Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact Of Ambulance Diversion: Black Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction Had Higher Mortality Than Whites.

This study investigated whether emergency department crowding affects blacks more than their white counterparts and the mechanisms behind which this might occur. Using a nonpublic database of patients in California with acute myocardial infarction between 2001 and 2011 and hospital-level data on ambulance diversion, we found that hospitals treating a high share of black patients with acute myocardial infarction were more likely to experience diversion and that black patients fared worse compared to white patients experiencing the same level of emergency department crowding as measured by ambulance diversion. The ninety-day and one-year mortality rates among blacks exposed to high diversion levels were 2.88 and 3.09 percentage points higher, respectively, relative to whites, representing a relative increase of 19 percent and 14 percent for ninety-day and one-year death, respectively. Interventions that decrease the need for diversion in hospitals serving a high volume of blacks could reduce these disparities.
Prolonged Cell Cycle Transit Is a Defining and Developmentally Conserved Hemopoietic Stem Cell Property1

Adult mouse hemopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are typically quiescent and enter and progress through the cell cycle rarely in steady-state bone marrow, but their rate of proliferation can be dramatically enhanced on demand. We have studied the cell cycle kinetics of HSCs in the developing fetal liver at a stage when they expand extensively. Despite that 100% of fetal liver HSCs divide within a 48-h period, their average cell cycle transit time (10.6 h) is twice that of their downstream progenitors, translating into a prolonged G1 transit and a period of relative quiescence (G0). In agreement with their prolonged G1 transit when compared with hemopoietic progenitors, competitive transplantation experiments demonstrate that fetal HSCs are highly enriched in G1 but also functional in S-G2-M. This observation combined with experimental data demonstrating that adult HSCs forced to expand ex vivo also sustain a uniquely prolonged cell cycle and G1 transit, demonstrate at least in part why purified HSCs at any state of development or condition are highly enriched in the G0-G1 phases of the cell cycle. We propose that a uniquely prolonged cell cycle transit is a defining stem cell property, likely to be critical for their maintenance and self-renewal throughout development.
Aldosterone increases the apical Na+ permeability of toad bladder by two different mechanisms.

The aldosterone-induced augmentation of Na+ transport in toad bladder was analyzed by comparing the hormonal actions on the transepithelial short-circuit current and on the amiloride-sensitive 22Na+ uptake in isolated membrane vesicles. Incubating bladders with 0.5 microM aldosterone for 3 hr evoked more than a 2-fold increase of the short-circuit current (because of the activation or insertion of apical amiloride-blockable channels) but had no effect on the amiloride-sensitive Na+ transport in apical vesicles derived from the treated tissue. A longer incubation (e.g., 6 hr) produced an additional augmentation of the short-circuit current, which was accompanied by about a 3-fold increase of the channel activity in isolated membranes. The stimulatory effect of aldosterone sustained in vesicles was inhibited by the antagonist spironolactone (present at 1000-fold excess) and the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide (1 microM). In addition, triiodothyronine and butyrate, previously reported to partly inhibit the aldosterone-induced increase in short-circuit current, blocked the hormonal effect in vesicles. It is suggested that aldosterone elevates the apical Na+ permeability of target epithelia by two different mechanisms: a relatively fast effect (less than or equal to 3 hr), which is insensitive to triiodothyronine or butyrate and is not sustained by the isolated membrane, and a slower or later (greater than 3 hr) response blocked by these reagents, which is preserved by the isolated membrane. The data also indicate that these processes are mediated by different nuclear receptors.
Chronic Ventromedial Hypothalamic Infusion of Norepinephrine and Serotonin Promotes Insulin Resistance and Glucose Intolerance

The ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) is involved in the regulation of peripheral metabolism. We and others have shown that activities, or extracellular metabolites of norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT) are elevated in the VMH of both genetically and seasonally insulin-resistant and glucose-intolerant animals. This study examined whether chronic increases in VMH NE and 5-HT concentration of normal animals might lead to insulin-resistant and glucose-intolerant conditions in hamsters. Euinsulinemic, glucose-tolerant hamsters were infused continuously for 5 weeks into the right VMH with either vehicle, NE (5 or 25 nmol/h), 5-HT (2.5 nmol/h), or NE (5 or 25 nmol/h) plus 5-HT (2.5 nmol/h) through osmotic minipumps. Compared to vehicle, NE (25 nmol/h) significantly increased the glucose total area under the curve (TAUC) by 32% during glucose tolerance tests (GTT) conducted after 5 weeks’ infusion. 5-HT alone significantly increased the GTT insulin TAUC (131%) and basal plasma insulin level (116%) but not glucose TAUC. NE (5 nmol/h) plus 5-HT infusion significantly increased insulin TAUC (129%) and basal plasma insulin (120%), whereas NE (25 nmol/h) plus 5-HT infusion significantly increased both the GTT glucose and insulin TAUC (43 and 113%, respectively), as well as basal plasma insulin level (158%), relative to vehicle infusion. Our findings demonstrate for the first time the differential and, more importantly, interactive effects of increased VMH NE and 5-HT in producing hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance and glucose intolerance.
Bayesian spectrum analysis for laser vibrometry processing

Laser vibration sensing provides a sensitive non-contact means of measuring vibrations of objects. These measurements are used in industrial quality control and wear monitoring as well as the analysis of the vibrational characteristics of objects. In laser vibrometry, the surface motion is monitored by heterodyne laser Doppler velocimetry, and the received heterodyne signal is sampled to produce a time-series which is processed to obtain a vibrational spectrum of the object under test. Laser vibrometry data has been processed with a traditional FM discriminator approach and by spectrogram and time-frequency distribution processing techniques. The latter techniques have demonstrated improved performance over the FM discriminator method, but do not take full advantage of the prior knowledge one has about the signal of interest. We consider here a statistical signal processing approach to laser vibrometry data. In this approach the quantities of interest are the frequencies of vibration, while the phase and quadrature amplitudes are considered nuisance parameters. Because of the optimal use of prior knowledge about the laser vibrometry signal, the frequencies can be determined with much greater precision and greater noise immunity than using Fourier- or time-frequency-based approaches. Furthermore, the statistical approach is known to have superior performance when the data extends over a small number of vibrational periods. We illustrate the method with data from a fiber-optic laser Doppler velocimeter. Our results show that while the choice of processing method for determining the instantaneous velocity is relatively unimportant, the Bayesian method exhibits superior performance in determining the vibrational frequency.
Managing the Effects of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Wastewater-Impacted Streams

A revolution in analytical instrumentation circa 1920 greatly improved the ability to charac‐ terize chemical substances [1]. This analytical foundation resulted in an unprecedented ex‐ plosion in the design and production of synthetic chemicals during and post-World War II. What is now often referred to as the 2nd Chemical Revolution has provided substantial soci‐ etal benefits; with modern chemical design and manufacturing supporting dramatic advan‐ ces in medicine, increased food production, and expanding gross domestic products at the national and global scales as well as improved health, longevity, and lifestyle convenience at the individual scale [1, 2]. Presently, the chemical industry is the largest manufacturing sec‐ tor in the United States (U.S.) and the second largest in Europe and Japan, representing ap‐ proximately 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in each of these countries [2]. At the turn of the 21st century, the chemical industry was estimated to be worth more than $1.6 tril‐ lion and to employ over 10 million people, globally [2].
Regulation of chromatin structure during thymic T cell development

Development is the process whereby a multipotent cell gives rise, through series of divisions, to progeny with successively restricted potentials. During T cell development, the process begins with a multipotent hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) in the bone marrow, moves to the thymus where early T cells or thymocytes pass through signal‐initiated developmental checkpoints, and ends in the periphery where mature T cells reside. At each step along this developmental pathway, T lymphocyte progenitors must be able to turn genes on and off, creating a specialized program of gene expression, to allow further development. How is gene expression coordinated? This review will summarize what has been learned about the function of chromatin structure in generating a “blueprint” of gene expression during T cell development. This will include discussion of mechanisms of chromatin remodeling, histone modification, and heritable gene silencing. In many cases, these processes are carried out by multi‐protein complexes whose components are largely ubiquitously expressed. The spatial and temporal specificity of these complexes is contributed by sequence specific DNA binding factors, some of which are cell type restricted in their expression. This review will summarize research underway to identify these key genetic “targeters. ” Taken together, the research reviewed here provides a glimpse into the importance of regulation of chromatin structure in T cell development and the “players” involved. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Influence of particle size on the pathology and efficacy of vaccination in a murine model of inhalational anthrax.

Deposition of Bacillus anthracis endospores within either the lungs or nasal passages of A/J mice after aerosol exposure was influenced by different particle sized aerosols and resulted in different infection kinetics. The infection resulting from the inhalation of endospores within a 12 μm particle aerosol was prolonged compared to that from a 1 μm particle aerosol with a mean time-to-death of 161 ± 16.1 h and 101.6 ± 10.4 h, respectively. Inhalation of endospores within 1 μm or 12 μm particle aerosols resulted in a median lethal dose of 2432 and 7656 c.f. u. , respectively. Initial involvement of the upper respiratory tract lymph nodes was observed in 75-83% of mice exposed to either the 1 μm or 12 μm particle inhalational infections. Lung deposition was significantly greater after inhalation of the 1 μm particle aerosol with pronounced involvement of the mediastinal lymph node. Gastrointestinal involvement was observed only in mice exposed to 12 μm particle aerosols where bacteriological and histopathological analysis indicated primary gastritis (17%), activation of the Peyer's patches (72%) and colonization and necrosis of the mesenteric lymph nodes (67%). Terminal disease was characterized by bacteraemia in both inhalational infections with preferential dissemination to spleen, liver, kidneys and thymus. Immunization with 1 μg recombinant protective antigen vaccine was equally efficacious against B. anthracis infections arising from the inhalation of 1 and 12 μm particle aerosols, providing 73-80% survival under a suboptimum immunization schedule.
Power Aware and Delay Efficient Hybrid CMOS Full-Adder for Ultra Deep Submicron Technology

Low-power circuits are becoming more attractive due to growing of portable device markets. The 1-bit full adder cell is the key building block for any ASIC design. Designing of such low power full-adder circuits is always a challenging concern for any design research. In this paper, we present a new full-adder cell which is designed with multiple pass transistor logic styles, in which some of them use no power/ground rail approach that helps to reduce power. The proposed full-adder was compared with existing low power full adder cells. All these full-adder cells are designed using Generic Process Design Kit (GPDK) 45 nm technology and they are designed in Cadence virtuoso environment and simulated with Cadence spectre simulator. Pre-layout test bench Simulation results shown that proposed full-adder has the advantage of 60% power savings, 32% Speed Improvements and 72% energy improvements.
Tourist segments' justifications for behaving in an environmentally unsustainable way

ABSTRACT Misalignment of pro-environmental beliefs and environmentally unsustainable vacation behaviour can cause psychological tension to tourists. They manage this tension by finding justifications for their behaviour, rather than changing their behaviour. A recent study has systematized such justification; this systematics is used in the present study to investigate the existence of tourist segment sharing justification patterns. A finite mixture model with concomitant variables is used to analyse 2785 survey responses. Three segments are identified. The government blamers express strong interest in the environmental sustainability of their vacation, but deny both their responsibility and ability to make a difference. The struggling seekers would not book their dream vacation if it was environmentally unfriendly, yet do not feel in control of reducing negative environmental impacts of their holiday, which they fully acknowledge. The impact neglecters also state they would not book their dream vacation if it was environmentally unfriendly, but their main justification for taking – potentially environmentally harmful – vacations is denial of the negative environmental consequences of tourism. The existence of these differences in justification patterns indicates different approaches could counteract each of these segment-specific beliefs by inducing cognitive dissonance, shown in other contexts to induce behavioural change. Advice on approaches is given.
Goal-Based Wealth Management in Practice

Though goals-based wealth management is certainly not a radically new discipline, it has recently assumed a more important role within the private wealth management industry. Two discrete factors probably stand behind this development: a change in client perceptions of risk after the 2008 market melt-down and the publication of the seminal piece by Das, Markowitz, Scheid, and Statman. This article starts with a review of the key issues which families typically face when dealing with wealth planning, then discusses a framework which allows advisors to consider financial, estate, and investment-planning needs, shows the practical considerations associated with the process and concludes with a brief discussion of the major business challenges that still need to be addressed.
Service-Learning in Asia

Although SL is primarily a western learning concept, it is widely used as a pedagogy among education and community sectors in Asia, especially after the academic conference on ‘Service-Learning in Asia: Creating networks and curriculum in higher education’ held in 2002 at the International Christian University (ICU) in Japan as this became an interconnection with other Asian HEIs (Xing & Ma, 2010). In 2004, ICU set up the Service-Learning Asia Network (SLAN) with support from the Japanese Government and the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia (Ma, Chan, Chen and Fong, 2018). In 2004, LU received one million dollars (HKD) funding support from Kwan Fong Charitable Organization to start a Service-Learning and Research Scheme (SLRS) and then in 2006, received another ten million dollars (HKD) to set up the first Office of Service-Learning (OSL) in Hong Kong. With the aim of constructing a model for academy-student-community partnership, LU has made an attempt to truly put the inspirational slogan “Serving to Learn and Learning to Serve” into practice. With commitment from a dedicated SL team and support from local and regional partners, LU started taking the lead of SL development in both Hong Kong and Asia. LU even organized the first Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning (APRCSL) in 2007 and served as the secretariat for SLAN after the revitalization.
Massive Blood Loss and Transfusion in Obstetrics and Gynecology

Massive perioperative or periparturitional bleeding occasionally occurs in obstetric and gynecologic patients. Placenta previa, uterine atony, and ectopic pregnancy are just a few examples of many conditions that could predispose patients to significant blood loss. Therefore, it is important for physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology to be proficient in managing episodes of massive hemorrhage and the practice of the most commonly used blood components. We review and update the management of massive hemorrhage for obstetrics and gynecologic patients. In addition, we explore blood component therapy, its risks and benefits. Target Audience: Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Family Physicians Learning Objectives: After completion of this article, the reader should be able to explain the necessity of being proficient in managing episodes of massive hemorrhage, list the indications for use of various blood components, and summarize the risks and benefits of blood component therapy.
Hydro-MRI of the small bowel: effect of contrast volume, timing of contrast administration, and data acquisition on bowel distention.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess oral contrast agents, volumes of the agents, and time points of data acquisition in regard to small-bowel distention and patient acceptance. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Six healthy volunteers underwent imaging on 16 different days. Four volumes (450, 900, 1,350, and 1,800 mL) of each of the four contrast compounds (0.2% locust bean gum plus 2.5% mannitol, VoLumen containing 2.0% sorbitol, VoLumen containing 1.4% sorbitol, and tap water) were used. Two-dimensional true fast imaging with steady-state free precession data sets were acquired at 5-minute intervals after contrast ingestion. Distention values for small-bowel segments (duodenum, proximal and distal jejunum, ileum) and occurrence of side effects were documented. RESULTS Analysis of bowel distention revealed significantly greater distention for all carbohydrate sugar alcohol-containing solutions compared with water but no significant difference among the three contrast agents. Sufficient duodenal distention was achieved with 900 mL of any of the contrast agents, but imaging had to be performed soon after ingestion. For MRI of the distal jejunum and ileum, a volume of 1,350 mL is preferable, and the time point of data acquisition plays a minor role. Ingestion of 1,800 mL of the carbohydrate sugar alcohol solutions led to a significantly higher rate of side effects such as abdominal cramps than did ingestion of smaller volumes. CONCLUSION The data indicate that sufficient contrast consumption and optimal timing of data acquisition are essential to distention of the small bowel. Oral contrast agent protocols should be adapted to the bowel region in question.
The multigenerational effects of water contamination and endocrine disrupting chemicals on the fitness of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract Water pollution due to human activities produces sedimentation, excessive nutrients, and toxic chemicals, and this, in turn, has an effect on the normal endocrine functioning of living beings. Overall, water pollution may affect some components of the fitness of organisms (e.g., developmental time and fertility). Some toxic compounds found in polluted waters are known as endocrine disruptors (ED), and among these are nonhalogenated phenolic chemicals such as bisphenol A and nonylphenol. To evaluate the effect of nonhalogenated phenolic chemicals on the endocrine system, we subjected two generations (F0 and F1) of Drosophila melanogaster to different concentrations of ED. Specifically, treatments involved wastewater, which had the highest level of ED (bisphenol A and nonylphenol) and treated wastewater from a constructed Heliconia psittacorum wetland with horizontal subsurface water flow (He); the treated wastewater was the treatment with the lowest level of ED. We evaluated the development time from egg to pupa and from pupa to adult as well as fertility. The results show that for individuals exposed to treated wastewater, the developmental time from egg to pupae was shorter in individuals of the F1 generation than in the F0 generation. Additionally, the time from pupae to adult was longer for flies growing in the H. psittacorum treated wastewater. Furthermore, fertility was lower in the F1 generation than in the F0 generation. Although different concentrations of bisphenol A and nonylphenol had no significant effect on the components of fitness of D. melanogaster (developmental time and fertility), there was a trend across generations, likely as a result of selection imposed on the flies. It is possible that the flies developed different strategies to avoid the effects of the various environmental stressors.
Sorption of the herbicides diquat and difenzoquat from aqueous medium by polymeric resins in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate: Kinetic and mechanistic study

ABSTRACT The goal of this work was to propose a novel method for the solid-phase extraction of the herbicides diquat (DQT2+) and difenzoquat (DFQT+) from aqueous medium using polymeric Amberlite XAD-2 and XAD-4 resins in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS). The addition of SDS to the medium was of fundamental importance in order to allow the formation of a negatively charged surface able to sorb the cationic solutes. Several factors that could influence the sorption process, such as SDS concentration in the medium, sorbent mass, pH, ionic strength, and initial concentration of the solutes were investigated. Kinetic studies were also performed to model the system and to identify the mechanisms that operate the sorption process of the herbicides. SDS concentration in the medium presented remarkable influence on the extraction efficiency, achieving maximum values when the ratios [SDS]/[herbicide] were approximately 90, for XAD-2, and 22 and 11 for DQT2+ and DFQT+, respectively, for XAD-4. The sorption process followed a pseudo second-order kinetic in all cases studied. It was also found that an intraparticle diffusion process controlled exclusively the sorption of the herbicides by the Amberlite XAD-2 and XAD-4 resins in the first 15 min, becoming less active with time.
Responsible Leadership in Global Business: A Contingency Approach

The paper advances an understanding of responsible leadership as a political conception and offers an agenda for future research in this field. Our conceptualization of responsible leadership draws on deliberative practices and discursive conflict resolution, combining the macro-view of the business firm as a political actor with the micro-view of leadership. We discuss the concept in relation to existing leadership concepts (e.g. authentic, ethical, transformational, servant leadership). Further, we propose antecedents, outcomes and moderators that can affect or are affected by such an understanding of responsible leadership.