Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Moderate-intensity exercise suppresses platelet activation and polymorphonuclear leukocyte interaction with surface-adherent platelets under shear flow in men

Summary The reciprocal modulation of platelet and polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) activities is important in the pathogenesis of thrombosis and inflammation. This study investigated how moderate exercise affects shear-induced platelet activation and subsequent PMNs interaction with platelet-related thrombi under shear flow. Sixteen sedentary healthy men engaged in moderate exercise (about 60% V·O2max) on a bicycle ergometer. Platelet activation, PMNs interaction with surface-adherent platelets, and PMN-dependent inhibition of platelet activation under shear flow were measured both before and immediately after exercise. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: (1) moderate exercise was associated with lower extents of shear-induced platelet adhesion and aggregation, binding of von Willbrand factor (vWF) to platelets, and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa activation and P-selectin expression on platelet than at rest; (2) the velocity and percentage of rolling PMNs increased while the number of PMNs remaining bound to surface-adherent platelets decreased after moderate exercise; (3) although treating the PMNs with oxidized-low density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL) enhanced PMNs interaction with surface-adherent platelets, moderate exercise suppressed the enhancement of platelet-PMN interaction by Ox-LDL; (4) moderate exercise decreased platelet [Ca2+]i elevation induced by ADP and platelet [Ca2+]i levels mediated by PMN and Ox-LDL-treated PMN; and (5) plasma and PMN-derived nitric oxide metabolites and plasma vWF antigen and activity increased after moderate exercise, whereas plasma and platelet-derived soluble P-selectin levels remained unchanged in response to exercise. Therefore, we conclude that moderate-intensity exercise suppresses shear-induced platelet activation and subsequent PMNs adhesion to platelets deposited at sites of vascular injury under flow, thereby reducing the risks of vascular thrombosis and inflammation.
Earnings Management, Effective Tax Rate (ETR) and Book-Tax Gap (BTG)

Objective – This research examines the effect of company size, changes in out-cash flow, return on assets, conservatism, and profit levelling on earnings management. Methodology/Technique – The results of this research show that banking capital structure, capital intensity, intensity of inventory, and intensity of R & D have a significant impact on effective tax rates. Further, the results also show that, with respect to the non-banking sector, R & D expenditure contributes significantly to effective tax rates. Simultaneously, earnings management and effective tax rates, as well as other factors, also have an effect on book tax gap. Findings – This study shows that profit management has a significantly positive effect on book tax gap, and effective tax rates has a significant negative effects o book tax gap. In terms of the non-banking sector, earnings management and effective tax rate have no effect on book tax gap. Deferred tax expenses have a lower capability to detect earnings management than accrual, in both the banking and non-banking sector. Novelty – The study of management capabilities optimizes the role of book tax gap and effective tax rate for earning management. Both tax management and earnings management are closely related to behavior management in managing a company based on the agency theory. Furthermore, the study identifies a relationship between earnings management and book tax gap
Myocardial Dysfunction and Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity Following Birth Asphyxia

ABSTRACT. Birth asphyxia often leads to left ventricular myocardial dysfunction. To assess the effect of myocardial dysfunction on cerebral perfusion, we evaluated cardiac output and cerebral blood flow velocity in the anterior cerebral and internal carotid arteries in 20 asphyxiated term newborn infants during the first 4 days of life using 2‐dimensional/pulsed Doppler ultrasound. In 8 infants with myocardial dysfunction cardiac output was reduced on days 1 and 2 and within normal limits thereafter. In these infants changes in mean cerebral blood flow velocity and pulsatility index were passively related to changes in mean arterial pressure and cardiac output. In 12 infants without myocardial dysfunction a stable cerebral blood flow velocity pattern was found, which was unaffected by changes in mean arterial pressure. We conclude that infants presenting with a reduced cardiac output after deliveries associated with severe asphyxia may be at risk for additional ischemic or hemorrhagic cerebral damage because of lack of autoregulation.
A History of Pediatric Specialties: The Development of Pediatric Cardiology

Pediatric cardiology, as a discipline, arose from early descriptive studies of congenital cardiac defects. The development of the stethoscope allowed some clinical diagnoses to be made during life. Cardiology as a medical specialty was limited, mainly, to internists. When Robert Gross ligated a patent ductus in 1938, pediatric cardiology, as a discipline, was born. Physiologic studies, angiography, and the development of extracorporeal circulation allowed congenital cardiac lesions previously considered a curiosity to be diagnosed and treated successfully. The few pediatricians who were interested in cardiology taught themselves, and soon pediatric cardiology training programs developed. By 1961, pediatric cardiology became the first subspecialty board in pediatrics. The past 60 y has brought enormous progress. Cardiac ultrasound, color-flow Doppler, and magnetic resonance imaging have made diagnostic cardiac catheterization almost unnecessary. Instead, interventional cardiac catheterization rapidly developed and is already able to replace surgery in the treatment of a number of cardiac defects. The first 50 y of cardiology has been focused on patient care, education, and clinical research, but the last 10 y has added exciting, basic research discoveries, which are elucidating the cause of cardiac defects with hope for prevention in the future. As a discipline, pediatric cardiology has always required a team—pathologists, physiologists, cardiologists, surgeons, intensivists, interventionists, and anesthesiologists—all playing an important role in the treatment of children with cardiac problems. Today the geneticists, molecular biologists, and other basic scientists are joining the team to ensure an exciting future for pediatric cardiology and the children yet to be born.
Human capital and financial performance in professional football: the role of governance mechanisms

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between human capital investments and financial performance in the professional football industry. The authors examine this association by controlling for internal (club-level) mechanisms of governance. Specifically, as they deal with a context of highly concentrated ownership and familial control of football clubs, they posit that the degree of family board representation and a dual leadership structure exert a moderating effect on the decision to spend on playing talent. ,The empirical analysis employs a fixed-effect econometric model on a panel data set of 16 Italian football clubs that spans a nine-year time period ending up with 144 firm-year observations. ,The main novel finding of this investigation is that clubs with CEO duality and a high degree of family board representation manage to profit from investments in player contracts as opposed to clubs which lack these governance mechanisms. ,A clear implication is that the presence of corporate governance mechanisms at club level may be value-enhancing. In terms of policy direction, the finding makes the case that regulatory bodies should consider the imposition of governance mechanisms at club level as a means to promote actual financial discipline and a further ally to current regulations that are restricted to monitoring processes tied to accounting data. ,This study attempts to explain the financial outcomes of player investments by combining insights from the mainstream governance and family business literature. Prior works in the field are restricted to testing the direct relation between player investments and performance, but fail to consider the potential moderators of this association.
Frequent nuclear β‐catenin accumulation and associated mutations in endometrioid‐type endometrial and ovarian carcinomas with squamous differentiation

Focal squamous differentiation is a common feature of endometrioid endometrial and ovarian carcinomas (E‐Em and E‐Ova Cas). A close association between mutated β‐catenin accumulation and alteration in cellular morphology has recently been demonstrated in murine L cell lines. To clarify the possible role of β‐catenin abnormalities and changes in tumour morphology, 60 grade (G) 1 or G2 E‐Em Cas with areas of squamous differentiation (SqD), including morules and squamous metaplastic (SqM) foci, as well as 32 G1 or G2 tumours without such lesions, were investigated and the results compared with findings for c‐jun and wnt‐1 expression. Twenty‐three E‐Ova Cas, with and without SqD lesions, were also examined. In E‐Em Cas, frequent nuclear β‐catenin accumulation was observed in 22 (84.6%) of 26 tumours with morules and 15 (45.5%) of 33 with SqM foci, in contrast to 4 (12.5%) of 32 without such lesions. Similar findings were also noted for mutations in exon 3 of the β‐catenin gene, involving codons 32, 33, 34, 37, 41, and 45, the single nucleotide substitutions being identical between SqD and the surrounding carcinoma tissue in most informative cases. The mutations were positively related to nuclear immunopositivity, but inversely to membrane expression, while there was no association with the status of c‐jun or wnt‐1. These E‐Ova Cas, nuclear β‐catenin accumulation and mutations were limited to tumours with SqD features, independent of c‐jun and wnt‐1 status. These data indicate that β‐catenin abnormalities are relatively common in E‐Em and E‐Ova Cas with SqD features, implying a role in the squamous differentiation of tumour cells, not necessarily related to c‐jun and/or wnt‐1 status. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Behavioral Model of the Credit Cycle

In a behavioral variant of a New Keynesian model, in which individuals use simple heuristic rules to forecast future in ation and output gap, if there are limits on the amount of debt that economic agents are allowed to bear, we observe occasionally severe downturns. Differences in beliefs combined with borrowing constraints tend to dampen expansions, but give rise to a chain reaction that exacerbates the recessions. The model is an example of endogenous credit cycles with expansions, severe recessions, and persistent inequality in the distribution of wealth. Monetary policy can both stabilize the economy and cause increased average output.
A 15-year review of secondary and tertiary optic nerve sheath fenestration for idiopathic intracranial hypertension

ABSTRACT Purpose: Optic nerve sheath fenestration (ONSF) is a common surgical option for patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) with vision loss refractory to medical management. Little is known about the visual benefit of repeated ONSF. The authors aimed to assess the efficacy of secondary and tertiary ONSF in patients with IIH. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients with repeat ONSF for IIH at Emory University from 1999 to 2016. Primary outcome measures included visual acuity, optic nerve head findings, and visual field results. Results: A total of nine eyes in seven patients (five females and two males) with repeat ONSF were identified. Two of the seven patients had repeat ONSF in both eyes, while the remaining five patients had only one eye repeated. Five of seven patients (five eyes) improved or remained stable after the secondary ONSF. Two patients (three eyes) continued to worsen despite the secondary fenestration surgery and underwent tertiary ONSF at an average of 13.2 months (SD 5.5 months) after the failed secondary ONSF. Both patients that underwent the tertiary fenestration showed improvement. Six of the patients had either improvement or stability in their clinical findings at their last documented follow-up, but one continued to worsen despite intervention. Conclusions: This study suggests that secondary and tertiary nerve sheath fenestration is a viable management option for patients with progressive vision loss from IIH. Repeat ONSFs do not appear to have increased complication or failure rates compared to prior documented studies regarding primary fenestrations.
A novel strategy for quantitative proteomics using isotope‐coded protein labels

Stable isotope labelling in combination with mass spectrometry has emerged as a powerful tool to identify and relatively quantify thousands of proteins within complex protein mixtures. Here we describe a novel method, termed isotope‐coded protein label (ICPL), which is capable of high‐throughput quantitative proteome profiling on a global scale. Since ICPL is based on stable isotope tagging at the frequent free amino groups of isolated intact proteins, it is applicable to any protein sample, including extracts from tissues or body fluids, and compatible to all separation methods currently employed in proteome studies. The method showed highly accurate and reproducible quantification of proteins and yielded high sequence coverage, indispensable for the detection of post‐translational modifications and protein isoforms. The efficiency (e.g. accuracy, dynamic range, sensitivity, speed) of the approach is demonstrated by comparative analysis of two differentially spiked proteomes.
α-Galactosylceramide (KRN7000) suppression of chemical- and oncogene-dependent carcinogenesis

Recent studies have revealed significant efficacy of the marine sponge glycolipid, α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), in treatment of experimental metastatic cancers, infections, and autoimmune diseases. However, the capacity of α-GalCer to prevent tumor development had never, to our knowledge, been evaluated in mouse models of chemical- and oncogene-dependent carcinogenesis. In this study, we demonstrate that long-term administration of soluble α-GalCer, spanning the time of tumor initiation, inhibits primary tumor formation in three different models: methylcholanthrene-induced sarcomas, mammary carcinomas in Her-2/neu transgenic mice, and spontaneous sarcomas in p53–/– mice. Weekly treatment of mice with α-GalCer maintained lymphoid tissue natural killer cell and T cell activation and elevated serum IFN-γ and IL-4 concentrations. Consistent with the antimetastatic activity of α-GalCer, prevention of methylcholanthrene-induced sarcoma was IFN-γand tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand dependent, but not perforin-dependent. Taken together, our results demonstrate that NK1.1+αβTCR+ cell-based immune therapy can inhibit primary tumorigenesis.
Modeling hypercholesterolemia and vascular lipid accumulation in LDL receptor mutant zebrafish[S]

Elevated plasma LDL cholesterol is the dominant risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Deficiency in the LDL receptor (LDLR) is a major cause of familial hypercholesterolemia in humans, and the LDLR knockout mouse is a major animal model of atherosclerosis. Here we report the generation and characterization of an ldlr mutant zebrafish as a new animal model to study hypercholesterolemia and vascular lipid accumulation, an early event in the development of human atherosclerosis. The ldlr mutant zebrafish were characterized by activated SREBP-2 pathway and developed moderate hypercholesterolemia when fed a normal diet. However, a short-term, 5-day feeding of ldlr mutant larvae with a high-cholesterol diet (HCD) resulted in exacerbated hypercholesterolemia and accumulation of vascular lipid deposits. Lomitapide, an inhibitor of apoB lipoprotein secretion, but not the antioxidant probucol, significantly reduced accumulation of vascular lipid deposits in HCD-fed ldlr mutant larvae. Furthermore, ldlr mutants were defective in hepatic clearance of lipopolysaccharides, resulting in reduced survival. Taken together, our data suggest that the ldlr knockout zebrafish is a versatile model for studying the function of the LDL receptor, hypercholesterolemia, and related vascular pathology in the context of early atherosclerosis. —
Synergistic Activities of MET/RON Inhibitor BMS-777607 and mTOR Inhibitor AZD8055 to Polyploid Cells Derived from Pancreatic Cancer and Cancer Stem Cells

Tyrosine kinase inhibitor BMS-777067 is an inhibitor of RON/MET receptor tyrosine kinases currently under clinical trials. Here, we report the synergistic activity of BMS-777607 in combination with mTOR inhibitor AZD8055 in killing chemoresistant pancreatic cancer and cancer stem cells. Treatment of pancreatic cancer L3.6pl cells with BMS-777607 alone inhibited clonogenic growth and moderately induced apoptotic death. However, BMS-777607 caused extensive polyploidy in L3.6pl cells through inhibition of aurora kinase B activity, independent of RON expression. In contrast, L3.6pl-derived cancer stem cells were highly resistant to BMS-777607–induced growth inhibition and apoptosis. The effect of BMS-777607 on induction of cancer stem cell polyploidy was also weak. BMS-777607–induced polyploidy features a predominant cell population with 8N chromosome content in both L3.6pl and cancer stem cells. These cells also showed decreased sensitivity toward chemotherapeutics by increased survival of IC50 values in response to doxorubicin, cisplatin, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracial, and gemcitabine. Among a panel of chemical inhibitors that target different signaling proteins, we found that BMS-777607 in combination with mTOR inhibitor AZD8055 exerted synergistic effects on L3.6pl and cancer stem cells. More than 70% of L3.6pl and cancer stem cells lost their viability when both inhibitors were used. Specifically, BMS-777607 in combination with inhibition of mTORC2, but not mTORC1, was responsible for the observed synergism. Our findings demonstrate that BMS-777607 at therapeutic doses exerts inhibitory activities on pancreatic cancer cells but also induces polyploidy insensitive to chemotherapeutics. Combination of BMS-777607 with AZD8055 achieves the maximal cytotoxic effect on pancreatic cancer and cancer stem cells. Mol Cancer Ther; 13(1); 37–48. ©2013 AACR.
City Revenue Structure and Unfunded Pension Liabilities

A growing body of research shows that economic, demographic, and institutional factors affect public pension funding. Most of these findings are based on the analysis of complete retirement systems, which are often funded by multiple plan sponsors. This article offers one of the first empirical analyses of the determinants of pension funding at the level of a city government that acts as a plan sponsor, often for more than one plan. Models predicting unfunded liabilities for a large national sample of cities over 2003–2012 suggest that city fiscal autonomy and reliance property taxes are additional pieces of the pension underfunding puzzle.
An Enhanced ZigBee Indoor Positioning System With an Ensemble Approach

This paper presents a framework for ZigBee indoor positioning with an ensemble approach. This approach exploits the complementary advantages of various algorithms, weights the estimation results, and combines them to improve accuracy. This is achieved by dynamically analyzing the diverse patterns of inputs and combining base positioning algorithms with spatial dependent weights. The experiments were conducted in a realistic ZigBee sensor network. Results demonstrated that the proposed approach apparently achieves more accurate location estimation than the compared methods including the gradient-based search, linear squares approximation, multidimensional scaling, fingerprinting method, and a multi-expert system.
Utility of home blood pressure monitoring to evaluate postprandial blood pressure in treated hypertensive patients

Postprandial hypotension, defined as a fall in systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 20 mmHg or greater within 2 hours after a meal, is a risk factor for stroke, coronary events and mortality. The clinical suspicion is typically raised by episodes of postprandial syncope or falls, whereas asymptomatic postprandial hypotension is mostly neglected. The magnitude of the postprandial fall in SBP, as detected by 24-hour recording in apparently healthy middle-aged to elderly subjects, was proportional to the severity of the silent cerebrovascular damage. Postprandial hypotension can also be detected by self-measured blood pressure before and within 2 hours after meals using automatic devices. The review highlights the value of home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) as a screening test for asymptomatic postprandial hypotension in hypertensive patients. Using a HBPM protocol that included duplicated blood pressure measurements before and after three consecutive lunches, we detected unsuspected postprandial hypotension in 27.4% of the 230 hypertensive patients screened. The prevalence of postprandial hypotension was 13.2% in controlled and 42.2% in uncontrolled hypertensive patients (p < 0.001), raising the dilemma of further lowering blood pressure in the setting of postprandial hypotension. The inclusion of preprandial and postprandial measurements in the protocol of HBPM is useful to identify hypertensive patients with postprandial hypotension and may guide adjustments in antihypertensive treatment according to postprandial blood pressure.
Using unlabeled data to improve classification in the naive bayes approach: Application to web searches

This paper introduces a method to build a classifier based on labelled and unlabelled data. We set up the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm steps for the particular case of the naive Bayes approach and show empirical work for the restricted web page database. Original contributions includes the application of the EM algorithm to simulated data in order to see the behavior of the algorithm for different numbers of labelled and unlabelled data, and to study the effect of the sampling mechanism for the unlabelled data on the results.