Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intratympanic Steroid Injection for Bell's Palsy: Some Issues Highlighted.

To the Editor: We read with great interest the recently published article by Chung et al. (1) which describes a preliminary randomized study on the use of intratympanic (IT) steroid injections to treat Bell’s Palsy. This seems to be yet another novel use of IT steroids as there apparently has not been any literature in this area since it was first described in 1973 (2). This then begs the question: Why not? Perhaps my next paragraph may help to explain the glaring lack of studies in this area. Chung’s study acknowledges that there is a welldocumented significant spontaneous recovery rate for patients with Bell’s palsy, which is recognized to be approximately 80% at 3 months postonset of palsy (3). The high recovery rate in any control group with Bell’s palsy makes it extremely challenging, perhaps even impossible, to calculate the power of the study, as it requires the definition of what constitutes a clinically significant difference between the control and treatment groups. Do we take merely a 10% difference in recovery rates between the two groups to be significant? Or 20%, which would imply requiring a nearly 100% recovery rate in the treatment group? It is hardly surprising then that Chung’s study did not at any point in his article mention a power calculation. One certainly cannot discount the underlying placebo effect of any intervention undertaken. If no power calculation can be undertaken, then statistical calculations cannot be performed to determine whether any recovery rate in the IT steroid group is indeed at all significant. Moreover, the study did not state when exactly the first dose of IT steroid was administered. It stated that three IT injections were administered over 2 weeks at an interval of 3 to 4 days. But this could mean that some patients had their first injection on day 1 postonset of palsy, then days 4 and 7 whereas others may have only had their first injection as late as day 7, then days 10 and 14, which introduces yet another undesired variable into the study. In addition, the authors stated that the numbers needed to treat (NNT) was calculated as 10 patients but this statement needs further clarification. Do the authors mean that 10 patients have to be treated with IT steroids before a difference in recovery rate is observed between the control and IT steroid groups? Again, the same question crops up: What are they assuming to be a clinically significant difference in recovery rate between the two groups? Or are they saying that 10 patients have
Factors Associated with Quality of Life in Adolescents with Spina Bifida

Adolescents with complex neurological conditions such as spina bifida require a holistic approach to their health care. Quality of Life (QOL) and the factors associated with QOL are important and understudied variables for these adolescents. A sample of 60 adolescents and their parents was interviewed to determine a) the adolescent’s and family’s QOL, b) condition/adolescent/family factors associated with QOL measures, and c) the relationship between adolescent and parent ratings on QOL measures. QOL was moderately high in these families. Few condition measures were related to QOL. However, several adolescent and family factors were significantly related to both overall QOL and health-related quality of life. There was no difference between adolescents and their parents on overall adolescent and family QOL items. Holistic practitioners need to be aware of areas perceived positively and negatively by these adolescents and their families as well as factors associated with outcomes.
Singular value decomposition in sensitivity minimisation for digital filters

The singular value decomposition (SVD) is used in the minimization of a previously given integral sensitivity measure. It is shown that the necessary and sufficient condition for the minimum of this measure is that the integrand, the frequency-dependent measure (FDSM), takes its minimum value with respect to the singular values of the transformation matrix T. This minimum is an attainable lower bound of the FDSM for all values of z for any transfer function. It is shown that this case corresponds to internally balanced realization (IBR) and any realization within an orthogonal transformation of the IBR. <<ETX>>
Predicting mammography and breast self-examination in African American women.

Breast cancer mortality is significantly greater in African American women than in their Caucasian counterparts. The purpose of this study was to identify variables associated with the breast cancer screening behaviors of mammography utilization and breast self-examination (BSE) in a convenience sample of low income African American women. A total of 328 African American women, living in a large midwestern metropolitan area, who were at < or = 150% of poverty level, and between the ages of 45 and 64 years were included in this study. Data were collected over a period of 18 months. Predisposing, enabling, and need variables from Anderson's theoretical framework included perceived susceptibility, benefits, barriers, confidence, knowledge, physician recommendation, demographic characteristics, and past experiences, as well as health-care and insurance information. Variables that significantly predicted mammography utilization included perceived barriers, mammography suggested by health-care professionals, recent thoughts about mammography, and a regular medical doctor. Variables that significantly predicted either frequency or proficiency of BSE included susceptibility, benefits, confidence, knowledge, barriers, and a regular physician. Implications for clinical practice include (a) recognizing predictors of screening among low-income African American women; (b) addressing culturally specific barriers, e.g., cancer fatalism, in order to increase compliance with screening; (c) establishing consistency in primary care providers; and (d) increasing confidence and knowledge through education.
The fallout from French nuclear testing in the South Pacific: A longitudinal study of consumer boycotts

Purpose – The frequency and sophistication of consumer boycotts continue to increase from already high levels. Surprisingly, only limited research in marketing has investigated this topic. The purpose of this paper is to provide a strategic analysis of an actual consumer protest with implications for better managerial decisions.Design/methodology/approach – The animosity model of consumer purchase behavior was employed in two longitudinal studies to investigate an ongoing marketplace protest – Australian consumers' boycott of French products. Study 1 was carried out while France was engaged in nuclear testing in the South Pacific. Study 2 was carried out 1 year after the resolution of the conflict.Findings – Results from Study 1 show that Australian consumers' animosity toward France was negatively related to their willingness to purchase French products. Consistent with a key prediction from the animosity model, this effect was independent of evaluations of French product quality. The findings from Study.
Wolffian Duct Development

The Wolffian ducts (WDs) are the progenitors of the epididymis, vas deferens and seminal vesicles. They form initially as nephric ducts that acquire connection to the developing testis as the mesonephros regresses. The development of the WDs is dependent on androgens. Conventionally, the active androgen is believed to be testosterone delivered locally rather than via the systemic circulation. However, recent studies in marsupials show that 5α-reduced steroids are essential and that these can induce virilisation even when they are delivered via the systemic circulation. The development of the WDs involves an interplay between the duct epithelium and underlying mesenchyme; androgen receptors in both the epithelium and mesenchyme are needed. The epidermal growth factor and epidermal growth factor receptor may play a role, possibly via activation of androgen receptor. The formation of the epididymis involves a complex morphogenetic program to achieve the normal pattern of coiling, formation of septae, and regional functional differentiation. In part, this process may be mediated by inhibin beta A as well as by genes from the HOX cluster. Whilst the development of the WD is androgen dependent, it is clear that there is a complex interplay between androgens, genes and growth factors in the tissues that leads to the formation of the complex anatomy of the male reproductive duct system in the adult.
Identification of a Dedicated Recycling Pathway for Anhydro-N-Acetylmuramic Acid andN-Acetylglucosamine Derived from Escherichia coli Cell Wall Murein

ABSTRACT Turnover and recycling of the cell wall murein represent a major metabolic pathway of Escherichia coli. It is known thatE. coli efficiently reuses, i.e., recycles, its murein tripeptide,l-alanyl-γ-d-glutamyl-meso-diaminopimelate, to form new murein. However, the question of whether the cells also recycle the amino sugar moieties of cell wall murein has remained unanswered. It is demonstrated here that E. coli recycles the N-acetylglucosamine present in cell wall murein degradation products for de novo murein and lipopolysaccharide synthesis. Furthermore, E. coli also recycles the anhydro-N-acetylmuramic acid moiety by first converting it into N-acetylglucosamine. Based on the results obtained by studying mutants unable to recycle amino sugars, the pathway for recycling is revealed.
Communication about corporate social responsibility practices and return on equity

We have analysed the importance of companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) and how the relationship between CSR and financial performance has been scientifically studied. It is clear that the literature offers contradictory results. This debate is particularly relevant in the hotel sector due to the intense relationship and dependency this industry has on its environmental setting. This paper has shown a neutral relationship between the CSR and return on equity (ROE), which means introducing CSR measures stop short of having a negative effect on shareholders’ profits. Therefore, based on the results of this study, we encourage the hotel sector to introduce CSR practices into its strategy, as CSR produces new competitive advantages that have neutral effects on financial performance. The conclusions were not different once we distinguished between family or non family firms. One of the most common excuses business owners and executives use to justify having no CSR policies is that they cannot afford to spend money on these activities, as they will affect their companies’ profitability. This study has demonstrated that CSR has a neutral relationship with ROE, and, consequently, other benefits (e.g. reputation and competitiveness) will arise from applying those practices, without weakening ROE.
The effects of manuka honey on plaque and gingivitis: a pilot study.

UNLABELLED Research has shown that manuka honey has superior antimicrobial properties that can be used with success in the treatment of wound healing, peptic ulcers and bacterial gastro-enteritis. Studies have already shown that manuka honey with a high antibacterial activity is likely to be non-cariogenic. The current pilot study investigated whether or not manuka honey with an antibacterial activity rated UMF 15 could be used to reduce dental plaque and clinical levels of gingivitis. A chewable "honey leather" was produced for this trial. Thirty volunteers were randomly allocated to chew or suck either the manuka honey product, or sugarless chewing gum, for 10 minutes, three times a day, after each meal. Plaque and gingival bleeding scores were recorded before and after the 21-day trial period. Analysis of the results indicated that there were statistically highly significant reductions in the mean plaque scores (0.99 reduced to 0.65; p=0.001), and the percentage of bleeding sites (48% reduced to 17%; p=0.001), in the manuka honey group, with no significant changes in the control group. CONCLUSION These results suggest that there may be a potential therapeutic role for manuka honey confectionery in the treatment of gingivitis and periodontal disease.
Expression of soluble guanylyl cyclase in rat cerebral cortex during postnatal development

Soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), the principle “receptor” for nitric oxide (NO), catalyzes the formation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), an intracellular second messenger. Studies in invertebrates have shown that the NO/cGMP pathway is involved in several aspects of neural development, including neuronal migration, dendritic and axonal outgrowth, and synaptogenesis. In vitro studies suggest a developmental role also in mammals. To investigate whether the NO/cGMP pathway might mediate these processes in vivo, we performed immunohistochemistry for sGC on sections from postnatal rat cerebral cortex. Early in postnatal development, migrating neurons in the cortical plate were immunonegative, whereas neurons deeper in the cortex that had completed migration were immunopositive. At the subcellular level, sGC preferentially stained dendrites rather than axons, but, at postnatal day 1 (PND1), sGC was found in a large fraction of axonal growth cones, especially those oriented toward the pial surface. At PND10–20 (the period of maximal synaptogenesis), sGC immunostaining was located mainly in dendritic shafts and was only occasionally associated with spines or axon terminals. These results support a role for the NO/cGMP pathway in dendritic development but argue against a major role in neuronal migration and synaptogenesis. J. Comp. Neurol. 485:255–265, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Integrated distributed energy awareness for wireless sensor networks

Energy in sensor networks is distributed and non-transferable. Over time, differences in energy availability across the network are likely to arise. Protocols such as routing engines can concentrate energy load at certain nodes. Variations in incident sunlight can produce different solar charging rates at different nodes. Because many sensor network applications require nodes collaborate --- to ensure complete sensor coverage or route data to the network's edge --- a small set of nodes threatened by low energy availability can have a disproportionate impact on the entire network. For example, the loss of a single sink node may render the application unable to communicate with all the other nodes. However, network density provides redundancy that can be exploited to control the distribution of energy load. Multiple possible routing paths may link a node and the sink, or several sinks may exist. Adjusting MAC-level parameters may allow a node to conserve energy by forcing additional load on its neighbors. Inputs from multiple sensors may prove redundant to the application, allowing some sensors to be disabled or operated at reduced fidelity, saving power at those nodes. These choices imply that energy load can be tuned to match availability, and this tuning can extend the useful lifetime of the network. Effective distributed energy management requires network-wide awareness of energy availability and load integrated with algorithms guiding protocols toward states producing longer lifetimes or higher node duty-cycles. Intelligent Distributed Energy Awareness (IDEA) is a sensor network service that can be used by both protocols and applications. Given the current energy availability and a set of protocol states, each with different implications for network-wide energy consumption, IDEA projects future energy availability in order to make the best choice. By simplifying decisions impacting distributed energy availability, it facilitates the implementation of energy-aware services.
Who Can Be Trusted after the Financial Crisis?

This study attempts to assess the extent to which the financial crisis has damaged citizens’ trust in public institutions, especially the confidence that European citizens invest in the European institutions. The results of major public opinion surveys show a severe decrease in citizens’ trust in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis with a slight recovery nine month later. In particular, citizens’ net trust in the European Central Bank hit an historical low point in the aftermath of the financial crisis with a majority of people distrusting that institution. A variety of other surveys also show that confidence levels in the free market economy have decreased in most of the largest economies and demand for stronger state regulation has increased on both sides of the Atlantic. The key question now is whether this loss of confidence is a temporary or permanent phenomenon, which would have important consequences for the economy and for the proper working of the European institutions.
Bayesian Analysis of Country Risk Premia in Developing Small Open Economies

This thesis studies a model presented by Neumeyer & Perri (2005), which aims to explain the strong countercyclicality of interest rates and net exports in emerging market economies. The model accomplishes this by decomposing interest rates into an international rate and a country risk component, and by making labor demand sensitive to movements in these rates via a working capital constraint imposed on the representative firm. Moreover, it proposes two approaches to determining the stochastic processes for these interest rates: the independent country risk case and the induced country risk case. The induced country risk model calibrated to Argentine data reproduces the country’s business cycle facts well. However, the results are sensitive to certain parameters and specifications which are not properly set in accordance with developing economy data. Hence, a Bayesian approach is used to verify the model results. The estimation results highlight some areas for improvement in the model. First, certain key parameters of the model are difficult to inform by existing data. Second, the mechanisms through which the model tries to explain key developing economy business cycle facts are important, but need to be augmented in some way. In particular, more structure needs to be added into the model of default risk to help capture the dynamics of interest rates and output more fully.
Lack of Reproductive Toxicity in Adult Male Rats Exposed to Interferon-Alpha

Interferon-alpha (IFN-α), a type I IFN, is a protein with antiviral, antiproliferative, and immunoregulatory activities, widely used in the treatment of several types of cancers as well as hepatitis B and C. Decrease of libido and erectile dysfunction are commonly reported by male patients during treatment of chronic hepatitis C with IFN-α. However, IFN therapy-associated underlying factors attributed to sexual dysfunction are still not well defined. Currently, there are few studies investigating the effects of IFN on male reproductive system functions. Given that, the aim of the present investigation was to examine effects of subchronic exposure to IFN-α (5 × 104 U/kg and 10 × 104 U/kg, 30 d) on serum hormones, sperm parameters, fertility, and testicular and epididymal hystopathology and morphometry in adult male Wistar rats. None of the evaluated parameters was markedly altered by IFN-α. Thus, our results suggest that exposure to IFN-α, in this experimental design, did not adversely affect sperm quality and fertile capacity of male rats.
Internal Translation Initiation Generates Novel WT1 Protein Isoforms with Distinct Biological Properties*

The Wilms’ tumor 1 gene, WT1, is homozygously mutated in a subset of Wilms’ tumors. Heterozygous mutations in WT1 give rise to congenital anomalies. During embryogenesis, WT1 is expressed mainly in the kidneys, uterus, and testes. Alternative splicing of the WT1 mRNA results in synthesis of four main WT1 protein isoforms with molecular masses of 52–54 kDa. In addition, translation initiation at a CUG upstream of the initiator AUG generates four larger WT1 proteins of 60–62 kDa. We describe here the existence of novel WT1 isoforms and demonstrate that they are derived from translation initiation at the second in-frame AUG of the WT1 mRNA. These N-terminally truncated WT1 proteins of 36–38 kDa can be detected in several cell lines, mouse testes, and Wilms’ tumor specimens. They can bind to DNA and direct transcription from reporter constructs. The shorter WT1 protein lacking the two splice inserts has a greater transcription activation potential than the corresponding main WT1 protein isoform but shows no transcription repression potential. Overexpression of full-length or N-terminally truncated WT1 efficiently induces apoptosis. These data show that additional WT1 isoforms with distinct transcription-regulatory properties exist, which further increases the complexity of WT1 expression and activity.
Predictors of Relapse during Treatment and Treatment Completion among Marijuana-Dependent Adolescents in an Intensive Outpatient Substance Abuse Program

The present study assessed possible predictors of relapse while in treatment and treatment completion among marijuana-dependent adolescents (N = 59) in an intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment program. Comorbid depression was associated with an increased likelihood of relapse and a higher total number of relapses. As expected, relapse while in treatment was associated with a reduced likelihood of successfully completing the treatment program. Comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was also associated with a lower likelihood of successful program completion. These findings add to a slowly growing literature regarding adolescent substance abuse treatment, and may help clinicians identify marijuana-dependent adolescents at greater risk of relapse or noncompliance.
Wine as Food and Medicine

This book presents the wisdom, knowledge and expertise of the food industry that ensures the supply of food to maintain the health, comfort, and wellbeing of humankind. The global food industry has the largest market: the world population of seven billion people. The book pioneers life-saving innovations and assists in the fight against world hunger and food shortages that threaten human essentials such as water and energy supply. Floods, droughts, fires, storms, climate change, global warming and greenhouse gas emissions can be devastating, altering the environment and, ultimately, the production of foods. Experts from industry and academia, as well as food producers, designers of food processing equipment, and corrosion practitioners have written special chapters for this rich compendium based on their encyclopedic knowledge and practical experience. This is a multi-authored book. The writers, who come from diverse areas of food science and technology, enrich this volume by presenting different approaches and orientations.
Differential Epithelial and Mesenchymal Regulation of Tooth-Specific Matrix Proteins Expression by 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D 3 In Vivo

Enamel defects have been reported in rickets and related to disturbed expression of amelogenin in ameloblasts. The present study is devoted to amelogenin, enamelin, ameloblastin, and dentin sialo-phosphoprotein (DSPP) expression in both the epithelium and mesenchyme of vitamin D-deficient rat incisors. Quantitative Northern blotting analysis (relatively to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA steady-state levels) was performed on microdissected cells of rachitic ( m D) and control (+D) 56 day-old rats. Steady-state levels of amelogenin and enamelin mRNA were significantly reduced in the m D epithelium versus the +D epithelium ones. In contrast, ameloblastin expression was slightly increased in m D epithelium. In the same samples, DSPP mRNA levels remained unchanged in m D dental mesenchyme. Comparative electron microscopy studies between +D and m D animals showed a dramatic decrease of intraprismatic enamel (amelogenin and enamelin immunoreactive) consistent with our molecular results. In conclusion, tooth formation results from the coordinated expression of several matrix proteins that may be controlled by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 [1,25(OH) 2 D 3 ].