Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biodegradation of diesel oil and n-alkanes (C18, C20, and C22) by a novel strain Acinetobacter sp. K-6 in unsaturated soil

A large residual fraction of aliphatic components of diesel prevails in soil, which has adverse effects on the environment. This study identified the most bio-recalcitrant aliphatic residual fraction of diesel through total petroleum-hydrocarbon fractional analysis. For this, the strain Acinetobacter sp. K-6 was isolated, identified, and characterized and investigated its ability to degrade diesel and n -alkanes (C 18 , C 20 , and C 22 ). The removal efficiency was analysed after treatment with bacteria and nutrients in various soil microcosms. The fractional analysis of diesel degradation after treatment with the bacterial strains identified C 18 -C 22 hydrocarbons as the most bio-recalcitrant aliphatic fraction of diesel oil. Acinetobacter sp. K-6 degraded 59.2% of diesel oil and 56.4% of C 18 -C 22 hydrocarbons in the contaminated soil. The degradation efficiency was further improved using a combinatorial approach of biostimulation and bioaugmentation, which resulted in 76.7% and 73.7% higher degradation of diesel oil and C 18 -C 22 hydrocarbons, respectively. The findings of this study suggest that the removal of mid-length, nonvolatile hydrocarbons is affected by the population of bio-degraders and the nutrients used in the process of remediation. A combinatorial approach, including biostimulation and bioaugmentation, could be used to effectively remove large quantities of aliphatic hydrocarbons persisting for a longer period in the soil.
Protein intake and daily activities influence to infant birth weight

Pregnancy is a crucial period time of life. One of the contributing factors in pregnancy is mother’s nutritional need, one of which is protein intake. A pregnant woman’s protein need must be fulfilled for the health of both mother and baby. A more active lifestyle of a pregnant woman will also induce more baby’s brain development than a less active one. To analyze the correlation between protein intake and daily activity with infant birth weight in third trimester pregnant women. Analytic observational using prospective cohort design.Independent variables are protein intake and daily activities.Protein intake data is acquired from 2x24 hours food recall, daily activity is measured using Baecke questionnaire and infant birth weight is measured using a baby scale.Sample size of this study is 109 women achieved using simple random sampling. Statistic test used was chi square test.Mean number of pregnant women’s protein intake per day is 0,68±0,469gr.Bivariate test result shows a significant correlation between protein intake and infant birth weight(p=0,000) and a sighificant correlation between daily activities and infant birth weight(p=0,000). There is a correlation between protein intake with infant birth weight in third trimester pregnant women; and there is a correlation between daily activity with infant birth weight in third trimester pregnant women.
DERMATOLOGIC LESIONS AND RISK FOR CANCER

Abstract There are three major types of skin cancer. Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are both carcinomas from epithelial cells, whereas melanoma originates from the melanocytes of the skin. Although these skin cancers can develop without precursors, there are some skin lesions which may give rise to malignancies. In chronological order, we discuss the (potential) precancerous lesions of basal cell carcinoma (sebaceous nevus), squamous cell carcinoma (chronic inflammation, actinic keratosis, kerato-acanthoma, Bowen’s disease, leukoplakia, and lichen sclerosus) and malignant melanoma (lentigo maligna and dysplastic naevi).
Intramuscular Electrical Stimulation for Shoulder Pain in Hemiplegia: Does Time From Stroke Onset Predict Treatment Success?

Background. A randomized clinical has shown the effectiveness of intramuscular electrical stimulation for the treatment of poststroke shoulder pain. Objective. Identify predictors of treatment success and assess the impact of the strongest predictor on outcomes. Method. This is a secondary analysis of a multisite randomized clinical trial of intramuscular electrical stimulation for poststroke shoulder pain. The study included 61 chronic stroke survivors with shoulder pain randomized to a 6-week course of intramuscular electrical stimulation (n = 32) versus a hemisling (n = 29). The primary outcome measure was Brief Pain Inventory Question 12. Treatment success was defined as ≥ 2-point reduction in this measure at end of treatment and at 3, 6, and 12 months posttreatment. Forward stepwise regression was used to identify factors predictive of treatment success among participants assigned to the electrical stimulation group. The factor most predictive of treatment success was used as an explanatory variable, and the clinical trials data were reanalyzed. Results. Time from stroke onset was most predictive of treatment success. Subjects were divided according to the median value of stroke onset: early (<77 weeks) versus late (> 77 weeks). Electrical stimulation was effective in reducing poststroke shoulder pain for the early group (94% vs 7%, P < .001) but not for the late group (31% vs 33%). Repeated-measure analysis of variance revealed significant treatment (P < .001), time from stroke onset (P = .032), and treatment by time from stroke onset interaction (P < .001) effects. Conclusions. Stroke survivors who are treated early after stroke onset may experience greater benefit from intramuscular electrical stimulation for poststroke shoulder pain. However, the relative importance of time from stroke onset versus duration of pain is not known.
The 1995 Congress: The First Hundred Days and Beyond

4 January 1995 was one of the most striking days in modem American political history. The House of Representatives convened to organize, elected Newt Gingrich of Georgia as the first Republican Speaker since Joe Martin of Massachusetts in 1954, debated and then passed a sweeping series of rules changes and reforns, and then took up and passed its first piece of legislation, the Congressional Accountability Act, finishing up at nearly 2:30 in the morning on 5 January. That first day was followed by more than ninety that were nearly equally striking. The 104th House hit the ground sprinting, overcoming the natural inertia of the institution to draft, consider, debate, and pass a series of other bills and resolutions that dominated the nation's policy agenda in an almost unprecedented version of congressional government. In mid-April 1995, television networks, newspapers, and magazines were filled with stories of the Congress's first hundred days. That hundred-day period was capped with another unprecedented event. On 7 April, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich addressed the nation live in prime time on several television networks, including CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, and PBS. Except to respond to a president, never before had a Speaker requested an opportunity to appear on national television to address the nation; never before would any television network have granted a Speaker time if he had in fact asked. The Speaker's request and the networks' response both demonstrated the unusual, even unique character of the 104th Congress, brought about by the election of November 1994.
Sprite discharges on Venus and Jupiter-like planets: a laboratory investigation.

[1] Large sprite discharges at high atmospheric altitudes have been found to be physically similar to small streamer discharges in air at sea level density. Based on this understanding, we investigate possible sprite discharges on Venus or Jupiter-like planets through laboratory experiments on streamers in appropriate CO2-N2 and H2-He mixtures. First, the scaling laws are experimentally confirmed by varying the density of the planetary gasses. Then, streamer diameters, velocities, and overall morphology are investigated for sprites on Venus and Jupiter; they are quite similar to those on Earth, but light emissions in the visible range are fainter by 2 orders of magnitude. The discharge spectra are measured; they are dominated by the minority species N2 on Venus and by the majority species H2 on Jupiter-like planets. The spectrum of a fully developed spark on Venus is measured. We show that this spectrum is significantly different from the expected sprite spectrum.
The Present Value of Pacific Basin Stock Markets: A Domestic and External Factor Model

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether current and future domestic and international macroeconomic variables can explain long and short run stock returns in Pacific-basin countries. The countries examined include Australia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, whilst America is included as a "foreign influence". The long run relationship tested in this study is based on the present value model of stock prices, which is tested using the complete range of cointegration and causality tests. These include the Johansen ML test, Long Run Structural Modelling, a Vector Error Correction Model and Variance Decomposition. Typically it is found that Pacific-Basin stock markets are neither perfectly integrated with foreign financial markets nor are they perfectly segmented. A present value model based on domestic and external economic variables can be estimated for each Pacific-Basin stock market examined. Consistent with our priors: American economic activity has a significant influence on Pacific-Basin stock markets in the long run but was surprisingly less influential than domestic economic activity.
Ischaemic stroke--prevention is better than cure.

The hypothesis that the prevention of ischaemic stroke is more effective than its cure (acute treatment) can be explored by comparing the effect of each strategy on the burden of stroke in a population of one million people in the UK. the burden of stroke in the uk Incidence The incidence of ischaemic stroke is about 2.0 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.8–2.2) per 1,000 population per year. 1 In a population of one million people, there are about 2,000 incident cases of ischaemic stroke each year, of which 1,400 (70%) are first ever and 600 (30%) are recurrent. Prevalence The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of stroke has been estimated at between 14.7 per 1,000 2 and 17.5 (95% CI: 17.0 to 18.0) per 1,000, 3 of which about 80–85% are ischaemic and 15–20% haemorrhagic strokes. In a population of one million people, there are therefore likely to be at least 12,000 prevalent survivors of ischaemic stroke. Outcome Among all new cases of ischaemic stroke, about 30% will die during the year and 35% will be permanently disabled and dependent on others for help with activities of daily living (modified Rankin score >3). 4,5
Accuracy and Anatomical Coverage of Perfusion CT Assessment of the Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability: One Bolus versus Two Boluses

Purpose: To assess whether blood-brain barrier permeability (BBBP) values, extracted with the Patlak model from the second perfusion CT (PCT) contrast bolus, are significantly lower than the values extracted from the first bolus in the same patient. Materials and Methods: 125 consecutive patients (29 with acute hemispheric stroke and 96 without stroke) who underwent a PCT study using a prolonged acquisition time up to 3 min were retrospectively identified. The Patlak model was applied to calculate the rate of contrast leakage out of the vascular compartment. Patlak plots were created from the arterial and parenchymal time enhancement curves obtained in multiple regions of interest drawn in ischemic brain tissue and in nonischemic brain tissue. The slope of a regression line fit to the Patlak plot was used as an indicator of BBBP. Square roots of the mean squared errors and correlation coefficients were used to describe the quality of the linear regression model. This was performed separately for the first and the second PCT bolus. Results from the first and the second bolus were compared in terms of BBBP values and the quality of the linear model fitted to the Patlak plot, using generalized estimating equations with robust variance estimation. Results: BBBP values from the second bolus were not lower than BBBP values from the first bolus in either nonischemic brain tissue [estimated mean with 95% confidence interval: 1.42 (1.10–1.82) ml·100 g–1·min–1 for the first bolus versus 1.64 (1.31–2.05) ml·100 g–1·min–1 for the second bolus, p = 1.00] or in ischemic tissue [1.04 (0.97–1.12) ml·100 g–1·min–1 for the first bolus versus 1.19 (1.11–1.28) ml·100 g–1·min–1 for the second bolus, p = 0.79]. Compared to regression models from the first bolus, the Patlak regression models obtained from the second bolus were of similar or slightly better quality. This was true both in nonischemic and ischemic brain tissue. Conclusion: The contrast material from the first bolus of contrast for PCT does not negatively influence measurements of BBBP values from the second bolus. The second bolus can thus be used to increase anatomical coverage of BBBP assessment using PCT.
Glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma pathologic criteria and prognostic implications

A total of 1440 malignant astrocytic gliomas from three Phase III trials of the National Brain Tumor Study Group were studied to document the clinical usefulness of subclassifying these lesions as either an anaplastic astrocytoma or a glioblastoma multiforme. As defined by a previous “blind” pathology review, the two groups of patients were compared as to mean age, mean duration of preoperative symptoms, and postrandomization survival. In addition, 10 histologic variables were studied in 150 patients with the anaplastic astrocytoma to establish internal correlations, and to relate specific histologic variables to patient age and postrandomization survival. There were highly significant differences in the age, duration of preoperative symptoms, and post randomization survival between the two groups. Internal correlations between histologic variables in the anaplastic astrocytoma disclosed statistically significant associations between the presence of lymphocytes and gemistocytic astrocytes. It is concluded that the subclassification of malignant gliomas into the anaplastic astrocytoma and the glioblastoma multiforme defines groups of patients that are significantly different in regard to age, duration of symptoms, and length of survival. The problems of tissue sampling are recognized, however, the assignment, by a blind pathology review, to two such different groups indicates that the classification has utility for large randomized clinical trials. The analysis of histologic variables in the anaplastic astrocytomas confirms previous suggestions that lymphocytes and gemistocytes frequently coexist in malignant gliomas, but in this study these inflammatory cells did not appear to influence survival. The study reemphasizes the association between advancing age and shorter survivals in patients with malignant gliomas.
Synaptic output of physiologically identified spiny stellate neurons in cat visual cortex

Spiny stellate neurons of area 17 of the cat's visual cortex were physiologically characterised and injected intracellularly with horseradish peroxidase. Six neurons from sublamina 4A were selected. Five had the S‐type of simple receptive fields; one had a complex receptive field. Their axons formed boutons mainly in layers 3 and 4. An electron microscopic examination of 45 boutons showed that each bouton formed one asymmetric synapse on average. Spines were the most frequent synaptic target (74%); dendritic shafts formed the remainder (26%). On the basis of ultrastructural characteristics, 8% of the target dendrites were characterised as originating from smooth γ‐aminobutyrate‐ergic (GABAergic) neurons. Thus the major output of spiny stellate neurons is to other spiny neurons, probably pyramidal neurons in layer 3 and spiny stellates in layer 4.
Education and Inclusive Growth – Korean Experience

The Korean education system has developed very rapidly in both quantitative and qualitative terms since the 1950s and made considerable contribution to inclusive growth in Korea. In what ways has the Korean education system played a positive role in approaching the inclusive growth in Korea? Considering that the fundamental theme of the inclusive growth is to guarantee equal opportunity, this paper analyzes key educational policies and their results in terms of (1) equal access to education, (2) equal educational treatment, and (3) equal educational outcomes. Key questions and findings are as follows: What policies has Korea adopted to increase access to education and to provide equal educational services? After the Korean War, Korea adopted sequential educational expansion policies to provide educational opportunities step by step (universalization of primary education→middle school→high school→higher education). What investment strategies has Korea used to support the implementation of those policies? In order to support educational expansion policies, the Korean government maintained its commitment to educational investment by shifting its investment priority in the same sequential manner from primary education to higher education. To secure the budget needed the government utilized private contributions from private foundations and parents. What education policies has Korea used to meet manpower demand? Korea’s sequential education expansion policies were matched with national economic development plans. As a result, education could contribute to supplying manpower needed and school graduates could have get employed, which led to the increase in personal earnings. What are main results? Korea’s educational development policies resulted in the provision of equal education access irrespective of gender, geographical location and parents’ SES, highest PISA scores with smallest variance and lower expenditure, and lower labor earnings inequality.
Economic foundations of strategic management on the economic conceptualisation of the nature and sustainability of profit differentials among firms

One of the enduring problems facing researchers of strategic management is the lack of theoretical foundations available to describe, explain and predict the behaviour of firms and markets. Strategic management theory seems to be strongly focused on empirical issues rather than theoretical and methodological ones. By contrast, economics, which, like strategic management theory, is interested in firm and market behaviour, may be particularly strong at theoretical and methodological issues. The present study develops the thesis that economic conceptualisations of the firm and of the market can help to further the development of strategic management theory. The study constructs theoretical linkages between basic propositions and assumptions of strategic management theory and those of economic theories of the market and of the fkm. The study builds such conceptual bridges between strategic management theory and economics by assessing (1) neoclassical economics, economics of industrial organisation, evolutionary economics, institutional economics, behavioural economics, and (2) the strategic management theories, namely, the positioning approach (Porter) and resource-based approach (Wernerfelt, Rumelt, Barney). By examining research problem orientation and hard core assumptions, as suggested by Kuhn and Lakatos, the study found that apart from neoclassical economics, other economic theories allow to substantiate strategic management theory in economic terms. In specific, the study explicated that there is a large overlap between economics and strategic management theory for explaining and predicting issues concerning (1) the sources of profit differentials (competitive advantage), (2) the reasons how differentials are sustained despite , competition, and (3) the conceptualisation of differentials as outcome of strategy following behaviour of firms under conditions of uncertainty. A b s tr a c t . i Chapter
All Things Being Equal: Does it Matter for Equity How You Organize and Pay for Health Care? A Review of the International Evidence

Over the last 25 years, the health care systems of most high-income countries have experienced extensive—usually market-based—organizational and financial reforms. The impact of these system changes on health equity has been hotly debated. Examining evidence from systematic reviews of the effects of health care system organizational and financial reforms will add empirical information to this debate, identify any evidence gaps, and help policy development. Systematic review methodology was used to locate and evaluate published systematic reviews of quantitative intervention studies (experimental and observational) of the effects on equity in health care access and/or health status of health care system organizational and financial reforms (system financing, funding allocations, direct purchasing arrangements, organization of service provision, and health and social care system integration) in high-income countries. Nine systematic reviews were identified. Private insurance and out-of-pocket payments as well as the marketization and privatization of services have either negative or inconclusive equity effects. The evidence base on the health equity effects of managed care programs or integrated partnerships between health and social services is inconclusive. There were no relevant studies located that related to resource allocation reforms. The systematic review-level evidence base suggests that financial and organizational health care system reforms have had either inconclusive or negative impacts on health equity both in terms of access relative to need and in terms of health outcomes.
Molecular mechanisms of lung cell activation induced by cyclic stretch

ObjectiveTo review molecular mechanisms of lung cell activation by stretch. Data SourcesPublished original and review articles. Data SummaryPositive-pressure mechanical ventilation is associated with both beneficial and harmful effects. Data indicate that mechanical ventilation can induce, or increase, lung inflammation. This effect is clearly linked to the degree of lung cell stretching. By modeling cyclic stretch in cultured cells, it has been possible to investigate the cellular pathways activated by this mechanical strain. Integrin receptors, proteins of the focal adhesion plaque, and the cytoskeleton itself participate in the multiple molecular complex that senses cyclic stretch, transforming a mechanical signal into a biological response. Several intracellular signaling pathways then are activated and eventually result in increased transcription of genes harboring “stretch-response elements” in their promoters. Among these pathways, the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascade appears to be central in mediating the effects of cell stretching. Other posttranscriptional mechanisms, such as messenger RNA stabilization and the secretion of preformed mediators, also may account for the secretion of inflammatory mediators after cyclic stretch. ConclusionIdentification of the relevant molecular mechanisms will help in the development of novel ventilatory and pharmacologic therapeutic strategies aimed at preventing the deleterious effects of mechanical ventilation.
Efficient Market Hypothesis : A Historical Perspective. ( A study of Nigerian Capital Market)

The concept of efficient market hypothesis stipulates that securities are fairly priced and that stock prices already fully reflect all available information. Portfolio managers and investors are expected to know the concept of efficient market hypothesis so as to enable them invest properly. This paper focused on concept, history and theory of EMH as espoused by renowned authors over the past decades in relation to Nigerian Capital Market. It tends to critically analyse the efficient market hypothesis using its historical perspective. We summarize the origins of and interlinkages between these contributions to investment.