Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DETERMINANTS OF JOB SATISFACTION: QUALITATIVE CASE SURVEY

Job satisfaction can be defined as degree of positive feelings or attitudes that individuals have towards their jobs. Job satisfaction is important technique used to motivate the employees to work harder. The employee’s satisfaction and retention are critical to conduct of business in the competitive marketplace and business environment today. This study investigates the employees and to evaluate their job satisfaction level from the perspective of bank employees. The qualitative research method as indepth interviews and self-administered questionnaire were design and used to obtain and explore specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors, and social contexts related to employees and their job satisfaction level. Factors such as promotion, work condition, relationship with co-workers and superior, supportive management, role clarity, contribution and self-expression and challenge are found important for improving job satisfaction of bank employees in Industrial Bank Berhad (IBB)*. The result of study revealed that relationship with superior is the most vital factor for influencing job satisfaction of employees.
Effective Utilization of Data Mining Techniques for Digital Security

In this paper we brainstorm and discuss about different data mining methods that we have effectively connected for digital security. These applications incorporate however are not restricted to pernicious code location by mining double executables, system interruption recognition by mining system movement, peculiarity discovery, and information stream mining. Data mining based interruption location instruments are amazingly valuable in finding security breaks
Metronidazole and Tacrolimus Interaction in a Kidney Transplant Recipient

We present a 56-year-old male kidney transplant recipient who was hospitalized for acute kidney injury due to gastroenteritis related volume depletion and had kindey function deterioration secondary to rising plasma levels of tacrolimus after metronidazole administration. Tacrolimus dose was decreased and arranged daily by closely drug level monitoring. His creatinine value returned to his basal levels after metronidazole was stopped and his tacrolimus levels were kept in target range. Tacrolimus is metabolized primarily in the liver by CYP3A enzymes and drugs that affect CYP3A functions such as metronidazole can cause elevated tacrolimus plasma levels that results in nephrotoxicity. This case teach us that calcineurin inhibitors should be closely monitored in kidney transplant recipients during metronidazole treatment.
The Effects of Cranial Irradiation on Growth Hormone Secretion

ABSTRACT. Growth hormone (GH) secretion has been studied under physiological conditions and in response to standard pharmacological stimuli in 14 children, who had previously received cranial irradiation between two and fourteen years earlier. All fourteen showed a blunted GH response to insulin hypoglycaemia and, in twelve, the GH response to arginine stimulation was also subnormal. Physiological GH secretion was studied by measuring integrated GH concentrations in 30 min blood samples collected over a 24 hour period by a continuous withdrawal pump. Compared to normal controls (n=5), the irradiated patients showed a significant reduction in the mean integrated GH concentration (2.2: 8.8 mU/l; p< 0.002), the total 24 hour GH output (mean 105.7 mU vs. 391.7 mU; p< 0.002) and the mean GH output during the first six hours of sleep (mean 48.2 mU vs. 226 mU; p< 0.002). There was no significant correlation between the maximum peak GH response to either pharmacological test and the total 24 hour GH output. Conventionally most short children undergo two provocative tests of GH release and if the GH response to one of the two tests is normal, it is usually assumed that GH production is adequate. Adopting these criteria in this study it would have been assumed incorrectly that GH production was normal in two children. Nonetheless all 14 children showed a blunted GH response to an ITT as well as a reduced total 24 hour GH output. Therefore we would suggest that in children suspected of radiation‐induced GH deficiency pharmacological tests of GH secretion remain useful, the ITT being the test of choice because of the marked radiation sensitivity of the GH response to hypoglycaemia.
Age trends in the sleep EEG of healthy older men and women

SUMMARY The all‐night sleep EEGs of 314 (191 women, 123 men) healthy older subjects between the ages of 45 and 90 were studied for age trends in the power spectra of the all‐night NREM sleep EEG. Power spectra of the unnormalized EEG of the women show a power loss in the delta band and a power increase in the beta band with increasing age. For the men no significant trends in the power spectra of the unnormalized EEG were in evidence. A normalization of the power spectra was performed by referencing each logarithmically expressed spectra to its area between 2 Hz and 30 Hz. For both genders the normalized spectra show significant decreases in power at many frequencies below 16 Hz and significant increases in power at frequencies above 18 Hz with increasing age. The age trends observed in the spectra of this population (45‐90y age group) are about a third of the magnitude of those reported in the literature for subjects between the ages of 20y and 40y.
When stem cells grow old: phenotypes and mechanisms of stem cell aging

All multicellular organisms undergo a decline in tissue and organ function as they age. An attractive theory is that a loss in stem cell number and/or activity over time causes this decline. In accordance with this theory, aging phenotypes have been described for stem cells of multiple tissues, including those of the hematopoietic system, intestine, muscle, brain, skin and germline. Here, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of why adult stem cells age and how this aging impacts diseases and lifespan. With this increased understanding, it is feasible to design and test interventions that delay stem cell aging and improve both health and lifespan. Summary: This Review presents the latest advances in our understanding of stem cell aging in multiple tissues, and discusses their implications for lifespan, disease and potential therapies.
Epidemic increase in childhood overweight, 1986-1998.

CONTEXT Overweight is the most common health problem facing US children. Data for adults suggest that overweight prevalence has increased by more than 50% in the last 10 years. Data for children also suggest that the prevalence of overweight continues to increase rapidly. OBJECTIVE To investigate recent changes in the prevalence of overweight within a nationally representative sample of children. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a prospective cohort study conducted from 1986 to 1998 among 8270 children aged 4 to 12 years (24 174 growth points were analyzed). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Prevalence of overweight children, defined as body mass index (BMI) greater than the 95th percentile for age and sex, and prevalence of overweight and at-risk children, defined as BMI greater than the 85th percentile for age and sex. The roles of race/ethnicity, sex, income, and region of residence were also examined. RESULTS Between 1986 and 1998, overweight increased significantly and steadily among African American (P<.001), Hispanic (P<.001), and white (P =.03) children. By 1998, overweight prevalence increased to 21.5% among African Americans, 21.8% among Hispanics, and 12.3% among non-Hispanic whites. In addition, overweight children were heavier in 1998 compared with 1986 (P<.001). After adjusting for confounding variables, overweight increased fastest among minorities and southerners, creating large demographic differences in the prevalence of childhood overweight by 1998. The number of children with BMI greater than the 85th percentile increased significantly from 1986 to 1998 among African American and Hispanic children (P<.001 for both) and nonsignificantly among white children (P =.77). CONCLUSIONS Childhood overweight continues to increase rapidly in the United States, particularly among African Americans and Hispanics. Culturally competent treatment strategies as well as other policy interventions are required to increase physical activity and encourage healthy eating patterns among children.
Increasing PD Utilization: Should Suitable Patients be Forced?

144 This issue of Peritoneal Dialysis International includes an article by Portolés et al. that suggests, based on a large Spanish experience, that lack of a patient’s free choice of modality is associated with worse peritoneal dialysis (PD) outcomes, including early mortality (1). The fundamental question of whether patients should be forced into less expensive dialysis modalities is a controversial ethical dilemma for nephrologists. However, like so many other clinical studies in nephrology, this study is imperfect and really only shines some murky light on the fate of patients that fail hemodialysis (HD) and are therefore obliged to do PD for medical reasons. It seems clear that patients approaching end-stage renal disease can be grouped into several broad categories. Some choose conservative therapy; others are eligible for early transplantation. Of those that wish to live on dialysis, there are some patients that have contraindications to PD and a few with contraindications to HD, but the great majority can do either method. It is this last group that generates the question of whether to force a home dialysis option. In contrast, the group described by Portolés et al. is different. It seems that these patients were unable to start or continue on HD, and so were obligated to do PD, but to say they were forced (with the implication that this was against their will) is just not correct. The title, the body of the article, the tables, and the figures would be more accurate if the authors had consitently labeled the group as “manditory (or obligatory) referral to PD,” as the authors have done in the abstract. It is important to point out that the analysis by forced choice may or may not have been a prespecified research question. Indeed, the criteria for assigning patients to the forced choice group are not precisely defined at all. Thus, the association described should be considered hypothesis-generating only. Nonetheless, it is not surprising that patients that are unable to do HD, or that have failed it, do relatively poorly. They are a self-selected subgroup with many negative characteristics that are different from their younger colleagues who have all options open to them. Thus, the real question is, How did they fare when compared to the only other option that was available, which was the discontinuation of dialysis? The blunt truth is INCREASING PD UTILIZATION: SHOULD SUITABLE PATIENTS BE FORCED?
Prevalence of first-step mutants among levofloxacin-susceptible isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae in north Lebanon

Abstract Resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to fluoroquinolones arises by stepwise accumulation of spontaneous point mutations in the quinolone-resistance determining regions (QRDRs). Fluoroquinolones treatment of infections caused by first-step mutants (pre-resistant) can lead to the selection of resistant isolates, resulting in treatment failure. First-step mutants cannot however be reliably detected by routine resistance testing. Levofloxacin has been used as a surrogate marker to predict fluoroquinolone susceptibility in clinical laboratories. By use of a PCR followed by pyrosequencing, we examined 45 levofloxacin-susceptible pneumococcal strains [minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) < 0·5 μg/ml] for first-step parC and parE mutations in the QRDR: 51·2% of isolates were recovered from pulmonary and nasal secretions, 22·2% from blood, 24·4% from ear and eye discharge, and 2·2% from cerebrospinal fluid. The results showed that three strains (6·6%) had first-step parC (Asp83-Asn) or parE (Asp435-Asn) mutations. This test could be useful for some high-risk patients or in national surveys.
The Information Content of Implied Skewness and Kurtosis Changes Prior to Earnings Announcements for Stock and Option Returns

We use option prices to examine whether changes in stock return skewness and kurtosis preceding earnings announcements provide information about subsequent stock and option returns. We demonstrate that changes in jump risk premiums can lead to changes in implied skewness and kurtosis and are also associated with the mean and variability of the stock price response to the earnings announcement. We find that changes in both moments have strong predictive power for future stock returns, even after controlling for implied volatility. Additionally, changes in both moments predict call returns, while put return predictability is primarily linked to changes in skewness.
Separation of Alkane Isomers by Exploiting Entropy Effects during Adsorption on Silicalite-1: A Configurational-Bias Monte Carlo Simulation Study

We discuss and develop an entropy-driven principle for separating isomers of alkanes in the five to seven carbon atom range by adsorption on silicalite-1. The normal alkanes are preferentially adsorbed because of configurational entropy effects; they “pack” more efficiently within the channel structures of silicalite. To demonstrate the separation principle we carried out CBMC simulations to determine the isotherms of various mixtures of linear and branched alkanes in silicalite-1. We show that the configurational entropy effects manifest at loadings greater than 4 molecules/unit cell and the sorption favors the linear alkanes while the branched alkanes are virtually excluded from the silicalite matrix. Validation of the entropy-based separation principle is obtained by analyzing the silicalite membrane permeation data published in the literature.
Hypoalbuminemia accelerates erythrocyte membrane lipid peroxidation in chronic hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Persistent hypoalbuminemia is a long-term poor prognostic factor in chronic hemodialysis patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS We investigated the correlation between the degree of peroxidation of erythrocyte membrane lipids, erythrocyte alpha tocopherol content, erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase activity and serum albumin concentration in twelve patients with uremia not undergoing hemodialysis and fifteen patients on maintenance hemodialysis. RESULTS The glutathione peroxidase activity in erythrocytes was higher in patients of uremia not undergoing hemodialysis than in chronic hemodialysis patients. A significant negative correlation was observed between the erythrocyte alpha tocopherol content and the degree of erythrocyte membrane lipid peroxidation in chronic hemodialysis patients. There was a statistically significant difference in the degree of erythrocyte membrane lipid peroxidation between patients with chronic hemodialysis-associated hypoalbuminemia and chronic hemodialysis patients having normal serum albumin levels. CONCLUSION This study suggested that serum albumin inhibits peroxidation of erythrocyte membrane lipids and that hemodialysis induces recovery of serum reductivity. We conclude that persistent hypoalbuminemia worsens the serum antioxidant activity in chronic hemodialysis patients and may contribute to increased oxidative cell damage.
An approach based on the I-IGLOWG and the IGLWG operators to multiple attributes group decision making

In this paper, we investigate the multiple attribute group decision making problems with interval grey linguistic variables. We first introduce some operations on the interval grey linguistic variables. Then, we further develop the induced interval grey linguistic ordered weighted geometric (I-IGLOWG) operator. Then, we apply the induced interval grey linguistic ordered weighted geometric (I-IGLOWG) operator and interval grey linguistic weighted geometric (IGLWG) operator to deal with multiple attribute group decision making with the interval grey linguistic variables. Finally, an illustrative example for supplier selection in supply chain management with the interval grey linguistic variables is given to verify the developed approach.
Estimation of the Stillbirth Rate in Twin Pairs According to Zygosity

Abstract It is common opinion that the stillbirth rate is higher among monozygotic (MZ) than among dizygotic (DZ) twins. This is supported by the fact that stillbirth rates are higher among same-sexed than among opposite-sexed twins, and the relatively high stillbirth rates among twins of young mothers. In this study we present a method to estimate the stillbirth rates for MZ and DZ twins and identify the difference. We performed analyses based on the assumptions of (a) Weinberg's differential rule, including the assumption that the secondary sex ratio is 100, (b) the stillbirth rates among opposite-sexed twins hold for all DZ twins, and (c) the stillbirth rates estimated for MZ and DZ male and female twins yield for both sexes the observed total number of stillborn twins. Our methods are applied to data from Sweden, 1869–1967, the Åland Islands, 1750–1949, Saxony, 1881–1900, and England and Wales, 1996–2003. We observed that the ratio between the estimated stillbirth rates among MZ and DZ twins were on average 1.75, and the ratio among same-sexed and DZ (opposite-sexed) twins were on average 1.31. For Sweden and Saxony similar values were obtained, but for England and Wales the values were higher and for Åland lower. With exception of Åland, the estimated stillbirth rates were in all populations the lowest for DZ, medium for same-sexed and highest for MZ twins.
Health promotion and health education: the emerging role of the private sector.

: The climate is right for new ventures in health education, especially those in which corporate leaders join forces with other members of the communities where they do business. Working with the public sector and other members of the private sector--with schools, universities, health departments, churches, professional associations, voluntary agencies, and foundations--corporations can become a vital new force in supporting health education not only of their own employees but also of children and adults and the public at large.
Dynamic balance between activation and repression regulates pre‐mRNA alternative splicing during heart development

Cardiac troponin T (cTNT) exon 5 splicing is developmentally regulated such that it is included in embryonic but not adult heart. CUG‐BP and ETR‐3‐like factor (CELF) proteins promote exon inclusion, whereas polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB) and muscleblind‐like (MBNL) proteins repress inclusion. In this study, we addressed what happens to these regulatory proteins during heart development to shift the regulatory balance of cTNT alternative splicing. Using dominant‐negative proteins, we found that both CELF and PTB activities are required for appropriate splicing in cardiomyocytes. Two CELF proteins, CUG‐BP and ETR‐3, are nuclear and cytoplasmic in embryonic heart but are down‐regulated in adult heart concomitant with loss of exon inclusion. In contrast, PTB and MBNL1 are expressed throughout heart development. The patterns of cTNT splicing and expression of its regulatory factors are conserved between mouse and chicken. Thus, alternative splicing is determined by a balance between positive and negative regulation, and modulation of expression levels of auxiliary splicing regulators may drive developmental splicing changes. ETR‐3 and CUG‐BP proteins are also down‐regulated in other tissues during development, suggesting that CELF proteins play a broad role in developmental splicing regulation. Developmental Dynamics, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Survival of Family-operated Firms under Developed Conditions: The Case of Hassfurt, Germany

The prevalence of family firms in the commercial sector of preindustrial and developing societies is often commented upon. I It is also assumed that this type of firm will lose its importance once societies reach industrial maturity.2 In this paper I will address this assumption by examining the retail trade sector of a town in Germany. I will show that in this community family firms continue to be important in spite of the developed character of the economy, and I will try to explain why this is so. I will conclude by arguing that this case is relevant to the development experience of contemporary Third World countries. Background Many definitions of the family firm exist. To highlight the problem of explaining the continued importance ofthis institution under economically developed conditions, I will use a narrow definition and confine my discussion to the family-operated firm. As the name implies, not only is such a firm owned by a family, but much of the management and some of the work is performed by two or more family members. It has up to 50 employees, and the enterprise is a major source of income to the family.3 Among the factors which encourage the existence of the family-operated firm, four are frequently mentioned: the need for personalized means to ensure trust, low opportunity costs, diseconomies of scale, and the presence of ethnic plurality. An essential ingredient for the successful operation of every firm is some degree of trust between the owners and personnel ofthe enterprise.4 This can be assured through either legally binding contracts or personal knowledge and connections.5 When legal and other state institutions are easily corruptible, contractual means to generate trust and loyalty cannot be enforced. Under such circumstances, firm operators resort to personal connections to assure trust. Usually the most convenient source ofpersonally
Interruptions in medication administration: are we asking the right questions?

The nature of today’s healthcare practice makes interruptions, distractions and multitasking commonplace, even during complex and high-risk tasks.1–3 Interruptions are often cited as a problem in medication safety, particularly in relation to nurses administering medication.1 4 Previous studies5 6 suggest an association between interruptions and medication administration errors. While a direct causal relationship remains to be proven, reducing interruptions during medication administration to decrease multitasking and cognitive load represents a generally accepted goal.1 4 In this issue of BMJ Quality and Safety , Westbrook7 and colleagues report a cluster randomised controlled trial of a bundled intervention to reduce interruptions during medication administration in a hospital using paper-based prescribing. This well-designed feasibility study tested a bundled intervention based on ‘Do Not Disturb’ vests and the education of healthcare professionals, patients and visitors. At baseline, nurses experienced 57 interruptions per 100 dose administrations, with over 85% unrelated to the dose of medication being prepared. The intervention moderately reduced these non-medication-related interruptions, with intervention nurses experiencing 15 fewer interruptions per 100 dose administrations compared with control nurses. However, the study also included a survey in which participating nurses characterised the vests as time consuming and uncomfortable. Only 48% supported the intervention becoming hospital policy. Given the likely small impact of this modest reduction in interruptions on medication administration error rates, challenges to sustainability and the availability of alternate interventions, the authors conclude that wearing such …