because of the high degree of openness of the Namibian economy and its small size, the use of nominal exchange rate as an instrument of adjustment will have limited effects; (ii) that the costs associated with the loss of monetary autonomy are small; and (iii) that there exists a wide range of instruments to address the effects of asymmetric shocks, irrespective of loss of nominal exchange rate instrument. For example, adverse shocks to incomes in Namibia can be cushioned by flows of financial capital, which may involve holdings of assets which are claims to outside income streams or financing from the union-wide financial markets. Thus, the diversification of assets afforded by the CMA could provide insurance against purely regional shocks, and could make consumption independent of shocks. Further, there are indications that as the economy continues to diversify, it can cope with exogenous shocks resulting from adverse shocks to one of its export commodities. Most importantly, it was argued that the CMA may lend time consistency and credibility to economic policy management in Namibia. Therefore, pegging to the rand may as well be considered an appropriate exchange rate regime for Namibia. However, if South Africa becomes the source of instability then pegging to the rand will not be advisable.
iRNA-2methyl: Identify RNA 2'-O-methylation Sites by Incorporating Sequence-Coupled Effects into General PseKNC and Ensemble Classifier.

OBJECTIVE Being a kind of post-transcriptional modification (PTCM) in RNA, the 2'-Omethylation modification occurs in the processes of life development and disease formation as well. Accordingly, from the angles of both basic research and drug development, we are facing a challenging problem: given an uncharacterized RNA sequence formed by many nucleotides of A (adenine), C (cytosine), G (guanine), and U (uracil), which one can be of 2-O'-methylation modification, and which one cannot? Unfortunately, so far no computational method whatsoever has been developed to address such a problem. METHOD To fill this empty area, we propose a predictor called iRNA-2methyl. It is formed by incorporating a series of sequence-coupled factors into the general PseKNC (pseudo nucleotide composition), followed by fusing 12 basic random forest classifier into four ensemble predictors, with each aimed to identify the cases of A, C, G, and U along the RNA sequence concerned, respectively. RESULTS Rigorous jackknife cross-validations have indicated that the success rates are very high (>93%). For the convenience of most experimental scientists, a user-friendly web-server for iRNA-2methyl has been established at http://www.jci-bioinfo.cn/iRNA-2methyl, by which users can easily obtain their desired results without the need to go through the complicated mathematical equations involved. CONCLUSION The proposed predictor iRNA-2methyl will become a very useful bioinformatics tool for medicinal chemistry, helping to design effective drugs against the diseases related to the 2'-Omethylation modification.
IT/IS Issues in Asia-Pacific

Over the recent two decades, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced the fastest economic growth in the world and this high growth rate is expected to sustain for years to come (IMF 2006). Empowered by strong momentums of economic growth, countries in the Asia-Pacific region are investing heavily in information technologies. According to Gartner Dataquest forecasts, the market for IT services in the AsiaPacific region would grow at a compound annual rate of 9.7% till 2008, leading the world (Gartner Dataquest 2006). Also it was expected that IT services revenue in this region would reach $43.9 billion by 2008 (Gartner Dataquest 2006).
Solidarity Networks in Preindustrial Societies: Rational Peasants with a Moral Economy

Mutual insurance networks in preindustrial societies have been an object of curiosity for many social scientists. ' In his seminal book The Moral Economy of Peasants, James C. Scott showed how the solidarity mechanisms of southeast Asian peasants are reflected in their ethical values: the right to subsistence and the principle of reciprocity. He failed to explain, however, how mutual insurance can survive in spite of incentive problems. This led Samuel L. Popkin, in The Rational Peasant, to criticize Scott's view as implying that preindustrial communities, unspoiled by capitalism, are motivated by higher ethical values.2 Popkin's contribution was to present numerous evidence of opportunistic behavior among precapitalist peasants.3 His critique, however, failed to account for the well-documented existence of solidarity networks. Richard A. Posner reconciles these two apparently diametrically opposed views, arguing that a mutual solidarity system can be sustained in the long run by the existence of a lasting relationship between its self-interested members.4 Opportunistic behavior can be prevented as long as short-run benefits from deviation are smaller than long-run punishments. Posner's verbal argument is formalized in Miles S. Kimball and in Stephen Coate and Martin Ravaillon.5 Elaborating on Posner's approach, Jean-Philippe Platteau presents an excellent discussion of Scott's and Popkin's views.6 He also shows that mutual insurance can take a variety of forms-grain transfers, credit, access to land, labor assistance, etc.-and discusses in great detail the incentive problems associated with various types of solidarity mechanisms. This article revisits many of the arguments presented by Posner, Platteau, and others in the light of recent developments in the theory of repeated games. Instead of analyzing particular institutions, this
Child Care Subsidies and Employment Behavior Among Very-Low-Income Populations in Three States

Using merged administrative data from welfare reform evaluations in three states, we estimate the effects of child care subsidy use on the length of time it takes for a welfare applicant to move into substantial employment. Findings show that the use of a child care subsidy during an unemployed or marginally employed spell of welfare receipt is associated with between a 0.6 and 1.7 quarter (or 11% to 34%) reduction in the time to substantial employment in two of the three state samples. The positive influence of subsidy use on transitions to substantial employment is strongest for those welfare applicants with the lowest earnings who are mixing welfare and work prior to subsidy receipt. Copyright 2006 by The Policy Studies Organization.
Japan's financial deregulation and linkage of the Gensaki and Euroyen deposit markets

This paper examines whether Japan's financial deregulation weakened the linkage between the Euroyen and Gensaki markets. It defines and analyzes the linkage of the two markets in terms of the persistence and predictability of yield spreads, as well as cross-market causality. By using Johansen tests and an error correction model, this paper shows first, cross-market causality before and after deregulation; and second, one common trend in interest rates, substantial Gensaki-Euroyen yield spreads, and a slower response of the one-month Gensaki-Euroyen yield spread to a shock after deregulation. Copyright 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Felodipine Event Reduction (FEVER) Study: a randomized long-term placebo-controlled trial in Chinese hypertensive patients

Objective To compare the incidence of stroke and other cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients receiving a low-dose diuretic and low-dose calcium antagonist combination with those receiving low-dose diuretic monotherapy, and assess the effects of a small blood pressure difference at achieved levels lower than those achieved in previous placebo-controlled trials. Methods The Felodipine Event Reduction (FEVER) trial was an investigator-designed, prospective, multicentre, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel group trial. It enrolled 9800 Chinese patients, of either sex, aged 50–79 years, with one or two additional cardiovascular risk factors or disease, whose blood pressure, 6 weeks after switching from previous antihypertensive therapy to low-dose (12.5 mg a day) hydrochlorothiazide, was in the range 140–180 mmHg (systolic) or 90–100 mmHg (diastolic). These patients were randomly assigned either to low-dose felodipine extended release or placebo, and followed at 3-month intervals for an average of 40 months. Results The intention-to-treat analysis included 9711 randomly selected patients with only 30 (0.3%) lost to follow-up. A total of 31 842 patient-years of follow-up were accumulated, with 85.9% of patients remaining on blinded randomized treatment. Add-on therapy was given to 33.9% of the hydrochlorothiazide–felodipine patients and to 42.3% of the hydrochlorothiazide–placebo patients. In the felodipine group, systolic blood pressure (SBP)/diastolic blood pressure (DBP) decreased (from randomization to study end) from 154.2/91.0 to 137.3/82.5 mmHg, and in the placebo group from 154.4/91.3 to 142.5/85.0 mmHg, with an average difference throughout the trial of 4.2/2.1 mmHg. In the felodipine group, the primary endpoint (fatal and non-fatal stroke) was reduced by 27% (P = 0.001). Among secondary endpoints, all cardiovascular events were reduced by 27% (P < 0.001), all cardiac events by 35% (P = 0.012), death by any cause by 31% (P = 0.006), coronary events by 32% (P = 0.024), heart failure by 30% (P = 0.239), cardiovascular death by 33% (P = 0.019), cancer by 36% (P = 0.017) in the felodipine group. No significant differences were found in new-onset diabetes. Both treatments were very well tolerated. Conclusions In moderately complicated hypertensive patients from China even a difference in SBP/DBP as small as 4/2 mmHg, such as that induced by adding low-dose felodipine to low-dose hydrochlorothiazide, is associated with very substantial reductions in the incidence of most types of cardiovascular events. As the SBP achieved in the felodipine group was below the recommended goal of less than 140 mmHg, and SBP in the placebo group was slightly above that level, FEVER provides the required evidence in support of the guidelines recommended goal, even for a hypertensive population not entirely consisting of patients with diabetes or previous cardiovascular events.
Neural Stem Cell Systems: Diversities and Properties after Transplantation in Animal Models of Diseases

Currently available effective treatments of the diseased or damaged central nervous system (CNS) are restricted to a limited pharmacological relief of symptoms or those given to avoid further damage. Therefore the search is on for treatments that can restore function in the CNS. During recent years replacement of damaged neurons by cell transplantation is being enthusiastically explored as a potential treatment for many neurodegenerative diseases, stroke and traumatic brain injury. Several references in both scientific journals and popular newspapers concerning different types of cultured stem cells, potentially exploitable to treat pathological conditions of the brain, raise important questions pertinent to the fundamental and realistic differences between grafts of primary neural cells and the transplantation of in vitro expanded neural stem cells (NSCs). Our aim is to review the available information on the grafting of different NSC types into the adult rodent brain, focusing on critical aspects for the development of clinical therapies to replace damaged neurons.
Stability price index, core inflation and output volatility

This article examines the relationship between the ‘exclusion’ type Core Inflation (CI) measures and the stability price index. Empirical results for Malaysia and Pakistan suggest that if targeting CI index is to stabilize output, weights of the export-oriented sectors (energy for Malaysia and foodstuffs for Pakistan) should be reduced, in relation to the CPI weights, and weights of the import-oriented sectors should be increased. It also indicates that, in order to maintain real sector stability, central bankers should include the fundamental component of the stock market prices in the price index they target.
The Impact of the Judiciary on Entrepreneurship: Evaluation of Pakistan's Access to Justice Programme

A key element of government is to uphold law and order. This paper will evaluate the impact of slow judiciaries on entrepreneurship. In 2002 a judicial reform was implemented in 6 of Pakistan's 117 districts to facilitate rapid case disposal. Drawing on a panel dataset of 875 district judges' performance between 2001 and 2003, a difference-in-differences analysis shows that judges disposed of 25 percent more cases thanks to the reform. Three rounds of the Labour Force Surveys will be then used to show that the reform improved security of property rights, encouraged people to seek loans, fostered entrepreneurship and was associated with increased transition from unemployment and paid employment to entrepreneurship.