Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Environmental Impact of Water Consumption by Energy Crops Grown in Spain

The environmental impact of the water consumption of four typical crop rotations grown in Spain, including energy crops, was analyzed and compared against Spanish agricultural and natural reference situations. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used for the assessment of the potential environmental impact of blue water (withdrawal from water bodies) and green water (uptake of soil moisture) consumption. The latter has so far been disregarded in LCA. To account for green water, two approaches have been applied: the first accounts for the difference in green water demand of the crops and a reference situation. The second is a green water scarcity index, which measures the fraction of the soil‐water plant consumption to the available green water. Our results show that, if the aim is to minimize the environmental impacts of water consumption, the energy crop rotations assessed in this study were most suitable in basins in the northeast of Spain. In contrast, the energy crops grown in basins in the southeast of Spain were associated with the greatest environmental impacts. Further research into the integration of quantitative green water assessment in LCA is crucial in studies of systems with a high dependence on green water resources.
Facilitators of development or Kapos for capital: the primrose path to GATS

This article arose from work undertaken on behalf of a UK-based NGO developing a policy response to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It looks at GATS as a key to locating development NGOs (NGDOs) within the broader field of development aims and practices, examining the long-term implications of GATS with respect to the idea of a ‘fourth position’ for such NGOs. It is argued that this theoretical position fails to take into account changing imbalances of power between NGDOs and their Southern counterparts that began under structural adjustment, as a consequence of which many NGDOs now occupy a position from which effective mediation between civil society, the state, and the market would be difficult if not impossible. In addition, GATS represents a step-change along the evolutionary path towards a market-oriented ideology whose verticalist worldview represents a profound contradiction to the avowedly progressive aims of most NGDOs.
NSC 74859‐mediated inhibition of STAT3 enhances the anti‐proliferative activity of cetuximab in hepatocellular carcinoma

Cetuximab [an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor], which was shown to be effective in rectal and non‐small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), was only modestly effective in clinical trials of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). STAT3, which is thought to be a determinant of HCC sensitivity to antitumour drugs, may be involved.
Atrial fibrillation as a complication of ibrutinib therapy: clinical features and challenges of management

Abstract Ibrutinib is a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor finding increasingly widespread use in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Evidence of an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) emerged in Phase III studies with a median incidence of approximately 6%. The mechanism remains unknown, but inhibition of a cardioprotective pathway has been proposed. Ibrutinib induces a platelet function defect, increasing the bleeding risk of anticoagulation for AF stroke prophylaxis. Multiple potential drug interactions are an added complication. In this review we examine the characteristics and management of the reported cases of AF with ibrutinib and where possible make recommendations. The evidence suggests dose reduction or temporary suspension of drug, are feasible alternative to discontinuation. The optimum choice of thromboprophylaxis has not been determined, but we propose the use of novel anticoagulants (NOACs) and avoidance of anti-platelet agents where possible. Further research and consensus guidelines are required.
Chain Migration of Neuronal Precursors

In the brain of adult mice, cells that divide in the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricle migrate up to 5 millimeters to the olfactory bulb where they differentiate into neurons. These migrating cells were found to move as chains through a well-defined pathway, the rostral migratory stream. Electron microscopic analysis of serial sections showed that these chains contained only closely apposed, elongated neuroblasts connected by membrane specializations. A second cell type, which contained glial fibrillary acidic protein, ensheathed the chains of migrating neuroblasts. Thus, during chain migration, neural precursors moved associated with each other and were not guided by radial glial or axonal fibers.
Elective Colon and Rectal Surgery Differ in Risk Factors for Wound Infection: Results of Prospective Surveillance

Objective:The objective of this study was to clarify the incidence and risk factors for developing incisional surgical site infection (SSI) in both elective colon and rectal surgery. Summary Background Data:SSI is a frequent complication after elective colorectal resection. The National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system surveys all colorectal surgeries together, without differentiating the type of colorectal surgery performed. However, rectal surgery may have a higher risk for SSI, and identifying risk factors that are more specific to each procedure would be more predictive. Methods:We conducted prospective SSI surveillance of all elective colorectal resections performed by a single surgeon in a single institution from November 2000 to July 2004. The data for colon and rectal surgeries were collected separately. The outcome of interest was incisional SSI. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the predictive significance of variables in each type of surgery. Results:A total of 556 colorectal resections, consisting of 339 colon and 217 rectal surgeries, were admitted to the program. The incisional SSI rates in colon and rectal surgeries were 9.4% and 18.0%, respectively (P = 0.0033). Risk factors for developing incisional SSI in colon surgery were ostomy closure (OR = 7.3) and lack of oral antibiotics (OR = 3.3), while in rectal surgery, risk factors were preoperative steroids (OR = 3.7), preoperative radiation (OR = 2.8), and ostomy creation (OR = 4.9). Conclusions:Colon and rectal surgeries differ with regard to incidence and risk factors for developing incisional SSI. SSI surveillance for such surgeries should be performed separately, as this should lead to more efficient identification of risk factors and a reduction in SSI.
Retracted: Cannabinoid CB2 receptors modulate ERK‐1/2 kinase signalling and NO release in microglial cells stimulated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cannabinoid (CB) receptor agonists have potential utility as anti‐inflammatory drugs in chronic immune inflammatory diseases. In the present study, we characterized the signal transduction pathways affected by CB2 receptors in quiescent and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐stimulated murine microglia.
Musician's dystonia

Cells that fire together, wire together. —Donald O. Hebb Dystonia is an intriguing condition that is clinically and genetically heterogeneous, characterized by sustained, involuntary muscle contractions resulting in abnormal movements, irregular tremor, and twisting postures.1 Focal dystonia, the most common form, is often task-specific and thus termed focal task-specific dystonia (FTSD). Specific learned motor tasks (such as writing or playing a musical instrument) trigger muscle spasms and interfere with performance while other actions are unaffected. Musicians are especially prone to FTSD due to their intense training and years of performing complex repetitive movements. FTSD has a frequency of 1:3,400 in the general population but 1:200 among musicians2,3 and may be even higher, as musicians are often reluctant to seek help. Great pianists such as Robert Schumann in the 19th century and Leon Fleisher and Gary Graffman today have had FTSD and had to radically alter their performing careers. FTSD is often unrecognized, so musicians may learn of the disorder after years of symptoms. Fleisher, in an interview, said he aims to promote awareness of musician's dystonia and to reduce the fear that admitting to FTSD will shorten one's popularity or career. FTSD may be caused by an exaggeration of normal mechanisms of brain plasticity. The postulated basis of task-driven changes in dystonia relates to the dynamic synapse concept of Hebb in which neuronal connectivity is modulated by activation. Plastic reorganization of the cortex has been demonstrated by augmentation of the finger projection areas after repetitive tasks, or with practice.4 While this may improve performance, it …
Regularity of spectral residual for reduced reference image quality assessment

Inspired by the facts that visual saliency captures more attention and spectral residual (SR) can indicate the saliency of the image, a novel reduced-reference image quality assessment metric is proposed based on the regularity of the SR. The orientation and frequency components of an image are first extracted in wavelet domain. Then SR is obtained to represent the saliency of the component. Next fractal dimension is adopted to encode SR and concatenated as the image features. Finally, the feature differences between reference image and distorted one are pooled as the quality score. The proposed metric is evaluated on four largest image databases (TID2013, TID2008, CSIQ, and LIVE databases), and experimental results confirm that the proposed metric has a good performance.
HIV infection and bone mineral density in middle-aged women.

BACKGROUND Osteopenia is prevalent in persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and is part of a normal sequence of aging in women. Most studies of bone mineral density (BMD) and HIV infection have focused on men or have lacked a comparison group of individuals without HIV infection with similar behavioral risk factors. METHODS We analyzed BMD in 495 middle-aged women (defined as women > or =40 years of age); 263 women had HIV infection, and 232 women were HIV-negative with behavioral risk factors similar to those of the HIV-positive group. RESULTS The median age of the women in the study was 44 years, 54% were black, and 92% had used illicit drugs. Femoral neck BMD and lumbar spine BMD were reduced in women with HIV infection, compared with women without HIV infection (femoral neck BMD, 1.01+/-0.13 g/cm2 vs. 1.05+/-0.13 g/cm2; P=.001; lumbar spine BMD, 1.21+/-0.17 g/cm2 vs. 1.24+/-0.17 g/cm2; P=.04). In addition to HIV infection, other factors independently associated with lower BMD in both sites were being older, not being black, and having a low body weight. In race-stratified multivariate analyses, HIV infection was associated with BMD only in non-black women. Among HIV-positive women, 84% had taken antiretrovirals, and 62% had taken protease inhibitors, but their use was not associated with BMD. Methadone treatment was also independently associated with reduced lumbar spine BMD. CONCLUSION Middle-aged women with HIV infection have reduced BMD, compared with women at similar risk for HIV infection, independent of antiretroviral use. Among HIV-positive women, those who are not black, who are underweight, and who use opiates may be at particular risk. Although the prevalence of reduced BMD in this cohort was higher among women with HIV infection than among those without (27% vs. 19%), the overall prevalence of reduced BMD was low, compared with national estimates and with previous studies involving HIV-positive women and men.
Comparing policies to enhance prescribing efficiency in Europe through increasing generic utilization: changes seen and global implications

Aim: the aim of this article was to evaluate the influence of different demand-side measures to enhance the prescribing of generics in ambulatory care based on cross-national comparisons. Methods: an observational retrospective study was conducted using administrative databases from across Europe, documenting changes in reimbursed utilization and expenditure of different proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and statins between 2001 and 2007, alongside different reforms to enhance prescribing efficiency. Utilization was converted to defined daily doses (DDDs) and expenditures were converted to euros. Demand-side measures were collated under the ‘4 Es’ – education, engineering, economics and enforcement – to enable comparisons on the nature and intensity of reforms between countries. Results: there were considerable differences in the utilization of generics and patent-protected PPIs and statins among Western European countries. Decreased utilization of omeprazole and simvastatin, alongside increased utilization of esomeprazole, atorvastatin and rosuvastatin, was seen in countries with limited demand-side measures to counteract commercial pressures. Prescribing restrictions, or a combination of education, prescribing targets and financial incentives, had the greatest influence on enhancing the utilization of omeprazole and simvastatin. For example, there was a threefold reduction in the utilization of atorvastatin in Austria following prescribing restrictions. Multiple demand-side interventions generally had a greater influence than single interventions, with the impact appearing additive. Multiple interventions coupled with initiatives to lower prices of generics considerably enhanced prescribing efficiency. Conclusion: this cross-national study has demonstrated considerable variation in the utilization and expenditure of PPIs and statins across Europe, providing opportunities to further improve prescribing efficiency. The ‘4 Es’ do provide an understandable methodology to document and compare the influence of different demand-side measures, with the influence varying by their extent and intensity. Further reforms are essential given current financial pressures. Consequently, further research will concentrate on the potential to develop a scoring system to help predict the possible impact of different demand-side measures on future utilization patterns.
Software Cost Attributes in Global Software Development Projects: A Survey

Global software development is nowadays becoming a priority for software industry. The actual global software engineering research has mainly focused on challenges and methodologies. Research on the cost attributes and the software development was fundamental to emphasize on the application of these attributes in the overall software development. A major research to explicit how global companies practicing global software development are undertaken to address those cost attributes. In this paper, a descriptive survey is conducted to define the position of cost attributes in global software development. This survey is a data collection from an empirical strategy through an online questionnaire targeting 30 practitioners with practical software engineering experience. Moreover, results of 26 questions, chosen with major care, are analyzed and discussed. The results show that interest in cost attributes for global software development projects is a critical topic for distributed software development. The control and the evaluation of cost attributes allow companies principally to save cost and also to remain focused on development of projects.
Women Working in the IT Industry: Challenges for the New Millennium

Despite increased female participation in the workforce, including some non traditional areas such as law and medicine, female participation in the Information Technology (IT) industry is de-clining. A longitudinal study (WinIT) commenced in 1995 has explored Australian student's and working women's perceptions and experiences, and the factors which have influenced them to enter and persist in the IT field. This paper reviews recent research and describes the latest results from the authors' study of professional women in the Australian IT industry, focusing on the contradictions in the way that women represent their experiences. These contradictions indicate that polarised views of gender in the IT workforce are being undermined, but also that IT personnel have difficulty reconciling their personal and work lives and coping with the rapid rate of change in the industry. The implications for human resources management in the volatile IT industry as well as some possible solutions to the problem are also discussed.
Currency internationalisation and exchange rate dynamics in emerging markets: a post Keynesian analysis of Brazil

In traditional mainstream exchange rate theory the exchange rate is considered a market equilibrating price which adjusts to permanent causal fundamentals to restore equilibrium in underlying product or asset markets. The incorporation of agents’ expectations and positions ultimately changed little of this view as, at least some, rational market participants align the exchange rate with its fundamental value given by mainstream exchange rate theory. Two interesting approaches, which have some parallels with the framework developed in this dissertation, are the microstructure approach to exchange rate determination and IKE.
The K‐derived MLT sector geomagnetic indices

New subauroral K‐derived sector indices are proposed. They are based on the K local geomagnetic activity indices from the planetary am network stations, and their derivation scheme draws directly from that of am indices. Four Magnetic Local Time (MLT) sectors are considered, leading to four different K‐derived MLT sector indices: the aσDawn (03–09 MLT), aσNoon (09–15 MLT), aσDusk (15–21 MLT), and aσMidnight (21–03 MLT) indices. They cover more than four solar cycles and, thus, allow robust statistical analysis. Statistical studies of the whole aσ data series and case studies for two geomagnetic storms are presented. These analyses clearly show that the four aσ have specific behaviors and that it is possible to get insight into both the statistical properties of the physical processes responsible for the observed geomagnetic activity and contribution to the dynamics of a given storm.
Regulation of CD18 expression on neutrophils in response to fluid shear stress

When leukocytes adhere to endothelial cells and are exposed to fluid shear stresses, they often retract pseudopods and reduce their attachment. Leukocytes use CD18 for membrane adhesion, but the kinetics of such integrin adhesion molecules under fluid shear is unknown. We examine on neutrophils with confocal microscopy of single adherent cells and flow cytometry of cell suspensions the CD18 expression under fluid shear after labeling with fluorescent antibodies. Fluid shear causes reduction of CD18-associated immunofluorescence of extracellular epitopes, especially in areas of the membrane exposed to elevated levels of shear (1.5 dyne/cm2 maximum shear stress; 1 dyne = 10 mN). CD18 was also translocated over the leukocyte surface from regions of higher shear to lower shear and into the membrane contact areas with the substrate. We obtained no evidence for cytoplasmic internalization of CD18. Fluid shear (5 dyne/cm2) in a suspension of human leukocytes resulted in cleavage of the extracellular domain but not against a cytoplasmic domain of CD18. Chelation of extracellular Ca2+ abolished the down-regulation of CD18. Cysteine protease inhibitors and a selective inhibitor for cathepsin B, but no blockade of other cysteine proteases such as cathepsin L and calpain, aminopeptidases, elastase, or metalloproteinases, suppressed shear-induced CD18 down-regulation. The evidence suggests that physiological levels of fluid shear cause release of cysteine protease(s) including cathepsin B, leading to cleavage of the extracellular domain of CD18 molecules and possible membrane detachment.
Bidding in Common Value Auctions: How the Commercial Construction Industry Corrects for the Winner's Curse

Experienced construction industry executives suffer from a winner's curse in laboratory common value auction markets (Dyer et al. [Dyer, D., J. H. Kagel, D. Levin. 1989. A comparison of naive and experienced bidders in common value offer auctions: Laboratory analysis. Econom. J. 99 108--115.]). This paper identifies essential differences between field environments and the economic theory underlying the laboratory markets that account for the executives' success in the field and a winner's curse in the lab. These are (1) industry-specific mechanisms which enable contractors to escape the winner's curse even when they bid too low, (2) learned, industry-specific evaluative processes which enable experienced contractors to avoid the winner's curse in the first place, and (3) important private value elements that underlie bidding. Also identified are a number of industry-specific bidding characteristics whose evolution can be explained using modern auction theory. Lessons are drawn regarding the use of experimental methods in economics.
ANMS‐ESNM position paper and consensus guidelines on biofeedback therapy for anorectal disorders

Anorectal disorders such as dyssynergic defecation, fecal incontinence, levator ani syndrome, and solitary rectal ulcer syndrome are common, and affect both the adult and pediatric populations. Although they are treated with several treatment approaches, over the last two decades, biofeedback therapy using visual and verbal feedback techniques has emerged as an useful option. Because it is safe, it is commonly recommended. However, the clinical efficacy of biofeedback therapy in adults and children is not clearly known, and there is a lack of critical appraisal of the techniques used and the outcomes of biofeedback therapy for these disorders.
Structural basis of substrate specificity in the serine proteases

Structure‐based mutational analysis of serine protease specificity has produced a large database of information useful in addressing biological function and in establishing a basis for targeted design efforts. Critical issues examined include the function of water molecules in providing strength and specificity of binding, the extent to which binding subsites are interdependent, and the roles of polypeptide chain flexibility and distal structural elements in contributing to specificity profiles. The studies also provide a foundation for exploring why specificity modification can be either straightforward or complex, depending on the particular system.
Performance Comparison of Kekre's Transform with PCA and Other Conventional Orthogonal Transforms for Face Recognition

In this paper we propose fast face recognition system based on the Kekre's Transform. This algorithm can be easily implemented and number of coefficients required for recognition reduces drastically compared to benchmark algorithm PCA. Thus computational burden decreases. We have compared the performance of this transform with conventional transforms like DCT, DST, Slant transform and WHT. The algorithm is tested for occlusion as well as different percentage of image energy levels. This transform needs minimum energy as compared to other transforms for reliable recognition. Here we have tested proposed scheme on standard ORL database and locally generated unconstrained database. ORL database gave the accurate results and local database gave accuracy of 80% which is higher than conventional transforms and PCA.