Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An investigation of the role of glutathione in increased epithelial permeability induced by cigarette smoke in vivo and in vitro.

Airspace epithelial permeability is known to increase in cigarette smokers. To study the role of the antioxidant reduced glutathione (GSH) in this phenomenon, we used an in vitro model of the epithelial permeability of a monolayer of human type II alveolar epithelial cells (A549 cell line). Both whole (WSC) and vapor (VSC) smoke condensates induced a recoverable, concentration-dependent increase in epithelial permeability to 125iodine-labeled bovine serum albumin (125IBSA), associated with a profound fall in intracellular GSH. Buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), a GSH synthesis inhibitor, decreased GSH levels in A549 epithelial cells, significantly increased A549 epithelial cell permeability, and enhanced both WSC and VSC-induced A549 epithelial cell permeability. Co-culturing epithelial cells and GSH (500 microM) reduced WSC-induced, but not VSC-induced A549 epithelial cell permeability. Increasing intracellular GSH also ameliorated the smoke-induced increased epithelial permeability. Concentrations of cigarette smoke condensate of < 20% increased A549 epithelial cell permeability without associated cell detachment and lysis, which was also the case with BSO-induced increased epithelial permeability. WSC and VSC, instilled intratracheally, significantly increased rat lung epithelial permeability to 125IBSA, 6 h postinstillation, associated with a significant recruitment of neutrophils into the airspaces. This was associated with a small increase in GSH in the lung tissue of VSC-treated rats. However, both WSC and VSC markedly reduced GSH in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid. Reduction in lung GSH to 95% but not to 68% of control values by BSO increased lung epithelial permeability in vivo. However, there was no additive effect on epithelial permeability of WSC and BSO. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Comparison of the bioaccumulation capacities of copper and zinc in two snail subspecies (Helix).

Bioaccumulation analyses of copper and zinc were carried out in two snail subspecies (Helix aspersa aspersa and Helix aspersa maxima) after 3 months of controlled farming (out of ground) with foods of different formulations. The results reveal some clear interspecific differences in affinity toward copper and zinc. For the two metals considered, H. aspersa aspersa has a bioaccumulation capacity much greater than that of H. aspersa maxima, mainly in the foot for copper and in the viscera for zinc. After 3 months, the concentrations of copper in feet and viscera are much higher than those presented in the literature on field animals. The farming and the analysis methodologies permitted obtaining snails under standard condition and open the way to the development of rational protocols for ecotoxicological studies in a laboratory as well as in the field.
EFFECTS OF MASSAGE UNDER HYPOXIC CONDITIONS ON EXERCISE-INDUCED MUSCLE DAMAGE AND PHYSICAL STRAIN INDICES IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS

Reports based on experiences from masseurs and players, mostly without any scientific background, suggest that the combination of a classical regeneration method (i.e. massage) with exposure to hypoxia may enhance regeneration in soccer. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether this specific combination could affect blood parameters related to muscle damage and physical strain after a soccer game. Approximately 15 hours after two separate championship games, 10 professional male outfield players of the first Austrian division were exposed to normobaric hypoxia (FiO2 13.5% ∼ 4000m) or normoxia for 1 hour (30 minutes rest followed by 30 min massage) (cross-over design). Creatine kinase (CK), urea and uric acid (UA) were measured 4 days before the first game, and 15 and 63 hours after the two games. Match play increased CK values independently of the intervention. No effect of the massage in combination with hypoxia was seen. A trend was found between Δ UA ([UA] 48 hours after exposure minus [UA] before exposure) in response to hypoxia and SaO2 measured in hypoxia (r=0.612, p=0.06). Results show that massage under hypoxic conditions had no additional positive effect on the measured parameters compared to massage alone. Solely the trend of a relationship for Δ UA and SaO2 might indicate that redox alterations are a potential consequence of hypoxic exposure.
Fostering rural and agricultural tourism: exploring the potential of geocaching

ABSTRACT Geocaching is a modern-day version of “hide and seek” where participants use geographical longitude and latitude coordinates to locate a “geocache” using a GPS device or mobile app. An agriculturally focused geocache program could foster tourism, interest and educational opportunities about rural and agricultural areas, and could facilitate additional patronage of businesses that operate in these areas. As a prerequisite to such a program, however, organizations must commit to establishing and maintaining a geocache. This study explores the perceived benefits and constraints to an organization's participation in a rural or agriculturally focused geocache program. A case example of an agriculturally focused geocaching program, AgCache, is used as a starting point. In-depth interviews of program Founders and current participants explored the program's background and goals, and experiences of participating sites. Complimenting this, a survey collected information from potential host sites, and probit model analyses were used to assess influences on an organization's interest in hosting a geocache. While many organizations indicated that they would be interested in such a program, several indicated (addressable) concerns. Characteristics of the organization and respondent were found to significantly influence their interest. Findings are instructive for targeting and recruiting organizations into an agricultural or rural geocaching program.
Investigating U.S. resident perceptions of corporate social responsibility in food and agriculture

Morgan, Carissa J., M.S., Purdue University, May 2016. Investigating U.S. Resident Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility in Food and Agriculture. Major Professor: Dr. Nicole Olynk Widmar. Corporations are prioritizing corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities by investing in and actively promoting their social practices. In the U.S. of the modern food supply chain creates a unique challenge for corporations to address concerns about social issues of consumers and non-consumers alike. This study is motivated by the need to better understand individuals’ perceptions of CSR as it pertains to the food supply chain. In April 2015 an online survey collected information from 1,201 U.S. residents with the objective of investigating individuals’ perceptions of relative importance of eight prominent CSR areas relevant to food and agriculture. Demographic, household consumption, and personal practices related to social issues were collected. Each respondent also completed best-worst tasks designed to elicit relative importance of each of the CSR areas by U.S. residents. This study found that for the sample as a whole, health and safety was perceived (relative to all other areas studied) as the most important CSR area, and environment was prioritized second. Reporting gender as female and/or age over 65 years of age, was positively correlated with the relative importance placed on health and safety, but negatively correlated with the size of preference share for nearly all other CSR areas investigated. Membership in the younger age categories was positively
Growth of Heterotrophic Bacteria and Algal Extracellular Products in Oligotrophic Waters

The unexpected observation of 200 to 400 coliform bacteria per 100 ml in an unpolluted pristine stream was studied within Grand Teton National Park, Wyo. The high numbers of waterborne bacteria occurred in mid- to late summer at a location where there was a coincidental bloom of an algal mat community. Periphyton samplers were used to measure the algal growth that coincided with the increase in number of bacteria. Laboratory studies followed the growth of various coliform bacteria in the supernatant obtained from a Chlorella culture isolated from the mat community. Mixed natural bacterial populations from the stream and pure cultures of water-isolated fecal and nonfecal coliforms increased by two to three orders of magnitude at 13�C when grown in the algal supernatant. Radioactive algal products were obtained by feeding an axenic Chlorella culture 14C-labeled bicarbonate under laboratory cultivation at 13�C with illumination. Radioactive organic material from the algae became incorporated into the particulate fraction of pure cultures of coliform bacteria as they reproduced and was later released as they died.
Organizational Commitment: A Qualitative Assessment of Training Programs

In the highly competitive climate of enterprise, corporations large and small continue to feel pressure from financial stakeholders to increase return on investments. A most obvious consideration within any organization is the need to control labor costs while delivering a good or service that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations. Thus the value chain of human resource endeavors must at its core focus on the ability to recruit, train and retain an engaged workforce is critical for long-term viability of any organization. This study sought to determine whether any connection existed between training investments in the employees and their attitudes toward their work roles and the organization. Specifically, this study sought to determine whether levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment were boosted in employees who participated in leadership development activities. Additionally, this study sought to determine if the work units to which these employees were assigned experienced any shifts in employee retention in the year following completion of the leadership development training program.
Alternative Earnings Management Techniques: What Audit Committees and Internal Auditors Should Know

The desire to meet analysts' earnings expectations has driven companies to abandon credible financial reporting by stretching the boundaries of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and even making operational and investment decisions that compromise future financial performance. Although external auditors have made strides in curtailing GAAP-based earnings management, real earnings management (REM) has been adopted by management who hope to improve reported earnings. Such behavior should be of concern to audit committees (ACs) whose responsibilities extend beyond simple compliance with GAAP, to include ensuring that financial information is credible enough to facilitate risk assessments and to maintain effective internal control systems to monitor the effective use of resources by management to maximize long-term shareholder wealth. The purpose of this article is to increase awareness about the nature, extent, and consequences of management's use of REM to meet Wall Street expectations. We also discuss company and governance attributes that are associated with REM so that ACs and internal auditors (IAs) are able to identify circumstances in which REM is employed to generate earnings that satisfy Wall Street. Specific techniques to detect REM are provided, as well as disclosure alternatives that the AC may use to assist financial statement users in assessing current- and future-period financial performance. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Granuloma Formation Induced in Mice by Chemically Defined Mycobacterial Fractions

Amounts of trehalose-6,6-dimycolate as small as 1 to 5 μg can, after intravenous injection, induce in the lungs of mice formation of tubercles in which the cellular composition is indistinguishable from that in tubercles formed after an infection with living BCG bacilli. The strongest cellular response in mice was induced by cord factor from Mycobacterium kansasii; the weakest was induced by cord factor from the BCG strain of M. bovis. It was found that three intravenous injections of cord factor induced a more extensive cellular response than did one injection of the same total amount of cord factor. Mice treated intravenously with cord factor were protected against an intravenous challenge with the virulent H37Rv strain of M. tuberculosis. The cellular response in the lungs of mice to intraperitoneal injections of living BCG and cord factor was very weak compared with that after intravenous injections. Intraperitoneal vaccination of mice with cord factor did not protect the mice against a challenge with virulent tubercle bacilli. Mice vaccinated intraperitoneally with BCG were immunized although no granulomas, or very few, were present in the lungs at the time of the challenge. The significance of the cellular response induced by cord factor is discussed.
Tumor–antigen heterogeneity of disseminated breast cancer cells: Implications for immunotherapy of minimal residual disease

Single micrometastatic tumor cells encased in mesenchymal tissues, such as bone marrow (BM), are regarded as suitable targets for adjuvant immunotherapy since they are easily accessible for both immunoglobulins and immune effector cells. However, the antigen profile of such cells, to which antibody therapy might be targeted, cannot be deduced from the antigen pattern of the primary tumor. To evaluate the antigen profile of disseminated cells found in BM aspirates from 20 breast cancer patients, we applied a quantitative immuno‐cytochemical double‐marker assay and typed for 4 common tumor‐associated cell‐surface antigens (c‐erbB‐2, CO17–1A, MUC‐1, LewisY). Individual breast cancer cells were identified by Fab fragments of the pan‐cytokeratin (CK) monoclonal antibody (MAb) A45‐B/B3, directly conjugated with alkaline phosphatase, which identified cancer cells as sensitively as the standard APAAP procedure (r = 0.998; p < 0.0001). CK+ cells co‐expressed c‐erbB‐2, CO17–1A, MUC‐1 and LewisY in 87%, 78%, 79% and 79% of patients, respectively; however, the frequency of double‐positive cells per sample varied considerably. The mean percentage of double‐positive cells per total number of CK+ cells was 41% for c‐erbB‐2 (range 0–92%), 47% for CO17–1A (range 0–75%), 49% for MUC‐1 (range 0–67%) and 32% for LewisY (range 0–59%). In 14 of these patients, we used an antibody cocktail to type CK+ cells for the combined expression of all 4 antigens. The antibody cocktail labeled significantly more CK+ cells than each of the single MAbs alone, resulting in a mean of 71% double‐positive tumor cells (34–100%). We conclude that expression of tumor‐associated cell‐surface antigens on micrometastatic cancer cells in BM is heterogeneous, which may limit the efficacy of monovalent immunotherapeutic strategies directed against only one particular antigen. Thus, defining target antigens expressed by the actual target cells emerges as a crucial first step in selecting appropriate therapeutic targets. Int. J. Cancer (Pred. Oncol.) 84:1–5, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Design of a wideband low noise amplifier using modified cascode structure for 45GHz band applications

In this paper a low noise amplifier (LNA) with modified cascode structure in 45 GHz frequency band is presented. The LNA has been designed using TSMC 0.18 um RF-CMOS Technology The modified cascode structure is used to increase maximum stable gain (MSG), reduce noise figure and improve stability. In order to achieve wideband matching, band pass networks are used for input and output matching. This two stage LNA has 8 dB small signal gain and 4.8 dB noise figure in 45 GHz and the 3dB bandwidth is 20 GHz with insertion loss lower than −10 dB in all of the bandwidth. The supply voltage is 1.8 V and the consumed power is 11.2 mW. This LNA has better noise figure and bandwidth in comparison with the similar reported works.
Congenital dermoid cyst of the tongue

Abstract True dermoid cysts of the oral cavity are rare, usually presenting as midline swellings in the floor of the mouth and occasionally elsewhere in the oral cavity. This report describes the diagnosis and management of a congenital dermoid cyst of the lateral aspect of the body of the tongue in a 10-year-old girl. The theories of the pathogenesis of this cyst during embryogenesis of the tongue are also reviewed.
The Relationship between Current Account Deficits and Unemployment in Turkey

In this chapter, we test the nature of the variety of empirical relationships between current account deficits and unemployment in Turkey over 2000Q1–2012Q1. Our working hypothesis in this paper is that the meager job creation in Turkey over 2000s is the direct symptom of a speculative-led growth environment (Grabel, 1995) together with an excessively open and unregulated capital account in the age of relatively cheap and abundant global finance. Based on the vector error correction model (VECM), we found that there is a unidirectional causality running from current account deficits to unemployment. Both Impulse Response and Variance Decomposition analyses are quite consistent with results of VECM. We interpret these findings as evidence of the structural characteristics of unemployment, reflected in output elasticities, being embedded under the deepening external fragility of the Turkish economy over the 2000s.
The uraA locus and homologous recombination in Mycobacterium bovis BCG

Molecular genetic manipulation of mycobacteria would benefit from the isolation of mycobacterial genes that could serve both as genetic markers and as sequences used to target homologous integration of recombinant DNA into the genome. We isolated the Mycobacterium bovis BCG gene encoding orotidine-5'-monophosphate decarboxylase (OMP-DCase) by complementing an Escherichia coli mutant defective in this activity. The BCG OMP-DCase gene (uraA) and the flanking DNA were sequenced. The predicted BCG OMP-DCase protein sequence is closely related to the Myxococcus xanthus OMP-DCase and more distantly related to the other known prokaryotic and eukaryotic OMP-DCases. To investigate whether homologous integration can occur in M. bovis BCG, an improved protocol for transformation of BCG was developed and a linear fragment of mycobacterial DNA containing the uraA locus, marked with a kanamycin resistance gene, was introduced into BCG cells by electroporation. The kanamycin-resistant BCG transformants all contained vector DNA integrated into the genome. The marked DNA had integrated into the homologous uraA locus in approximately 20% of the transformants. These results have implications for understanding the role of mycobacterial genes in disease pathogenesis and for the genetic engineering of improved mycobacterial vaccines.
Computer simulation of protein-protein association kinetics: acetylcholinesterase-fasciculin.

Computer simulations were performed to investigate the role of electrostatic interactions in promoting fast association of acetylcholinesterase with its peptidic inhibitor, the neurotoxin fasciculin. The encounter of the two macromolecules was simulated with the technique of Brownian dynamics (BD), using atomically detailed structures, and association rate constants were calculated for the wild-type and a number of mutant proteins. In a first set of simulations, the ordering of the experimental rate constants for the mutant proteins was correctly reproduced, although the absolute values of the rate constants were overestimated by a factor of around 30. Rigorous calculations of the full electrostatic interaction energy between the two proteins indicate that this overestimation of association rates results at least in part from approximations made in the description of interaction energetics in the BD simulations. In particular, the initial BD simulations neglect the unfavourable electrostatic desolvation effects that result from the exclusion of high dielectric solvent that accompanies the approach of the two low dielectric proteins. This electrostatic desolvation component is so large that the overall contribution of electrostatics to the binding energy of the complex is unlikely to be strongly favourable. Nevertheless, electrostatic interactions are still responsible for increased association rates, because even if they are unfavourable in the fully formed complex, they are still favourable at intermediate protein-protein separation distances. It therefore appears possible for electrostatic interactions to promote the kinetics of binding even if they do not make a strongly favourable contribution to the thermodynamics of binding. When an approximate description of these electrostatic desolvation effects is included in a second set of BD simulations, the relative ordering of the mutant proteins is again correctly reproduced, but now association rate constants that are much closer in magnitude to the experimental values are obtained. Inclusion of electrostatic desolvation effects also improves reproduction of the experimental ionic strength dependence of the wild-type association rate.
GPR40 Is Necessary but Not Sufficient for Fatty Acid Stimulation of Insulin Secretion In Vivo

Long-chain fatty acids amplify insulin secretion from the pancreatic β-cell. The G-protein–coupled receptor GPR40 is specifically expressed in β-cells and is activated by fatty acids; however, its role in acute regulation of insulin secretion in vivo remains unclear. To this aim, we generated GPR40 knockout (KO) mice and examined glucose homeostasis, insulin secretion in response to glucose and Intralipid in vivo, and insulin secretion in vitro after short- and long-term exposure to fatty acids. Our results show that GPR40 KO mice have essentially normal glucose tolerance and insulin secretion in response to glucose. Insulin secretion in response to Intralipid was reduced by ∼50%. In isolated islets, insulin secretion in response to glucose and other secretagogues was unaltered, but fatty acid potentiation of insulin release was markedly reduced. The Gαq/11 inhibitor YM-254890 dose-dependently reduced palmitate potentiation of glucose-induced insulin secretion. Islets from GPR40 KO mice were as sensitive to fatty acid inhibition of insulin secretion upon prolonged exposure as islets from wild-type animals. We conclude that GPR40 contributes approximately half of the full acute insulin secretory response to fatty acids in mice but does not play a role in the mechanisms by which fatty acids chronically impair insulin secretion.
Persistence of Topographic Controls on the Spatial Distribution of Snow in Rugged Mountain Terrain , Colorado , USA

We model the spatial distribution of snow depth across a wind-dominated alpine basin using a geostatistical approach with a complex variable mean. Snow depth surveys were conducted at maximum accumulation from 1997 through 2003 in the 2.3-km2 Green Lake Valley (GLV) watershed in Colorado. Three deterministic models of the snow depth trend were considered, differing in how they model the effect of terrain parameters on snow depth. The terrain parameters considered were elevation, slope, potential radiation, an index of wind sheltering, and an index of wind drifting. When nonlinear interactions between the terrain parameters were included, all Þve terrain parameters were found to be statisically signiÞcant in predicting snow depth when a multi-year dataset was analyzed, yet only potential radiation and an index of wind sheltering were found to be statistically signiÞcant for all individual years. Of the Þve terrain parameters considered, the index of wind sheltering was found to have the greatest effect on predicted snow depth. The methology presented in this paper allows for the characterization of the spatial correlation of model residuals for a variable mean model, incorporates the spatial correlation into the optimization of the deterministic trend, and produces smooth estimate maps that may extrapolate above and below measured values. These characteristics are an improvement over previous methods of distributing snow depth in basins with rugged topography.