Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treatment with GM1 Ganglioside Restores Striatal Dopamine in the 1‐Methyl‐4‐Phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐Tetrahydropyridine‐Treated Mouse

Abstract: 1‐Methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), 30 mg/kg i.p. daily for 7 days, was administered to mice. This dosage regimen resulted in an ∼50% reduction of striatal dopamine (DA) level. Chronic administration of GM1 ganglioside (II3NeuAc‐GgOse Cer), beginning between 1 to 4 days after terminating MPTP dosing, resulted in partial restoration of the striatal DA level. From dose‐ and time‐response studies, it appeared that 30 mg/kg i.p. of GM1 administered daily for ∼23 days resulted in an ∼80% restoration of the DA level and complete restoration of the 3,4‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) content. This dosage of GM1 also restored the turnover rate of DA in the striatum to near normal. Discontinuing GM1 treatment resulted in a fall of DA and DOPAC levels to values found in mice treated with MPTP alone. There was no evidence for regeneration of nerve terminal amine reuptake in the GM1‐treated mice as evaluated by DA uptake into synaptosomes. Our biochemical findings in animals suggest that early GM1 ganglioside treatment of individuals with degenerative diseases of dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons might be fruitful.
Change Management in Universities: More a question of balance than a pathway

This paper focuses on assessing possible levers in the hands of a university’s top management team for inducing or managing change when faced with environmental drives. The topic is discussed after analysing change in a university over a 20-year period. The case study underlines the opportunities and difficulties of linking external environmental drives and change processes, highlighting the lack of a universal path and proposing elements that are worthy of attention. The paper underlines the need for top management teams in universities to pay particular attention to the systemic and balanced aspects of the factors determining change.
Immunohistochemical analysis of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, renal oncocytoma, and clear cell carcinoma: an optimal and practical panel for differential diagnosis.

CONTEXT The separation of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, oncocytoma, and clear cell renal cell carcinoma using light microscopy remains problematic in some cases. OBJECTIVE To determine a practical immunohistochemical panel for the differential diagnosis of chromophobe carcinoma. DESIGN Vimentin, glutathione S-transferase alpha (GST-alpha), CD10, CD117, cytokeratin (CK) 7, and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) were investigated in 22 cases of chromophobe carcinoma, 17 cases of oncocytoma, and 45 cases of clear cell carcinoma. RESULTS Vimentin and GST-alpha expression were exclusively observed in clear cell carcinoma. CD10 staining was more frequently detected in clear cell carcinoma (91%) than in chromophobe carcinoma (45%) and oncocytoma (29%). CD117 was strongly expressed in chromophobe carcinoma (82%) and oncocytoma (100%), whereas none of the cases of clear cell carcinomas were immunoreactive. Cytokeratin 7 was positive in 18 (86%) of 22 cases of chromophobe carcinoma, whereas all oncocytomas were negative for CK7. EpCAM protein was expressed in all 22 cases of chromophobe carcinoma in more than 90% of cells, whereas all EpCAM-positive oncocytomas (5/17; 29%) displayed positivity in single cells or small cell clusters. CONCLUSIONS Using the combination of 3 markers (vimentin, GST-alpha, and EpCAM), we achieved 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for the differential diagnosis of chromophobe carcinoma, oncocytoma, and clear cell carcinoma. The pattern of "vimentin(-)/GST-alpha(-)" effectively excluded clear cell carcinoma, and homogeneous EpCAM expression confirmed the diagnosis of chromophobe carcinoma rather than oncocytoma. CD117 and CK7 were also useful markers and could be used as second-line markers for the differential diagnosis, with high specificity (100%) and high sensitivity (90% and 86%, respectively).
Direct Evidence for Tumor Necrosis Factor-&agr; Signaling in Arteriogenesis

Background—Arteriogenesis serves as an efficient mechanism for flow restoration after arterial occlusion. This process is associated with inflammatory mediators such as tumor necrosis factor-&agr; (TNF-&agr;), although their role in arteriogenesis remains unclear. We hypothesized that arteriogenesis is reduced in mice lacking functional TNF-&agr; or p55 receptor. To test this hypothesis, we developed a novel microsphere-based murine model of hindlimb perfusion measurement. Methods and Results—Unilateral femoral arteries of nude (n=9), TNF-&agr;−/− (n=9), TNF-&agr; receptor p55−/− (n=8), and p75−/− (n=8) mice as well as their appropriate genetic background controls were occluded. The nude mice underwent laser Doppler hindlimb flux measurements preoperatively, postoperatively, and after 7 days. Seven days after ligation, all animals underwent tissue perfusion determinations using fluorescent microspheres. Laser Doppler findings confirmed acute decrease in flux with falsely normal values after 1 week. Microsphere results from control mice showed perfusion restoration to values ≈50% of normal within 7 days. TNF-&agr;−/− mice demonstrated a significant reduction (45.1%) in collateral artery perfusion compared with controls (TNF-&agr;−/− 22.4±5.1% versus B6x129 49.7±9.3%;P <0.01). p55−/− mice exhibited an almost identical 45.8% reduction in collateral artery formation (p55−/− 28.3±4.3% versus C57BL/6J 61.8±9.1%;P <0.01), whereas p75−/− mice were equivalent to controls (p75−/− 54.5±5.5%;P =0.13). Conclusions—Microsphere techniques in mice offer a tool for the molecular dissection of arteriogenesis mechanisms. These results suggest that TNF-&agr; positively modulates arteriogenesis probably via signaling through its p55 receptor.
Swiss public servants' perceptions of performance in a fast-changing environment

The notion of performance is central in all the modernization processes that have been conducted during the last 20 years, notably under the New Public Management (NPM) movement. Since the models and notions of performance analysed in research nearly always reflect the vision of top management, this article proposes to consider the vision of personnel at the street level, specifically Swiss civil servants. A highly capable public sector organization, focused on efficiency, quality services provided for the citizens and outcomes needs motivated employees to achieve these ambitious objectives. But how is `performance' perceived by civil servants without any management responsibilities? Using the typology of Boltanksi and Thévenot, the article highlights several reference worlds to which civil servants refer when speaking of performance, revealing the dominant influence of the industrial world over that of the civic world, with the domestic and commercial worlds placed third and fourth in importance, respectively. It details the evolution of performance as seen by civil servants, allowing us to better understand their reactions when faced with the transformations under way as well as the identity crisis caused by the contradictory worlds they currently face. Points for practitioners Under the NPM-banner, performance management has been introduced in almost every public sector organization. Performance must be clearly operationalized at all levels of the hierarchy, which is a difficult process because NPM has introduced new values that potentially conflict with traditional public sector values. This article highlights and analyses the way Swiss civil servants at the street level perceive performance, providing useful insight into their dominant value framework. Their perception of a `highly capable public sector' must be set against actual standards in order to achieve a shared vision of the main dimensions and criteria of performance, a prerequisite for effectiveness in every performance management system.
Critical leader behaviour in the emerging South African economy

Leadership is, without a doubt, one of the most valuable commodities in business. It is no secret that organisations depend greatly on leaders for their success, and that the effectiveness of the organisation is related to the effectiveness of its leaders. Organisations worldwide are continuously searching for the finest leaders to organise and lead their organisation to optimal performance. However, leadership is much more complex than initially meets the eye. A great many researchers have conducted decades of research on the topic and have not yielded irrefutable evidence on leadership. Although research has succeeded in defining different types of leadership and leader influencing, and power tactics, the characteristics, behaviour and situational factors of effective leadership are still under contention. The phenomenal complexity and elusive character of the leadership construct should be considered as a problem whose resolution would greatly enrich our knowledge. For social and organisational psychologists, understanding leadership, its behaviours and processes, forms a fundamental, if not chief element of group and organisational processes. These processes can arguably lead to group, and thus organisational effectiveness. In this study, leadership is explored from the basis of social learning theory and focused specifically on South Africa’s emerging economy. Bandura, the founder of social learning theory, advocates that people learn their behaviour by observing those who are superior and desirable to them, and then imitate their behaviour. According to this theory, leaders have a very direct effect on the behaviour of their subordinates, which enables them to mould employee behaviour by being a good role model. In addition, literature on leadership has corroborated that role modelling is one of the most effective influencers on employee behaviour. This study attempts to uncover which leadership behaviours is conducive to organisational effectiveness. This information can be useful to all other potential or current leaders in the South African economy, and the insights gained from the study can be used as a valuable framework from which they can lead their organisations through their own behaviour. The objective of this research project is thus to come to a deeper understanding of what the critical leadership behaviour in the emerging South African economy looks like. Through Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
GsmR, a response regulator with an HD‐related output domain in Xanthomonas campestris, is positively controlled by Clp and is involved in the expression of genes responsible for flagellum synthesis

In prokaryotes, two‐component signal transduction systems, consisting of a histidine kinase and a response regulator, play a critical role in regulating a range of cellular functions. A recent study suggests that XCC3315, a response regulator with a CheY‐like receiver domain attached to an uncharacterized HD‐related output domain (HDOD domain), plays a role in the general stress response of the Gram‐negative bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc), the causal agent of black rot in cruciferous plants. Here, we demonstrated genetically that XCC3315, designated as gsmR (general stress and motility regulator), is involved in the expression of genes responsible for flagellum synthesis, including rpoN2, flhF, flhB, and fliC. Site‐directed mutagenesis revealed that Glu9 and Arg100 in the receiver domain and Gly205, Asp263, His287, Trp298 and His311 in the HDOD are critical amino acids for GsmR function in cell motility regulation. The gsmR transcription initiation site was mapped. Promoter analysis and gel retardation assay revealed that the expression of gsmR is positively controlled by the global transcriptional regulator Clp in a direct manner, and is subject to catabolite repression. Our findings not only extend the previous work on Clp regulation to show that it influences the expression of gsmR in Xcc, but are also the first to characterize the expression of this response regulator gene in this phytopathogen. Furthermore, GsmR is the first HDOD‐containing protein of bacteria in which key amino acids have been experimentally identified and characterized.
Resource Mobilization in International Social Entrepreneurship: Bricolage as a Mechanism of Institutional Transformation

International entrepreneurs are often confronted with unfavorable normative, regulatory, and cognitive institutional environments. Those entrepreneurial firms that successfully navigate this uneven terrain appear to defy institutional constraint and create economic growth. Yet little is known about how ventures develop in unfavorable institutional environments, particularly in terms of social entrepreneurship. Contrary to the predominant view of resource mobilization, this article finds that social entrepreneurs confronted with institutional constraints engage in bricolage to reconfigure existing resources at hand. In the process, bricolage can act as a legitimating mechanism for institutional change. This article examines how regulatory, political, and technological institutions affect resource–mobilization in 202 technology social ventures from 45 countries. The implications for social entrepreneurship and for institutionally embedded entrepreneurial action are discussed.
Developmental programming of hypothalamic feeding circuits

The hypothalamus plays a critical role in the regulation of food intake and body weight, and recent work has defined a core circuitry in the hypothalamus that appears to mediate many of the effects of the adipocyte‐derived hormone leptin on feeding and glucose homeostasis. However, until recently, little was known about the development of these critical pathways. This review summarizes recent advances regarding the post‐natal development of ‘metabolic’ projections from the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. Evidence accumulated primarily in mice indicates that these circuits develop after birth and remain both structurally and functionally immature until the second week of life. Recent studies have begun to identify cues governing development of these pathways, and leptin appears to play a crucial neurotrophic role in the development of the hypothalamic circuits regulating food intake and adiposity. The neurodevelopmental actions of leptin appear specifically to be restricted to a neonatal critical period that coincides with the naturally occurring surge in leptin. In addition, the timing and amplitude of the post‐natal leptin surge has important consequences for normal body weight regulation and glucose homeostasis later in life. Ultimately, these data promise to provide new insight into the mechanisms by which alteration of perinatal nutrition may have long‐term consequences on body weight regulation and adiposity in the offspring.
The Impact of Impending Corporate Failure on the Incidence and Magnitude of Discretionary Accounting Policy Changes

Abstract This paper investigates the influence of impending corporate failure on income and asset increasing discretionary accounting policy changes (DAPCs) and discusses its implications for failure prediction model development and use. Deriving hypotheses from the ‘opportunistic behaviour’ perspective, the paper argues that management of failing firms have a greater incentive than management of non-failing firms to select accounting policies that will mask performance problems. The results of the study support the hypotheses in that: (1) management of failing firms tend to adopt a greater number of favourable DAPCs than management of non-failing firms; (2) failing firms are more likely than non-failing firms to adopt favourable DAPCs and (3) failing firms are more likely than non-failing firms to adopt DAPCs for a combined material net favourable effect on income and total assets. The results imply that failure prediction model accuracies may be influenced by the frequency and magnitudinal effect of DAPCs adopted by failing firms. Thus, model developers and users should not ignore or assume that the effects of potential manipulation of financial information is either negligible or will be randomly distributed.
Transition toward Democracy and Governance in Post Mengistu Ethiopia

In May 1991 forces led by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) overthrew the repressive Government of Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam. A July 1991 National Conference attended by most political groups led to the approval of The Transitional Ethiopian Government (TGE). Shortly thereafter the TGE confidently began to take steps toward reconciling political and ethnic conflicts, promoting economic liberalism and development, restoring human rights, and establishing democratic governance. This paper seeks to provide Ethiopianists and aid agency professionals with timely information on status of the democratic transition and to identify useful research documents related to that process. Towards these objectives it reviews TGE activities relating to the drafting of a constitution based on democratic principles, decentralizing substantial power to regions and districts, establishing a credible electoral system and holding legitimizing elections, reforming the judiciary, promoting human rights, supporting the emergence of an independent media, and facilitating the emergence of democratically oriented civic organizations. John M. Cohen is an Institute Fellow at HIID. This study is drawn from a field evaluation carried out for USAID on its “Ethiopia Democracy/Governance Support Project” (March-May 1994). *The author is indebted to his co-evaluators Emmy Simmons and William Hammink, as well as to USAID Democracy and Governance advisors Stevens Tucker and John W. Harbeson, for their ideas and criticism. However, neither they nor USAID have approved or are responsible for the data and analysis presented in this paper. HIID Development Discussion Paper no. 493
Some Comments on Time-Inconsistency in a Game with Absentmindedness

In decision problems with absentmindedness the decision maker may manifest time-inconsistent choices in spite of unaltered preferences. In this paper we argue that this can be the case whenever the decision makeris reasoning is not appropriately modeled. More in particular, it is shown that the "paradox of the absent minded driver" can be solved if her beliefs are consistent with the behavioral strategy chosen at the information set and the individual perceives to have the same conditional expected payoff at all decision nodes.
Development and legitimacy of Chinese informal finance

Abstract As in many other developing countries, Chinese businesses and individuals frequently fund transactions using informal, unmonitored financial methods. The impact of this phenomenon is both positive and negative: positive when funds are used for legitimate purposes, such as providing much needed working capital for businesses, and negative when funds are used for illegitimate and/or illegal purposes, such as to finance criminal activity or launder proceeds of crime. There is a dearth of literature and research on this topic. Further study is necessary to understand the precise political, economic and social reasons for this diversity of non-bank financing and its legal and economic implications. This paper aims to pave the ground for such research and analytical work by reviewing the existing literature, placing it into context and raising the main questions that must be answered in future work.
Towards a multi-level framework for supporting systematic review — A pilot study

As part of the forefront of evidence-based medicine, a systematic review (SR) identifies, appraises, and synthesizes all the available literature relevant to a question of interest in a transparent and systematic way. A time-consuming step in conducting systematic review (SR) is the manual article screening from a list of potentially relevant articles retrieved by librarians. In this study, we propose a multi-level SR supporting framework including three levels: Level 1 - ranking with multiple metrics aiming to assist the screening process by increasing the efficiency without compromising the validity; Level 2 - topic analysis for discovering distributed semantics; and Level 3 - network analysis on relation extracted for comprehensive semantic summarization. The sensitivities in two case studies for relevance ranking reached above 80%, while the screening burdens were lowered to 25% based on a crude relevance ranking approach. Topic analysis based on Latent Dirichlet Allocations (LDAs) showed high consistency among the domain experts' selection of articles. The predicate relation network summarized important predicate relations between medical concepts.
Molecular control of B Lymphocyte growth and differentiation

During antigen driven immune responses, antigen‐specific naive B lymphocytes undergo a cascade of events including activation, expansion, mutations, isotype switch, selections and differentiation into either antibody secreting plasma cells or memory B cells. These antigen‐dependent events, which we propose to call immunopoiesis, occur in different areas of secondary lymphoid organs, as well as other nonlymphoid organs. B cells interact with antigens and numerous cell types (T cells, dendritic cells, follicular dendritic cells and macrophages) through numerous cell surface molecules and cytokines. B cells costimulated through their antigen receptor and cytokines such as interleukin 2 (IL‐2), IL‐4 and IL‐10 undergo limited proliferation and differentiation into immunoglobulin (Ig) secreting cells. In contrast, crosslinking of the B cell CD40 antigen, a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor family, results in major cellular activation further modulated by cytokines. In particular, IL‐4 and IL‐13 permit establishment of long‐term factor‐dependent B cell lines, as well as isotype switch towards the production of IgE and IgG4. Addition of IL‐10 to CD40‐activated B cells results in limited proliferation and remarkable differentiation into plasma cells. IL‐10 also participates in isotype switch towards IgG1, IgG3 and IgA. The ligand for CD40, a member of the TNF family, is transiently expressed on activated T cells, and interrupted CD40/CD40‐L interactions result in profoundly altered humoral immune responses.
Competitiveness by design and inimitability through service: understanding the dynamics of firm-based competition in the West Midlands jewellery and lock industries

Manufacturing firms located in high-cost production locations have developed a series of complex inimitability strategies in response to intensive competition from low-cost producers. This paper draws upon the resource-based view of the firm to explore inimitability, as a strategy firms deploy in response to imitation. The analysis is based upon in-depth interviews with lock, jewellery and whistle manufacturers located in the West Midlands, UK. Many of these firms have been transformed into niche manufacturers whose competitiveness is based around a process of customisation through a co-production relationship with customers, the delivery of service experiences and a continual process of design-intensive innovation.
System dynamics approach to analysing the cost factors effects on cost of quality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for analysing the influence of costs of quality.Design/methodology/approach – A model is designed by using a causal loop diagram and is analysed through a system dynamics approach. The model simulation is prepared by Vensim software.Findings – Prevention and appraisal costs are the two effective cost factors. The model represented in this paper reveals that prevention costs have the most effect on total cost of quality and especially external failure costs. Hence, in order to achieve the customer expected quality level, prevention and appraisal costs should be considered.Research limitations/implications – Calculating and measuring non‐conformance costs is very difficult in organizations and some errors and mistakes may happen.Practical implications – A system dynamics approach can analyse and measure the amount of prevention cost effects on cost of quality in different organizations.Originality/value – The proposed methodology demonstrates the use.