Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibitors of Bacterial Multidrug Efflux Pumps Potentiate Antimicrobial Photoinactivation

ABSTRACT Antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (APDI) combines a nontoxic photoactivatable dye or photosensitizer (PS) with harmless visible light to generate singlet oxygen and reactive oxygen species that kill microbial cells. Cationic phenothiazinium dyes, such as toluidine blue O (TBO), are the only PS used clinically for APDI, and we recently reported that this class of PS are substrates of multidrug efflux pumps in both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. We now report that APDI can be significantly potentiated by combining the PS with an efflux pump inhibitor (EPI). Killing of Staphylococcus aureus mediated by TBO and red light is greatly increased by coincubation with known inhibitors of the major facilitator pump (NorA): the diphenyl urea INF271, reserpine, 5′-methoxyhydnocarpin, and the polyacylated neohesperidoside, ADH7. The potentiation effect is greatest in the case of S. aureus mutants that overexpress NorA and least in NorA null cells. Addition of the EPI before TBO has a bigger effect than addition of the EPI after TBO. Cellular uptake of TBO is increased by EPI. EPI increased photodynamic inactivation killing mediated by other phenothiazinium dyes, such as methylene blue and dimethylmethylene blue, but not that mediated by nonphenothiazinium PS, such as Rose Bengal and benzoporphyrin derivative. Killing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa mediated by TBO and light was also potentiated by the resistance nodulation division pump (MexAB-OprM) inhibitor phenylalanine-arginine beta-naphthylamide but to a lesser extent than for S. aureus. These data suggest that EPI could be used in combination with phenothiazinium salts and light to enhance their antimicrobial effect against localized infections.
Crescimento Econômico e Desigualdade de Renda no Brasil de 1991 a 2000 - Uma Análise das Áreas Mínimas Comparáveis

This paper deals with the subject of economic growth and income inequality. It analyzes two possible forms of relationship between income inequality and economic growth, which are: a linear relation or a inverted-U relation. Using data for Minimum Comparable Areas (form of aggregation of cities) for 1991 and per capita income growth from 1991 to 2000, several regressions are estimated. The objective of these regressions was to present the diverse forms for controlling for the relation between inequality and growth. Some socio-economics variables had been used as controls. The Akaike information criteria shows that the inverted-U is the best form to represent the relation between inequality and economic growth.
Informing Environmental Decision Making by Combining Life Cycle Assessment and Risk Analysis

“It is easy to envision how life cycle thinking can inform the conduct of assessments of risk. Stepping through the life cycle of a material identifies the pertinent exposure pathways and forms of a substance and elicits the need for more detailed evaluation at particular life cycle stages to characterize impacts. ” their incorporation into a wide range of products, many people are calling for regulation and proactive assessments to ensure that these materials and products will not adversely affect health or the environment. Can the safety of these new substances and products be ensured? Some are more confident than others. Combining life cycle assessment (LCA) and risk analysis (RA) into a prospective and semi-quantitative analysis offers an analytical approach for early identification and evaluation of potential impacts. International calls for integrating life cycle and risk analysis for substances have focused on the need to address the breadth of potential concerns about nanoscale materials. These calls in part reflect the limitations of past approaches to chemical and other emerging technology issues, such as biotechnology, for which it is generally recognized that early assessments to identify and address potential health and safety concerns could have led to more sustainable development. Several examples highlight the inadequacies of piecemeal responses to contaminants already detected in the environment. One such example is the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant
Calcium and Magnesium Metabolism in Calves

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Time, Money and Job Spillover: How Parents’ Jobs Affect Young People

This paper examines the perspectives of young people about their parents’ paid and unpaid work, their preferences for time or money through more parental work, and their views about how their parents’ jobs affect them. It analyses qualitative empirical data collected in Australia in late 2003, by means of focus groups among 10-12 and 16-18- year-old males and females in urban and rural locations in two Australian states, in both high and low socioeconomic areas. It finds that more Australian children are looking for more time from parents than more money from more parental work, though this varies by income level, location and parental hours. This preference for ‘time over more money’ is consistent in single- and dual-earner couple households as well as sole parent/earner households. Children are acute observers of parents and their jobs. Both positive and negative spillovers are widely observed. Negative spillovers from long or unsocial hours are especially marked, reinforcing other findings in support of policy interventions to contain long or unsocial hours.
Nutritional assessment and post-procedural complications in older stroke patients after insertion of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy – a retrospective study

Background Oropharyngeal dysphagia is one of the major complications of stroke and a risk factor for malnutrition and prolonged in-hospital stay. Objective The overall aim was to describe to what extent nutritional assessments (i.e. BMI kg/m2, eating problem, and weight loss) were performed and documented in the records of older stroke patients treated with enteral nutrition by percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). A secondary aim was to identify documented post-procedural complications after PEG insertion during hospital stay. Design The study is retrospective. Data were collected from records of 161 stroke patients ≥65 years, who received PEG, admitted to three stroke units during a 4-year period. Results Mean age of the patients was 82.2 (±7) years, and 86% of the patients were ≥75 years old. On admission, body weight was documented in 50% of the patients and at discharge in 38% of the patients. BMI data were not documented at all at discharge in one of the units. Almost 80% of the patients fulfilled the European Network criteria for multimorbidity. Morbidity and multimorbidity correlated to the length of stay (p<0.0005). Complications were reported in 111 (69%) of the patient records. In 53 patients (33%) more than one complication was reported. A total of 116 pressure ulcers were reported and 30 patients had more than one pressure ulcer. The number of complications was related to weight loss (p=0.046) and BMI change (p=0.018). Conclusions Essential information of the patient's nutritional status was poorly recorded which could affect the patient's nutritional treatment during the hospital stay. This study indicates that implementation of guidelines in patients with stroke is needed. The high number of pressure ulcers was an unexpected finding.
Dividends, earnings volatility and information

It is generally accepted that a firm's dividend policy can provide information about its future financial performance. Most studies link dividend policy with firm valuation; however, other signals involving dividend policy are also observed. The focus of this article is not to continue the examination of the return (valuation) information contained in dividend announcements, but rather to consider the information about risk that the announcements provide. We consider the ‘risk information hypothesis’, whereby management provides the market with new information about the risk of the firm's earnings variability through their dividend policy. The results of our study provide evidence that positive changes in dividends are associated with positive future changes in mean real Earnings Per Share (EPS). Furthermore, a significant increase in EPS variance (risk) after a dividend change is observed for all dividend change classifications except for dividend omissions. The strongest signal of future variance shifts is with dividend increases.
Combining research with advocacy and service delivery : experience from NGOs in Malawi

There is increasing interest in the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in research. NGOs are typically known for their work as service providers or advocates, but some NGOs conduct research alongside these other activities. NGOs’ involvement in service delivery and advocacy may provide opportunities for research. I assess three such opportunities. First, involvement in service delivery may mean NGOs can identify research questions that respond to frontline knowledge gaps, so ensuring research is relevant. Second, service delivery may provide a source of research data, through examining service delivery activities or using information collected through programme monitoring. Third, NGOs’ advocacy might support communication of research findings, by bringing a commitment to promoting action and channels to share results. These potential advantages of service delivery and advocacy for research are frequently suggested in the literature. However, there is limited evidence on the way these relationships between research, service delivery and advocacy work in practice, or on their variation between different contexts. This leaves little guidance on conditions needed to maximise the value of input from NGOs’ service delivery and advocacy to research. In response, this thesis examines these relationships between research, service delivery and advocacy through the experience of four NGOs in Malawi. I consider whether service delivery provides research questions and data and whether advocacy supports research communication. Based on the case NGOs’ experiences, I identify conditions within and outside NGOs that affect the value of drawing on service delivery and advocacy in these ways and scope to make these connections. I conclude by providing guidance on ways to support an effective role for NGOs’ service delivery and advocacy in research, with recommendations for NGOs, academic partners and donors.
Identifying Differentially Expressed Genes in cDNA Microarray Experiments

A major goal of microarray experiments is to determine which genes are differentially expressed between samples. Differential expression has been assessed by taking ratios of expression levels of different samples at a spot on the array and flagging spots (genes) where the magnitude of the fold difference exceeds some threshold. More recent work has attempted to incorporate the fact that the variability of these ratios is not constant. Most methods are variants of Student's t-test. These variants standardize the ratios by dividing by an estimate of the standard deviation of that ratio; spots with large standardized values are flagged. Estimating these standard deviations requires replication of the measurements, either within a slide or between slides, or the use of a model describing what the standard deviation should be. Starting from considerations of the kinetics driving microarray hybridization, we derive models for the intensity of a replicated spot, when replication is performed within and between arrays. Replication within slides leads to a beta-binomial model, and replication between slides leads to a gamma-Poisson model. These models predict how the variance of a log ratio changes with the total intensity of the signal at the spot, independent of the identity of the gene. Ratios for genes with a small amount of total signal are highly variable, whereas ratios for genes with a large amount of total signal are fairly stable. Log ratios are scaled by the standard deviations given by these functions, giving model-based versions of Studentization. An example is given.
TQM: What is Wrong with the Terminology

Discusses the current confusion over the meaning of total quality management (TQM). Failure associated with TQM implementation is often due to the failure of managers to introduce it effectively. TQM is being demanded by customers, even in public sector and non‐profit‐making organizations; it is a global and universal philosophy of management and is here to stay. There is a need to develop more university and college courses on TQM and related areas. In Japan, the philosophy of TQM is well embedded in all aspects of business life and the public sector. The challenge for all of us is to make TQM work effectively in any sector, to ensure that organizations optimize its benefits, to develop it as a philosophy of modern management so it can address future challenges and to integrate it in our education systems.
A new technique to evaluate the ability of cryoprotectors to prevent premature acrosome reaction in human spermatozoa

Acrosome reaction (AR) induced by low temperature has been used to evaluate sperm function; it correlates adequately with the fertilization percentages in vitro. In this study, the technique of AR induction by low temperature was used to evaluate the effect in the protection of the acrosome by cryopreservatives normally used in human semen cryopreservation. Donor sperm selected by use of the migration sedimentation technique was incubated in human tubal fluid medium, added to dimethyl sulphoxide 1 m, ethylene glycol 0.75 m, glycerol 1 m, incubated at 4 °C and 20 °C (as a control) for 18 h, and then for 3 h at 37 °C in a cell incubator. The AR was evaluated by triple stain in 100 viable spermatozoa. The effect of cryopreservatives on acrosome preservation in samples incubated for 18 h at 4 °C was as follows: 78% intact acrosome for glycerol, 77.8% intact acrosome for dimethyl sulphoxide and 96.2% intact acrosome for ethylene glycol (P < 0.0025 compared with glycerol and dimethyl‐sulphoxide). The sperm samples incubated with cryopreservatives for 18 h at 20 °C did not show an increase in the percentage of AR in samples incubated with glycerol and ethylene glycol, while a significant variation was observed in the sample incubated with dimethyl sulphoxide (P < 0.001). Additional incubation for 3 h at 37 °C significantly increased the AR only in the sample incubated with glycerol (P < 0.001). Acrosome preservation is essential in the fertilization process and the evaluation of acrosome reaction induction by low temperature test was satisfactory. This test proves that ethylene glycol presents a greater protective effect on the acrosome preservation of human spermatozoa.
Microelastic imaging of bone

Several high-frequency ultrasound techniques have been developed during the last decade with the intention of assessing elastic properties of bone at the tissue level. The basic measurement principles can be divided into: 1) measurement of the compressional wave velocity in thin tissue sections; 2) measurement of surface acoustic wave velocities in thick sections; and 3) derivation of the acoustic impedance from the confocal reflection amplitude in thick sections. In this paper, the 3 principles are described with example measurements given in the frequency range from 50 MHz to 1.2 GHz. The measurements were made with 2 microscopes operating in the pulse-echo mode, either with frequencies up to 200 MHz and time-resolved detection or between 100 MHz and 2 GHz and amplitude detection. The methods are compared and their application potentials and limitations are discussed with respect to the hierarchical structure of cortical bone. Mapping of the confocal reflection amplitude has superior capabilities for deriving quantitative elastic and structural parameters in the heterogeneous bone material. Even at low frequencies (50 MHz), the mineralized tissue matrix can be separated from the larger pores (Haversian canals), and the elastic coefficient in the probing direction can be measured in 2 dimensions. Depending on the type of sample surface preparation (flat or cylindrically shaped), local distribution of a single elastic coefficient or the average transverse isotropic stiffness tensor can be derived. With frequencies in the GHz range, the lamellar bone structure can be analyzed. However, at one GHz, the acoustic wavelength is still one order of magnitude larger than the individual mineralized collagen fibrils. Although the thickness of a lamellar unit can easily be assessed from the acoustic image, the derivation of the anisotropic elastic properties of the mineralized collagen fibrils as well as the detailed structure of a lamella can only be accomplished with further model assumptions.
Failure to maintain a low ADP concentration impairs diastolic function in hypertrophied rat hearts.

BACKGROUND Mechanisms in addition to diastolic calcium overload may contribute to diastolic dysfunction in hypertrophied hearts. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that failure to maintain a low ADP concentration in hypertrophied hearts contributes to diastolic dysfunction by inhibiting the rate of cross-bridge cycling. METHODS AND RESULTS By perfusing isolated rat hearts with pyruvate and 2-deoxyglucose (2DG), we were able to perturb [ADP] with minimal changes in [ATP] and [inorganic phosphate] or the contribution of glycolytic ATP to ATP synthesis. The effects of 2DG were compared in aortic-banded (LVH, n=5) and sham-operated (control, n=5) rat hearts. 31P NMR spectroscopy was used to measure the concentrations of phosphorus-containing compounds. We found a threefold increase of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) in LVH during 2DG perfusion, and this increase was concomitant with a threefold increase in intracellular free [ADP]. The [ADP] in the control hearts was maintained <40 micromol/L, and no change in LVEDP was observed. A linear relationship between increases in [ADP] and LVEDP was found (r2=.66, P=.001). Furthermore, the capacity of the creatine kinase reaction, a major mechanism for maintaining a low [ADP], was decreased in LVH (P=.0001). CONCLUSIONS Increased [ADP] contributes to diastolic dysfunction in LVH, possibly due to slowed cross-bridge cycling. Decreased capacity of the creatine kinase reaction to rephosphorylate ADP is a likely contributing mechanism to the failure to maintain a low [ADP] in LVH.
What's significant in Value Based Management: an internal perspective

The subject of Value Based Management (VBM) in general, and Economic Value Added (EVATM) in particular, is one that is assuming increasing significance in both the academic and practitioner environments. This study adds to the literature in that it uses data from interviews with key informants of VBM-adopter entities as a basis for the development of a theory of why companies adopt VBM measures and how they use VBM on an ongoing basis. This research finds that adoption of the VBM measure is affected by parties and/or events external to the business, and then devolved from the CEO to respective business units.
An Empirical Study On The Effectiveness of Celebrity Advertisements

Indian market is flooded with global brands which force the organizations to use celebrities, as they would easily arrests audience's attention and thereby enhance the awareness about the product. To accomplish this, they spend huge amount to make the endorsement contract with the celebrity. However it is essential to understand the effectiveness of celebrity advertisement over non celebrity advertisement. Our research shows that the celebrity advertisements are more effective than non-celebrity advertisements; still the product category is the main factor that influences the effectiveness of celebrity advertisements. Other dimensions of celebrity advertisements which includes celebrity loyalty, multi-product endorsement and purchase intention were also explored in this article.
Non‐transferrin bound labile plasma iron and iron overload in Sickle Cell Disease: a comparative study between Sickle Cell Disease and β thalassemic patients

Background: Blood transfusions are the standard of care in β thalassemia and transfusions are also indicated in sickle cell disease (SCD) patients with hypersplenism, recurrent vaso‐occlusive crises and for stroke prevention. Iron overload caused by blood transfusions in thalassemia and in SCD may affect morbidity and mortality. Recent studies of iron overload in SCD suggest that the biologic features of SCD and the chronic inflammatory state may protect SCD patients from iron damage.
Black/White Differences in Schooling and Employment

This paper investigates the extent to which academic preparation, the structure of labor market opportunities, and exposure to nonmarket income alternatives explain race and gender differences in schooling and employment. Despite lower overall high school continuation and college attendance rates, Black men and women in the High School and Beyond Longitudinal Survey were actually more likely to continue high school and attend college than Whites with similar mathematics and verbal test scores. In contrast, Black school leavers had far lower employment rates than Whites with similar test scores. Multinomial logit estimates show that fewer job opportunities for Blacks offer a partial explanation for the observed patterns of schooling and employment. There is little or no evidence, however, that community crime and welfare recipiency rates affected the probability of employment for Blacks or Whites.