Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of Neutrophil Functions by Platelets and Platelet‐Derived Products: Description of Multiple Inhibitory Properties

The effect of platelets and their products on in vitro responses of human neutrophils to f‐met‐leu‐phe (fMLP) and phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) was studied. Platelets produced a concentration‐dependent inhibition of neutrophil superoxide anion (O2 ‐) generation with maximum inhibition of the response to fMLP approaching 42.2 ± 5.4% and that to PMA approaching 85.9 ± 3.4%. Supernates of thrombin‐activated platelets produced maximal inhibition of neutrophil O2 ‐ generation in response to fMLP (66.3 ± 4.2%) at a ratio of 10 platelet equivalents (PEQ) to 1 neutrophil but failed to affect the cells' response to PMA. In contrast, lysate of sonicated platelets Inhibited neutrophil O2 ‐ generation in response to both fMLP (59.6 ± 2.0%) and PMA (90.1 ± 1.3 %). Biochemical characterization of platelet lysate identified at least two stimulus‐specific inhibitory activities which differ in size, thermal stability and enzyme sensitivity. Platelet lysate also maximally inhibited neutrophil degranulation and chemotaxis at a ratio of 20 PEQ to 1 neutrophil. Our findings indicate that physiologically achievable levels of platelets or their products modulate the response of neutrophils in a stimulus‐specific manner and are thereby capable of potentially limiting tissue damage which accompanies neutrophil activation during inflammation.
A game theoretic framework for feature selection

Feature subset selection plays a key role in both dimensionality and noise reduction. Moreover, it is often used to enhance accuracy in classification and clustering problems while decreasing their complexity. Inspired by Markov Decision Process, the presented paper considers feature subset selection as a one player game and uses Reinforcement Learning paradigm to select best features. In order to have an optimal traverse in the search space, we introduce a Monte Carlo graph search to overcome the complexity of the problem of concern. Finally, a low cost evaluation function is used to evaluate each state. The evaluation function leads search process into the most promising regions by rewarding each state. The results on the benchmarks prove superiority of our method over other well known methods in the literatures.
Fiscal Deficits and Debt Dimensions of Pakistan

Pakistan continues to suffer from a syndrome of high fiscal deficits and severe incidence of debt. Its annual fiscal deficit has stayed constantly at over 6 percent of GDP especially since 1990 [Pakistan (1997-98)]. The prevalence of such a high fiscal deficit over the years in a row has propelled increased borrowing from both internal and external sources to cover the resource gap. With inadequate improvement in the repayment capacity of the country debt has continued to accumulate at a massive rate. Serving as the cause and effect of each other, the volumes of both the fiscal deficit and debt have soared continuously. The most devastating consequence of high fiscal deficit and soaring debt has been the continuous accrual of massive debt-servicing. In fact, both the debt and debt-servicing have reached unaffordable limits. How to alleviate this situation has become the foremost issue of the country. While complete elimination of all the debt and thereby debt-servicing may not be easy to accomplish in the short run, efforts are needed to systematically bring the fiscal deficit down to a minimum affordable limit. What may be the minimum financeable level of fiscal deficit and how it may be reduced to that level are the issues addressed in this paper.
Using technology to advance type 1 diabetes care among women during the reproductive years and in pregnancy

ABSTRACT The prevalence of diabetes is increasing globally. Technology to improve care among individuals with diabetes is constantly being developed. Women living with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) have unique challenges affecting their glucose control relating to menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and menopause. The purpose of this review is to examine the literature related to the use of technology to help women with T1DM manage their diabetes during the reproductive years, pregnancy, and beyond. Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) therapy can provider equivalent or better glucose control when compared with multiple daily injections (MDI), with less hypoglycemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, and weight gain. The CSII therapy has features that could help improve glucose control over the menstrual cycle, menopause, and pregnancy, although the most studied of these stages is pregnancy. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) can be combined with any insulin delivery system (MDI or CSII) to provide data on glucose values every few minutes and show glucose trends over time. CGM introduction can highlight glucose variability for women with T1DM, may be beneficial during pregnancy, and can reduce hypoglycemia. Sensor-augmented pump therapy and hybrid artificial pancreas (closed-loop) systems are promising tools that improve outcomes among individuals with diabetes. The use of modern technology to improve glucose and metabolic control among menopausal women with diabetes has not been well studied. Internet and phone-based technologies are emerging as important tools that may help with diabetes self-care for women living with diabetes.
Attitudes and Behavioural Change in Household Waste Management Behaviours

This paper reviews antecedent factors to household waste management recycling and composting behaviours, showing that negative perceptions about those activities or barriers to performing those activities are common discriminants of behaviour in those activities. Emphasis is then placed on how such perceptions can differ between those who have recently taken up the activities and those who have not, and between those formerly participating but who have now dropped out and those still continuing to participate. A case study is presented focusing on home composting. Results show that there may be two distinct classes of antecedent attitudes: convenience factors such as time and effort, which may play little part in initiation but can reinforce persistence; and attitudes of predisposition such as perceptions of vermin and fly problems, waste requirements and aesthetics, which can inhibit initiation. The study also shows how initial experience quickly sets attitudes that are stably maintained into the longer term, unless subsequent specific adverse experiences are encountered, when attitudes may weaken and drop-out might occur. The implications for waste management planning are discussed.
CW-laser-pumped telecom-band polarization-entangled photon-pair source with a fidelity of 97.8%

Quantum entanglement is one of the most important resources for quantum communication, information and computing. Since active polarization stabilization methods could alleviate the polarization-drift problem over optical fibre [1,2], telecom-band polarization-entangled photon-pairs can be well distributed and shared. Spontaneous four-wave mixing in a dispersion-shifted fibre (DSF) can be used to realize a source of telecom-band polarization-entangled photon pairs, but DSF is often cooled to suppress noise photons generated by spontaneous Raman-scattering [3,4]. Second-order nonlinear crystals or waveguides such as periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguides are also available and generation has been reported on the conditions of careful selection of two nearly identical nonlinear crystals or accurate temperature-control of waveguides [5,6].
Forecasting Corporate Bankruptcy: Optimizing the Performance of the Mixed Logit Model

In recent studies, Jones and Hensher (2004, 2005) provide an illustration of the usefulness of advanced probability modelling in the prediction of corporate bankruptcies, insolvencies and takeovers. Mixed logit (or random parameter logit) is the most general of these models and appears to have the greatest promise in terms of underlying behavioural realism, desirable econometric properties and overall predictive performance. It suggests a number of empirical considerations relevant to harnessing the maximum potential from this new model (as well as avoiding some of the more obvious pitfalls associated with its use). Using a three-state failure model, the unconditional triangular distribution for random parameters offers the best population-level predictive performance on a hold-out sample. Further, the optimal performance for a mixed logit model arises when a weighted exogenous sample maximum likelihood (WESML) technique is applied in model estimation. Finally, we suggest an approach for testing the stability of mixed logit models by re-estimating a selected model using varying numbers of Halton intelligent draws. Our results have broad application to users seeking to apply more accurate and reliable forecasting methodologies to explain and predict sources of firm financial distress better.
Identification of a Domain in the Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Determining Gq Coupling by the Use of Receptor Chimeras (*)

The angiotensin II type 1 (AT1R) and type 2 (AT2R) receptors belong to the seven transmembrane receptor superfamily. Previous studies have suggested that the AT1R couples to a Gq signaling pathway, whereas the AT2R does not associate with Gq. To identify the role that individual intracellular domains play in AT1R function, AT1R/AT2R chimeric receptors were prepared by substitution of intracellular loops. CHO cells expressing these chimeras were used to test angiotensin II-induced c-fos expression and Ca2+ mobilization which are involved in the AT1R signaling pathway through Gq coupling. Substitution of the second intracellular loop (IC2) and the cytoplasmic tail between the two receptors did not affect AT1R function. However, exchange of the third intracellular loop (IC3) resulted in the loss of function in the AT1R and conferred to the AT2R the ability to constitutively activate the fos promoter. These findings suggest that the third intracellular loop of the AT1R is critical for Gq coupling. Substitution of discrete amino acid sequences of the third intracellular loop indicate that its N-terminal and C-terminal portions, especially the seven amino acids 219-225 in the N-terminal portion, are important for AT1R function, and that the intermediate portion of this loop is not required for Gq coupling.
Dual Commitment: Contract Workers in Australian Manufacturing Enterprises

A growing trend in employment practices is for firms to concentrate on their core functions and outsource peripheral activities. While an assessment of the economic benefits of outsourcing has been the subject of a number of research projects, little attempt has been made to evaluate the impact of such practices on employee commitment. This is the purpose of this paper. The central questions are can employees be committed to their employer and to their host enterprise, and what determines each form of commitment? The research is based on a survey of employees working for a major labour hire firm. The key finding of the research is that employees can have a dual commitment, although different factors influence commitment to the employer and to the host firm.
Public Value: Recovering the Ethical for Public Sector Managers

First put forward by Mark Moore in Creating Public Value (1995), public value continues to be the subject of conjecture and refutation across a range of academic disciplines. After presenting an account of the original theory, this article explores the contested meanings attributed to public value. We argue that while Moore's theory can be viewed, inter alia, as a post-New Public Management (NPM) paradigm, or as self-serving rhetoric for public managers, these perspectives neglect the strong ethical component of the theory. Further, we argue that an understanding of the relevance of Moore's ethical prescriptions for public managers is central to grasping his account of the relationship between politics and administration and for his project for a reinvigorated public sector.
The sorcerer's postdoc apprentice: uncertain funding and contingent highly skilled labour

Postdoctoral scholars may be economic complements or substitutes for faculty, doctoral research assistants and capital in the production of university life science research. Using data on 120 US universities, we present two cross-sectional (1993 and 2006) descriptive econometric models. Results suggest that postdocs serve primarily as complements to other labour inputs and capital. These relationships are potentially a source of concern to science policy makers because misperception and misallocation of complementary inputs is more costly than that of substitute inputs and may result in fragile and unstable systems. This instability is costly for individuals in the scientific workforce and poses a threat to the continued productivity and innovation of academic research.
Toward an international code of franchising

Purpose – This work proposes to test the C‐40 deontological code of collective orientation specifically for franchise associations. The literature review revealed a lack of studies about this type of codes.Design/methodology/approach – This code adopts a semi‐normative approach in trying to standardize what form a deontological code of a franchise association should take. The study has been developed from an international perspective, making easier its spread and generalization. Furthermore, a novel methodology in this area has been applied to test the code: “The Experton Theory”. Findings – As a consequence, from the review of ethical and deontological codes from franchise associations of 46 countries, some associations' statutes and the laws about franchising in some countries, 29 topics were identified. Additionally, 11 more have been added to these contents, making 40 items which conform with what should be integrated into whatever franchising deontological code.Research limitations/implications – The .
Identification of metastasis-associated microRNAs in serum from rectal cancer patients

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are promising prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers due to their high stability in blood. Here we investigate the expression of miRNAs and other noncoding (nc) RNAs in serum of rectal cancer patients. Serum from 96 rectal cancer patients was profiled using small RNA sequencing and expression of small RNAs was correlated with the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients. Multiple classes of RNAs were detected, including miRNAs and fragments of tRNAs, snoRNAs, long ncRNAs, and other classes of RNAs. Several miRNAs, miRNA variants (isomiRs) and other ncRNAs were differentially expressed between Stage IV and Stage I-III rectal cancer patients, including several members of the miR-320 family. Furthermore, we show that high expression of miR-320d as well as one tRNA fragment is associated with poor survival. We also show that several miRNAs and isomiRs are differentially expressed between patients receiving preoperative chemoradiotherapy and patients who did not receive any treatment before serum collection. In summary, our study shows that the expression of miRNAs and other small ncRNAs in serum may be used to predict distant metastasis and survival in rectal cancer.
What Explains Germany's Rebounding Export Market Share?

Germany's export market share increased since 2000, while most industrial countries experienced declines. This study explores four explanations and evaluates their empirical contributions: (i) improved cost competitiveness, (ii) ties to fast growing trading partners, (iii) increased demand for capital goods, and (iv) regionalized production of goods (e.g. offshoring). An export model is estimated covering the period 1993-2005. The dominant factors explaining the increase in market share are trade relationships with fast growing countries and regionalized production in the export sector. Improved cost competitiveness had a comparatively smaller impact. There is no conclusive evidence of increased demand for capital goods.
The Life Cycle of Catecholamine‐storing Vesicles a

The catecholamine-storing vesicles can be classified into two types. One is rep resented by the chromaffin granules of the adrenal medulla and by the large densecored vesicles of sympathetic nerve. The small dense-cored vesicles of these nerves constitute a second type. We will first discuss the adrenal chromaffin granules. These vesicles consist of a membrane and a soluble content destined for secretion (see refs. 1-3 for reviews). Two important functions of these membranes are (1) transport of the secretory products from the Golgi region to the plasma membrane where secretion by exocytosis takes place, and (2) accumulation of small molecules and involvement in the synthesis and modification of secretory products. Before we discuss the biogenesis and the life cycle of chromaffin granules, we will describe the molecular properties of their secretory products.
Role of protease‐activated and ADP receptor subtypes in thrombin generation on human platelets

Summary. The activated platelet surface serves as an integral part of the prothrombinase complex upon activation by potent platelet agonists such as thrombin and collagen. We determined the receptor specificity through which thrombin was enhancing collagen‐induced thrombin generation. Whereas SFLLRN or AYPGKF alone produced minimal thrombin generation or phosphatidylserine exposure through protease activated receptor (PAR) stimulation, they caused a leftward shift in the collagen‐induced thrombin generation dose–response curve. Although SFLLRN or AYPGKF potentiated collagen‐induced thrombin generation, neither of them potentiated to the same extent as thrombin. However, SFLLRN and AYPGKF together potentiated collagen‐induced thrombin generation to the same extent as thrombin. We conclude that thrombin mediates its procoagulant activity through activation of both PAR1 and PAR4 receptors. Similarly, neither PAR1 nor PAR4 stimulation alone mimicked the annexin V‐binding response caused by thrombin stimulation. The combination of PAR activating peptides caused minimal increases in annexin V binding, but caused significant thrombin generation, suggesting that events other than phosphatidylserine exposure may play a role in platelet prothrombinase complex formation. We also investigated the ability of ADP to potentiate agonist‐induced thrombin generation. Whereas P2Y1 antagonism did not affect collagen or thrombin‐induced thrombin generation, P2Y12 antagonism did decrease both collagen‐ and thrombin‐induced thrombin generation, suggesting that ADP potentiates thrombin generation primarily through the P2Y12 receptor. Collectively, these results suggest that stimulation of both the PAR1 and PAR4 receptors are necessary for thrombin‐induced procoagulant activity, and that the P2Y12 receptor, but not the P2Y1 receptor, is responsible for the potentiation of agonist‐induced platelet procoagulant activity.
Clinical progression and outcome of dysphagia following paediatric traumatic brain injury: a prospective study

Objectives: To provide a preliminary clinical profile of the resolution and outcomes of oral-motor impairment and swallowing function in a group of paediatric dysphagia patients post-traumatic brain injury (TBI). To document the level of cognitive impairment parallel to the return to oral intake, and to investigate the correlation between the resolution of impaired swallow function versus the resolution of oral-motor impairment and cognitive impairment. Participants: Thirteen children admitted to an acute care setting for TBI. Main outcome measures: A series of oral-motor (Verbal Motor Production Assessment for Children, Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment, Schedule for Oral Motor Assessment) and swallowing (Paramatta Hospital’s Assessment for Dysphagia) assessments, an outcome measure for swallowing (Royal Brisbane Hospital’s Outcome Measure for Swallowing), and a cognitive rating scale (Rancho Level of Cognitive Functioning Scale). Results: Across the patient group, oral-motor deficits resolved to normal status between 3 and 11 weeks post-referral (and at an average of 12 weeks post-injury) and swallowing function and resolution to normal diet status were achieved by 3–11 weeks post-referral (and at an average of 12 weeks post-injury). The resolution of dysphagia and the resolution of oral-motor impairment and cognitive impairment were all highly correlated. Conclusion: The provision of a preliminary profile of oral-motor functioning and dysphagia resolution, and data on the linear relationship between swallowing impairment and cognition, will provide baseline information on the course of rehabilitation of dysphagia in the paediatric population post-TBI. Such data will contribute to more informed service provision and rehabilitation planning for paediatric patients post-TBI.
Sexual orientation and labour supply

This is the first study of the effects of sexual orientation on labour supply. After discussing various reasons to expect that labour supply could differ by sexual orientation, the 2001 Current Population Survey is used to test for differences in both labour supply and labour market status (part-time, full-time, and not employed). It is found that gay men supply less labour than married and unmarried heterosexual men. With regard to women, it is found that lesbians supply more labour and are more likely to be employed full-time than either married or unmarried heterosexual women. Extensive controls are used and links to the discrimination literature are found.
Impact of renal transplantation on survival in end-stage renal disease patients with elevated body mass index.

BACKGROUND Cadaveric renal transplantation is associated with a survival advantage compared with dialysis patients remaining on the renal transplantation waiting list, but this advantage has not been confirmed in obese end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. METHODS Using data from the USRDS, we studied 7521 patients who presented with ESRD from 1 April 1995 to 29 June 1999 and later enrolled on the renal transplantation waiting list with body mass indices (BMI) >or=30 kg/m(2) at the time of presentation to ESRD, and followed until 6 November 2000. Recipients of preemptive renal transplantation or organs other than kidneys were excluded. Cox non-proportional hazards regression models were used to calculate adjusted, time-dependent hazard ratios (HR) for time to death in a given patient during the study period, controlling for renal transplantation, demographics and comorbidities (Form 2728). RESULTS The incidence of mortality was 3.3 episodes per 100 patient-years (PY) in cadaveric renal transplantation and 1.9/100 PY in living donor renal transplantation compared with 6.6 episodes/100 PY in all patients on the transplant waiting list. In comparison to maintenance dialysis, both recipients of solitary cadaveric kidneys (HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.47), and recipients of living donor kidneys (HR 0.23, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.34) had statistically significant improved survival. A benefit of cadaveric renal transplantation did not apply to patients with BMI >or=41 kg/m(2) (HR 0.47, 95% CI, 0.17 to 1.25, P = 0.13). CONCLUSIONS Obese patients on the renal transplant waiting list had a significantly lower risk of mortality after renal transplantation compared with those remaining on dialysis.