Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lycopene-rich treatments modify noneosinophilic airway inflammation in asthma: Proof of concept

Antioxidant-rich diets are associated with reduced asthma prevalence. However, direct evidence that altering intake of antioxidant-rich foods affects asthma is lacking. The objective was to investigate changes in asthma and airway inflammation resulting from a low antioxidant diet and subsequent use of lycopene-rich treatments. Asthmatic adults (n=32) consumed a low antioxidant diet for 10 days, then commenced a randomized, cross-over trial involving 3×7 day treatment arms (placebo, tomato extract (45 mg lycopene/day) and tomato juice (45 mg lycopene/day)). With consumption of a low antioxidant diet, plasma carotenoid concentrations decreased, Asthma Control Score worsened, %FEV1 and %FVC decreased and %sputum neutrophils increased. Treatment with both tomato juice and extract reduced airway neutrophil influx. Treatment with tomato extract also reduced sputum neutrophil elastase activity. In conclusion, dietary antioxidant consumption modifies clinical asthma outcomes. Changing dietary antioxidant intake may be contributing to rising asthma prevalence. Lycopene-rich supplements should be further investigated as a therapeutic intervention.
Effect of chemical dehairing on the prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and the levels of aerobic bacteria and enterobacteriaceae on carcasses in a commercial beef processing plant.

The objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that cleaning cattle hides by removing hair and extraneous matter before hide removal would result in improved microbiological quality of carcasses in commercial beef processing plants. To test this hypothesis, we examined the effect of chemical dehairing of cattle hides on the prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and the levels of aerobic bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae on carcasses. Samples from 240 control (conventionally processed) and 240 treated (chemically dehaired before hide removal) hides (immediately after stunning but before treatment) and preevisceration carcasses (immediately after hide removal) were obtained from four visits to a commercial beef processing plant. Total aerobic plate counts (APC) and Enterobacteriaceae counts (EBC) were not (P > 0.05) different between cattle designated for chemical dehairing (8.1 and 5.9 log CFU/100 cm2 for APC and EBC, respectively) and cattle designated for conventional processing (8.0 and 5.7 log CFU/100 cm2 for APC and EBC, respectively). However, E. coli O157:H7 hide prevalence was higher (P < 0.05) for the control group than for the treated group (67% versus 88%). In contrast to hides, the bacterial levels were lower (P < 0.05) on the treated (3.5 and 1.4 log CFU/100 cm2 for APC and EBC) than the control (5.5 and 3.2 log CFU/100 cm2 for APC and EBC) preevisceration carcasses. Prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 was lower (P > 0.05) on treated than on control preevisceration carcasses (1% versus 50%). These data indicate that chemical dehairing of cattle hides is an effective intervention to reduce the incidence of hide-to-carcass contamination with pathogens. The data also imply that any effective hide intervention process incorporated into beef processing procedures would significantly reduce carcass contamination by E. coli O157:H7.
Not Leverage but Change in Leverage Matters for Firms’ Future Growth: Evidence from Turkey's Top 1000

Abstract In the financial literature it is generally assumed that a firm's financial leverage is a good measure (proxy) of the firm's access to financing. In this study, it is argued that it is not the firm's debt (leverage), but the change in leverage that more accurately mirrors the firm's true likelihood to have access to external sources of financing. Applying a firm-type analysis and panel data techniques to data on the top 1000 private industrial companies of Turkey for the period 1997–2012, it is shown that it is the change in leverage ratio, not the level of leverage ratio itself that matters for the future firm growth, controlling for profitability, leverage and firm size.
Text Detection and Extraction from Images –A Comprehensive Survey

-Text extraction plays a very important role in today’s world by extracting valuable information from the images. The text present in images contains some useful information for automatic annotation, identification, indexing and retrieval. Extraction of this information involves detection, localization, tracking, binarization extraction and finally text recognition. However there might be variations in the text due to the differences in the orientation, size, style, alignment and also because of the low contrast images with a complex background. Due to the rapid growth in multimedia documents, many researchers have contributed on text extraction from images. Many methods were proposed for text extraction. This paper discusses various schemes proposed earlier for extracting text from images. This paper also discusses the performance metrics required to evaluate the performance of the system.
Poverty, Geography and Institutional Path Dependence

Using seven alternative measures of the institutions, this study examines the impacts of the quality of institutions on poverty rates in developing countries. The estimates obtained using the instrumental variable method (2SLS) show that the quality of institutions is negatively related with poverty rates and explain a significant portion of the variation in poverty rates across countries. More precisely, the empirical results suggest that an economy with a robust system to control corruption, market-friendly policies, a working judiciary system, and in which people have freedom to exercise their citizenship will create the necessary conditions to promote economic development and reduce poverty. The results suggest that pro-poor policies aimed at reducing poverty should first consider improving the quality of institutions in developing countries as a pre-requisite for economic development and poverty eradication.
Cross-layer dynamic route selection in wireless multiuser two-hop networks

In mobile Ad-hoc networks forwarding data through intermediate relays extends the coverage area and enhances the network throughput. Dynamic assignment of routes for data transmission from sources to destinations that is optimized based on channel conditions in a cross-layer manner could provide improved performance. We consider a general multiuser two-hop transmission, where each flow is subject to a constraint on the end-to-end buffering delay and its associated packet loss rate as a quality of service requirement. The objective is to maximize the weighted sum-rate between source destination pairs, while the QoS requirement is satisfied. We introduce two new cross-layer dynamic route selection schemes in this setting that are designed involving physical, MAC, and network layers. In cross-layer opportunistic dynamic route selection, the routes are assigned dynamically based on the instantaneous state of fading channels. In time division cross-layer dynamic route selection, the route for data transmission is scheduled based on the average quality of links. Simulation results show that our proposed cross-layer dynamic route selection schemes provide superior performance in comparison to prior art.
The logic of collective consuming: Consumers as sub contractors on electronic markets

In this article, contrary to popular belief, it is argued on the basis of transaction cost economics that consumers will become subcontractors on electronic markets. The effects of this tendency counter the benefits that might accrue to them as a result of product differentiation and price discrimination by firms, and is in actual fact an inescapable part of electronic markets, given the nature of the products and market mechanisms one should expect. Consumers invest time and effort building up a relation with an e-tailer; an investment that is idiosyncratic. The e-tailer only needs to invest in generic assets that enable him to automate the process of collecting and processing customer information needed in order to differentiate between products and discriminate between prices. The consumer becomes a dependent subcontractor.
sCLIP—an integrated platform to study RNA–protein interactomes in biomedical research: identification of CSTF2tau in alternative processing of small nuclear RNAs

Abstract RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are central for gene expression by controlling the RNA fate from birth to decay. Various disorders arising from perturbations of RNA–protein interactions document their critical function. However, deciphering their function is complex, limiting the general functional elucidation of this growing class of proteins and their contribution to (patho)physiology. Here, we present sCLIP, a simplified and robust platform for genome-wide interrogation of RNA–protein interactomes based on crosslinking-immunoprecipitation and high-throughput sequencing. sCLIP exploits linear amplification of the immunoprecipitated RNA improving the complexity of the sequencing-library despite significantly reducing the amount of input material and omitting several purification steps. Additionally, it permits a radiolabel-free visualization of immunoprecipitated RNA. In a proof of concept, we identify that CSTF2tau binds many previously not recognized RNAs including histone, snoRNA and snRNAs. CSTF2tau-binding is associated with internal oligoadenylation resulting in shortened snRNA isoforms subjected to rapid degradation. We provide evidence for a new mechanism whereby CSTF2tau controls the abundance of snRNAs resulting in alternative splicing of several RNAs including ANK2 with critical roles in tumorigenesis and cardiac function. Combined with a bioinformatic pipeline sCLIP thus uncovers new functions for established RBPs and fosters the illumination of RBP–protein interaction landscapes in health and disease.
Studies on a Series of Tryptophan-Independent Strains Derived from a Tryptophan-Requiring Mutant of Escherichia Coli.

The correlation of log phase generation time with colony size: The colony size differences observed in the experiments previously described might not reflect differences in growth rate but could be due to differences in the length of the lag phase. To examine whether colony size is correlated with log phase generation time, the log phase generation time of five spontaneous phenotypic revertants
Non-analgetic effects of thoracic epidural anaesthesia

Purpose of review This review presents a brief overview of the non-analgetic effects of thoracic epidural anaesthesia. It covers the cardiac, pulmonary and gastrointestinal effects of thoracic epidural anaesthesia. The results of newer studies are of particular importance regarding mortality and major morbidity after thoracic epidural anaesthesia. Recent findings The clinical effects of thoracic epidural anaesthesia are mainly attributed to a transient thoracic sympathetic block affecting different organs. Furthermore, local anaesthetic itself reabsorbed from the epidural space may contribute to the non-analgetic effects of thoracic epidural anaesthesia. Experimental studies have suggested that thoracic epidural anaesthesia may attenuate the perioperative stress response after major surgery. The possible beneficial mechanisms of action include an improvement of left ventricular function by direct anti-ischaemic effects, a reduction in cardiovascular complications, an advance on gastrointestinal function, and a reduction in pulmonary complications, as well as a positive impact on the coagulation system and the postoperative inflammatory response. However, it is questionable whether these effects of thoracic epidural anaesthesia may lead to an improved perioperative outcome after major surgery. Recent studies have suggested that, despite the superior quality of pain relief and better quality of life, thoracic epidural anaesthesia does not reduce mortality and major morbidity, especially after major abdominal and cardiac surgery. Summary Despite this controversy, the numerous positive effects and advantages of thoracic epidural anaesthesia are the reasons for its increasing popularity. However, the advantages of thoracic epidural anaesthesia must be incorporated into a multimodal treatment management aimed at improving outcomes after surgery. Abbreviations CABG: coronary artery bypass grafting; HPV: hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction; TEA: thoracic epidural anaesthesia.
The pressor response and laryngeal mask insertion

The pressor response associated with laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation may be harmful to certain patients. The laryngeal mask airway avoids the need for laryngoscopy and allows positive pressure ventilation of the lungs in appropriate patients. This study compared the pressor response of tracheal intubation with that of mask insertion in two groups of 24 and 23 healthy patients respectively. All patients were anaesthetised with thiopentone, nitrous oxide, enflurane and paralysed with atracurium. We have shown a similar, but attenuated patlern of response associated with mask insertion in comparison with laryngoscopy and intubation; signijicant differences between the groups were evident in arterial diastolic blood pressure immediately after insertion and again 2 minutes later. Use of the laryngeal mask may therefore offer some limited advantages over tracheal intubation in the anaesthetic management of patients where the avoidance of the pressor response is of particular concern.
Economic Behavior within Organizations

1. Introduction 2. Definitions and determinants of employees' discretion over an organization's resources and production 3. Employees' resource diversions and employers' imposition of resource responsibility 4. Short-run resource allocation under fixed budgets 5. Short-run resource allocation in response to demand: the cases of an employee, a private corporation, and a private nonprofit organization 6. Legislative demand and short-run price and output of the public organization 7. Employees' investment behaviour and implications for suborganization 8. Equilibrium behaviour of public and private organizations in the first long run 9. The demand and supply of nonmarket resource allocation 10. A brief summary and proposed directions for further work.
Impact of top management power on corporate divestiture

This longitudinal study looked at the impact of top managers’ personal power and structural power on divestiture two years later, using a sample of 46 sales and spin‐offs and a set of 46 control firms matched by size and industry in the USA. The impact of divestiture on top managers’ power during the two years following the divestiture was also looked at. Results of pair‐wise matched t‐tests reveal that firms whose top managers have less structural power are more likely to divest one year later. Logistic regression analysis shows that top managers’ structural power continues to predict divestiture one year later, even after controlling for change in net income and change in earnings per share. Divestiture also seems to result in less structural power of top managers during the two years after divestiture.
Modeling of Jitter in Bang-Bang CDR With Fourier Series Analysis

Bang-bang clock and data recovery (BBCDR) circuits are hard nonlinear systems due to the nonlinearity introduced by the binary phase detector (BPD). In this paper, jitter transfer and jitter tolerance of the second-order BBCDR are characterized by the Fourier series analysis and formulating the time domain waveforms. As a result, a new equation is presented to obtain corner frequency. Also, the jitter tolerance is expressed in a closed form as a function of loop parameters. The presented method is general enough to be used for designing the BBCDR. System level simulation is used to validate the analytical results with particular emphasis on jitter transfer and tolerance characteristics. The experiments all show excellent conformance between analytical equations and simulation results.
System model for performance evaluation VAMOS downlink transmission

The Voice services over Adaptive Multiuser channels on One Slot (VAMOS) feature has the potential to double voice capacity of the existing GSM mobile communication system while maintaining backward compatibility with the legacy system. The technical method of doubling voice channel capacity is based on Orthogonal Sub-Channel (OSC) approach that allows a single radio resource to support two independent voice users. Lot of research work is dedicated to signal generation and especially to new receiver concepts as well as power control in order to implement VAMOS transmissions. The aim of our work is to implement a model system able to evaluate performance parameters related to downlink transmission in VAMOS. The model implements generation of the VAMOS modulated signal with power control and receiving solutions based on a modified DFE (Decision Feedback Equalizer) structure that allows comparison of performances in VAMOS downlink transmission.
THE PUZZLING MUTUAL ORBIT OF THE BINARY TROJAN ASTEROID (624) HEKTOR

Asteroids with satellites are natural laboratories to constrain the formation and evolution of our solar system. The binary Trojan asteroid (624) Hektor is the only known Trojan asteroid to possess a small satellite. Based on W. M. Keck adaptive optics observations, we found a unique and stable orbital solution, which is uncommon in comparison to the orbits of other large multiple asteroid systems studied so far. From lightcurve observations recorded since 1957, we showed that because the large Req = 125 km primary may be made of two joint lobes, the moon could be ejecta of the low-velocity encounter, which formed the system. The inferred density of Hektor's system is comparable to the L5 Trojan doublet (617) Patroclus but due to their difference in physical properties and in reflectance spectra, both captured Trojan asteroids could have a different composition and origin.
Optimal growth in overlapping generations with a directly polluting sector and an indirect one

We study the optimal growth path and its decentralization in an overlapping generations model with two consumption goods and pollution effect. We consider two production sector i.e. one with a direct effect of pollution and the other with an indirect pollution effect by using energy. In the presence of externalities, decentralization of an optimal path needs some specific taxes in addition to lump-sum transfers. The introduction of a market for pollution permits, concerning only the polluting sector, neutralizes the external environmental effects. We show that there is a unique management of permits such that the equilibrium coincides with the optimal path: all permits should be auctioned i.e. no free permits to firms. This conclusion is in contradiction with the usual practice of grandfathering.
Routine Offering of HIV Testing to Hospitalized Pediatric Patients at University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia: Acceptability and Feasibility

Objectives:The difficulties diagnosing infants and children with HIV infection have been cited as barriers to increasing the number of children receiving antiretroviral therapy worldwide. Design:We implemented routine HIV antibody counseling and testing for pediatric patients hospitalized at the University Teaching Hospital, a national reference center, in Lusaka, Zambia. We also introduced HIV DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for early infant diagnosis. Methods:Caregivers/parents of children admitted to the hospital wards were routinely offered HIV counseling and testing for their children. HIV antibody positive (HIV+) children <18 months of age were tested with PCR for HIV DNA. Results:From January 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, among 15,670 children with unknown HIV status, 13,239 (84.5%) received counseling and 11,571 (87.4%) of those counseled were tested. Overall, 3373 (29.2%) of those tested were seropositive. Seropositivity was associated with younger age: 69.6% of those testing HIV antibody positive were <18 months of age. The proportion of counseled children who were tested increased each quarter from 76.0% in January to March 2006 to 88.2% in April to June 2007 (P < 0.001). From April 2006 to June 2007, 1276 PCR tests were done; 806 (63.2%) were positive. The rate of PCR positivity increased with age from 22% in children <6 weeks of age to 61% at 3-6 months and to 85% at 12-18 months (P < 0.001). Conclusions:Routine counseling and antibody testing of pediatric inpatients can identify large numbers of HIV-seropositive children in high prevalence settings. The high rate of HIV infection in hospitalized infants and young children also underscores the urgent need for early infant diagnostic capacity in high prevalence settings.
Infliximab maintenance treatment reduces hospitalizations, surgeries, and procedures in fistulizing Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Infliximab is effective in closing fistulas in patients with Crohn's disease. We examined the effect of infliximab maintenance treatment on hospitalizations, surgeries, and procedures in patients with fistulizing Crohn's disease enrolled in the ACCENT II study. METHODS After 5 mg/kg infliximab at weeks 0, 2, and 6, a total of 282 patients were separately randomized at week 14 as responders (at least a 50% reduction from baseline in the number of draining fistulas at both weeks 10 and 14) or nonresponders to receive placebo or 5 mg/kg infliximab maintenance every 8 weeks. At week 22 and later, patients who lost response could be treated with a maintenance dose 5 mg/kg higher. Data on Crohn's disease-related hospitalizations, surgeries, and procedures were compared between the treatment groups for responders and all randomized patients. RESULTS A total of 282 patients were randomized at week 14, of whom 195 were randomized as responders. Among patients randomized as responders, those who received infliximab maintenance had significantly fewer mean hospitalization days (0.5 vs. 2.5 days; P < .05), mean numbers (per 100 patients) of hospitalizations (11 vs. 31; P < .05), all surgeries and procedures (65 vs. 126; P < .05), inpatient surgeries and procedures (7 vs. 41; P < .01), and major surgeries (2 vs. 11; P < .05), compared with those who received placebo maintenance. CONCLUSIONS In patients with fistulizing Crohn's disease, infliximab 5 mg/kg every 8 weeks significantly reduced hospitalizations, surgeries, and procedures compared with placebo.
Identification of Genes Encoding Adenylate Isopentenyltransferase, a Cytokinin Biosynthesis Enzyme, inArabidopsis thaliana *

The initial step in the de novobiosynthesis of cytokinin in higher plants is the formation of isopentenyladenosine 5′-monophosphate (iPMP) from AMP and dimethylallylpyrophosphate (DMAPP), which is catalyzed by adenylate isopentenyltransferase (IPT). Although cytokinin is an essential hormone for growth and development, the nature of the enzyme for its biosynthesis in higher plants has not been identified. Herein, we describe the molecular cloning and biochemical identification of IPTs from Arabidopsis thaliana. Eight cDNAs encoding putative IPT, designated as AtIPT1 to AtIPT8, were picked up from A. thaliana. The Escherichia coli transformants expressing the recombinant proteins excreted cytokinin species into the culture medium except for that expressing AtIPT2 that is a putative tRNA IPT. A purified recombinant AtIPT1 catalyzed the formation of iPMP from DMAPP and AMP. These results indicate that the small multigene family contains both types of isopentenyltransferase, which could synthesize cytokinin and mature tRNA.