Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gonocytes in testes of neonatal rats express the c‐kit gene

Information gathered from mutant mouse models and from studies on normal puberal and adult animals points to the product of the c‐kit gene, a tyrosine kinase surface receptor, and the kit‐ligand (KL) as important for gametogenesis in males. In fetuses, KL serves as a survival factor for primordial germ cells, at least in vitro, and in adults activity of the c‐kit gene has been indirectly related to survival and subsequent development of differentiating spermatogonia. However, because of the structural complexity of the seminiferous epithelium in adults, c‐kit mRNA has not yet been definitively localized to one or more types of spermatogenic cells. In addition, no information is currently available regarding the possible involvement of the c‐kit protein and its ligand in mediating germ cell development and/or Sertoli‐germ cell interactions immediately after birth when events critical for later onset of spermatogenesis are ongoing. Thus, the aims of the current study were (1) to determine whether the c‐kit gene is expressed in testes of neonatal and adult rats and, if so, by what specific cell types, and (2) to determine if those cells expressing the gene also produce the c‐kit receptor protein. For this, we isolated total RNA from testes of pups aged days 1–5 and from adult rat testes, and probed for the presence of c‐kit mRNA with Northern analysis. We identified the cells containing the c‐kit message by carrying out in situ hybridization with digoxigeninlabeled probes, thus allowing the colorimetric signal to be assigned beyond doubt to individual cells in sections of testes. We also utilized Western analysis and immunolocalization to confirm the presence of the c‐kit receptor protein in testes at these ages and to identify those cells types producing it. Our findings indicate that (1) neonatal gonocytes express the c‐kit gene and produce the receptor protein on postnatal days 1 through 5, spanning the time when they resume dividing and migrating, and (2) spermatogonia and, to a lesser extent, spermatocytes and spermatids of adults express the gene but c‐kit protein is present in detectable amounts only in spermatogonia and possibly a few early primary spermatocytes. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Predominant TH2-like bronchoalveolar T-lymphocyte population in atopic asthma.

BACKGROUND In atopic asthma, activated T helper lymphocytes are present in bronchial-biopsy specimens and bronchoalveolar-lavage (BAL) fluid, and their production of cytokines may be important in the pathogenesis of this disorder. Different patterns of cytokine release are characteristic of certain subgroups of T helper cells, termed TH1 and TH2, the former mediating delayed-type hypersensitivity and the latter mediating IgE synthesis and eosinophilia. The pattern of cytokine production in atopic asthma is unknown. METHODS We assessed cells obtained by BAL in subjects with mild atopic asthma and in normal control subjects for the expression of messenger RNA (mRNA) for interleukin-2, 3, 4, and 5, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and interferon gamma by in situ hybridization with 32P-labeled complementary RNA. Localization of mRNA to BAL T cells was assessed by simultaneous in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence and by in situ hybridization after immunomagnetic enrichment or depletion of T cells. RESULTS As compared with the control subjects, the subjects with asthma had more BAL cells per 1000 cell that were positive for mRNA for interleukin-2 (P less than 0.05), 3 (P less than 0.01), 4 (P less than 0.001), and 5 (P less than 0.001) and GM-CSF (P less than 0.001). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the number of cells expressing mRNA for interferon gamma. In the subjects with asthma, mRNA for interleukin-4 and 5 was expressed predominantly by T lymphocytes. CONCLUSIONS Atopic asthma is associated with activation in the bronchi of the interleukin-3, 4, and 5 and GM-CSF gene cluster, a pattern compatible with predominant activation of the TH2-like T-cell population.
Paraplegia following intrathecal cytosine arabinoside

Paraplegia following prophylactic intrathecal cytosine arabinoside (Ara‐C) is described in a patient with acute myelogenous leukemia in remission who received doses of 100 mg/m2/d for 5 consecutive days. Cerebrospinal fluid examination prior to the last dosage of cytosine arabinoside revealed a mononuclear pleocytosis and increased protein. The neurological manifestations developed within one week after the last dose of Ara‐C and persisted for over 8 weeks. Administration of intrathecal Ara‐C in the same dose over longer intervals with 3‐5 days between consecutive doses resulted in mild, transient neurological symptoms (paresthesias) in only one of 30 patients so treated.
Singaporean Audit Quality and the Complexity of FRS 36 Disclosures Requirements

Theories of audit quality hypothesize higher quality audits associated with larger audit firms. The relationship between size and quality is derived from DeAngelo (1981) which is widely cited in the literature as the basis for pooling big and small auditors when testing for audit quality differences among auditors. This study addresses this concern empirically by investigating the influence of audit quality on the use of the yearly goodwill impairment testing. Specifically, this study focuses on compliance with the requirements under FRS 36 among the Singapore firms whose 2005, 2006 and 2007 financial accounts have been audited by Big-4 or non Big-4 auditors. Consequently, this study constructed an appropriate methodology that able to distinguish audit quality between Big-4 and non Big-4 audit firms and attempt to question the homogenous audit quality assumption. The results of the study, using six analytical frames reveal that compliance level and disclosure quality are systematically failed to comply with even basic elements of the FRS 36 disclosure requirements in relation to goodwill impairment testing.
Technology CAD: Device simulation and characterization

State-of-the-art devices are characterized by the occurence of large gradients in the electric field. Due to the complex doping profiles which utilize ultrashallow junctions to obtain an optimum tradeoff between short-channel effects and parasitic resistances, two-dimensional numerical simulation of these structures is mandatory. From the modeling point of view, nonlocal and quantum effects gain more and more importance which need to be properly accounted for. We review the requirements for successful numerical simulation of these semiconductor devices. In addition, we give an overview of recent activities concerning device calibration and inverse modeling since inverse modeling of the doping profile in conjunction with calibration of the model parameters has proven to be an effective method of two-dimensional doping profile extraction.
Vitamin D Status of Females in an Elite Gymnastics Program

Objective:Vitamin D plays an important role in calcium and bone metabolism. In Australia it has been assumed that all young athletes have good vitamin D levels. A survey of females in an elite gymnastics program was undertaken to determine their vitamin D and dietary calcium status. Design:Cross-sectional survey. Setting:Females in an elite gymnastics program at the Australian Institute of Sport. Participants and Outcome Measures:Eighteen female gymnasts aged 10-17 years were assessed for vitamin D status (serum 25[OH]D) and dietary calcium intake. Results:Fifteen were found to have levels below current recommended guidelines for optimal bone health (<75 nmol/L). Six had vitamin D levels below 50 nmol/L. Thirteen of the gymnasts also had daily dietary calcium intakes below the daily recommended intake for their age. Conclusions:Gymnasts and possibly other indoor athletes should be carefully reviewed for vitamin D and calcium status.
Hypertension in Bo, Sierra Leone.

OBJECTIVE To identify the prevalence of hypertension among adults in Bo, Sierra Leone. DESIGN Hypertension data were extracted from outpatient clinic records. SETTING Mercy Hospital in urban Bo, Sierra Leone. PATIENTS All nonpregnant outpatients aged -15 years seen at the outpatient clinic in 2009. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Prevalence of hypertension, defined as a systolic blood pressure > or = 140 mm Hg and/or a diastolic blood pressure > or = 90 mm Hg. RESULTS Data from 3944 individuals were analyzed (mean age 38.7 years). The overall prevalence of hypertension among those aged > or = 15 years was 25.2%, with an age-adjusted prevalence of 19.6%. The prevalence of hypertension for participants aged > or = 20 years was 27.1%, with an age-adjusted prevalence of 23.6%. There were no significant differences in blood pressure by sex. The prevalence of hypertension increased significantly with age for both males and females (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of hypertension in Sierra Leone is consistent with the rates of hypertension observed in other parts of West Africa.
Manipulation Performance in Interactive Virtual Environments

We studied manipulation performance in virtual environments using two types of controllers: virtual hand control and three-dimensional (3D) mouse/cursor control. These manipulation methods were tested under monoscopic and stereoscopic viewing conditions. Participants were asked to discriminate, grasp, pitch, roll, and position virtual objects. Speed and accuracy of manipulation tasks were measured. Virtual hand control proved to be significantly faster and more accurate than 3D mouse cursor control. Participants made more head movements in the virtual hand condition than in the mouse-cursor condition. Further, it was shown that the speed and accuracy of manipulations are much improved under stereoscopic viewing conditions. Actual or potential applications of this research include virtual training environments (assembly, maintenance, etc.) virtual prototyping, teleoperations, and so forth.
Subnational Insolvency: Cross-Country Experiences and Lessons

Subnational insolvency is a reoccurring event in development, as demonstrated by historical and modern episodes of subnational defaults in both developed and developing countries. Insolvency procedures become more important as countries decentralize expenditure, taxation, and borrowing, and broaden subnational credit markets. As the first cross-country survey of procedures to resolve subnational financial distress, this paper has particular relevance for decentralizing countries. The authors explain central features and variations of subnational insolvency mechanisms across countries. They identify judicial, administrative, and hybrid procedures, and show how entry point and political factors drive their design. Like private insolvency law, subnational insolvency procedures predictably allocate default risk, while providing breathing space for orderly debt restructuring and fiscal adjustment. Policymakers' desire to mitigate the tension between creditor rights and the need to maintain essential public services, to strengthen ex ante fiscal rules, and to harden subnational budget constraints are motivations specific to the public sector.
ADEQUACY OF FUNDING AND MAINSTREAMING SUPPORT FOR OVC IN PUBLIC NURSERY SCHOOLS IN NYERI CENTRAL SUB COUNTRY, KENYA; ADDRESSING CONSTRAINTS AND POLICY

The goal of expanding educational opportunity for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) is extricably linked to the amount of funding invested in education to maximise student learning and participation. Deprivation of interventions during the early years results in lifelong deficiencies and disadvantages. Therefore, substantial disparities in the amount of funding in Public Nursery Schools (PNS) may cause substantial disparities in the quality of educational opportunities for OVC. The amount of funding provided in PNS influences the specific instructional, curricular and psychological components necessary to deliver national education standards in PNS. Provision of special attention to mitigate barriers that impede OVC access to equal benefit with all children involves adequate funding to establish and sustain support structures in schools. The purpose of this study was to find out the influence of adequacy of finance on main streaming support for OVC in PNS in Nyeri Central Sub-county. The study employed a descriptive survey design with a sample of 19 PNS. Data was collected through questionnaires for head teachers and preschool teachers and an interview with the District Centre for Early Childhood Education (DICECE) programme officer. The study found out that inadequacy of funds for OVC support compromised continuity of OVC, continuous staff development, staff motivation and allocation of funds to support structures such as feeding programmes and provision of bursary funds. To avert this crisis the study recommends that the Ministry of Education in Kenya, the Children’s Department and NGO’s should increase intersectoral linkages for more budgetary allocations to ECE . More so funds specifically earmarked for OVC support could mitigate the challenges experienced by OVC in preschools.
Introduction to investments

PART I: THE INVESTMENT PROCESS AND FINANCIAL CONCEPTS. 1. An Introduction to Investments. 2. Securities Markets. 3. The Time Value of Money. 4. Financial Planning, Taxation, and the Efficiency of Financial Markets. 5. Risk and Portfolio Management. PART II: INVESTMENT COMPANIES. 6. Investment Companies: Mutual Funds. 7. Closed-end Investment Companies, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). PART III: INVESTING IN COMMON STOCK. 8. Stock. 9. The Valuation of Stock. 10. Investment Returns and Aggregate Measures of Stock Markets. 11. The Macroeconomic Environment for Investment Decisions. 12. Behavioral Finance and Technical Analysis. PART IV: INVESTING IN FIXED-INCOME SECURITIES. 13. The Bond Market. 14. The Valuation of Fixed-Income Securities. 15. Government Securities. 16. Convertible Bonds and Convertible Preferred Stocks. PART V: DERIVATIVES. 17. An Introduction to Options. 18. Option Valuation and Strategies. 19. Commodity and Financial Futures. PART VI: An Overview. 20. Financial Planning in an Efficient Market Context. Appendix A Mathematical Tables. Appendix B Answers to Selected Problems. Glossary. Index.
One Intact ATP-binding Subunit Is Sufficient to Support ATP Hydrolysis and Translocation in an ABC Transporter, the Histidine Permease*

The membrane-bound complex of theSalmonella typhimurium histidine permease, a member of the ABC transporters (or traffic ATPases) superfamily, is composed of two integral membrane proteins, HisQ and HisM, and two copies of an ATP-binding subunit, HisP, which hydrolyze ATP, thus supplying the energy for translocation. The three-dimensional structure of HisP has been resolved. Extensive evidence indicates that the HisP subunits form a dimer. We investigated the mechanism of action of such a dimer, both within the complex and in soluble form, by creating heterodimers between the wild type and mutant HisP proteins. The data strongly suggest that within the complex both subunits hydrolyze ATP and that one subunit is activated by the other. In a heterodimer containing one wild type and one hydrolysis defective subunit both hydrolysis and ligand translocation occur at half the rate of the wild type. Soluble HisP also hydrolyzes ATP if one subunit is inactive; its specific activity is identical to that of the wild type, indicating that only one of the subunits in a soluble dimer is involved in hydrolysis. We show that the activating ability varies depending on the nature of the substitution of a well conserved residue, His-211.
A Study on the Corporate Governance and Disclosure Practices of Tangible Assets and Intangible Assets-Dominated Firms and Their Relationship

Corporate governance stands for responsible business management geared towards long-term value creation. Prior research found significant relationship between asset composition (tangible versus intangible assets) and corporate governance disclosure practices of firms. However, there is very little research in the current Indian context. Hence, this paper explores such a relationship for firms listed on the Indian stock market by considering a sample that includes firms from nine different sectors, viz., metal, oil and gas, power, IT, FMCG, capital goods, auto, consumer durables and healthcare. It applies Corporate Governance and Disclosure (CGD) index as a proxy for firm-specific rating of governance quality and calculates CGD scores of sample firms listed on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). To identify intangible assets dominance in firms, the ratio of market value to book value and capital intensity of sample firms are calculated. Accordingly, firms are divided into tangible assets-dominated and intangible assets-dominated sectors. The findings reveal that there is no significant difference in the corporate governance and disclosure practices of firms across tangible asset- and intangible asset-dominated sectors. The research identifies several reasons why this proposition does not hold true for firms in the current economic environment of India.
Interconnect delay optimization via high level re-synthesis after floorplanning

With the progress of manufacturing technologies, more transistors can be integrated into one chip, which validates the system-on-chip (SoC) technology. Besides, as the feature size of integrated circuits scales down into super deep sub-micron level, interconnect delay has played a dominant role in total delay of the circuit. A new technology which improves the performance of the circuit in high-level synthesis phase by utilizing high level re-synthesis after floorplan is presented in this paper. The techniques presented in this paper are demonstrated by experiments.
Lorentz Magnetic Levitation for Haptic Interaction: Device Design, Performance, and Integration with Physical Simulations

A new Lorentz force magnetic levitation haptic interface device has been developed and integrated with real-time 3-D rigid-body simulations for detailed, responsive interaction with dynamic virtual environments. An ideal haptic interface device would enable remote or simulated objects to be sensed and manipulated in 6 degrees of freedom (DoF) in the same manner as real physical objects, with the same micrometer level of detail and kHz bandwidth response that the user can sense. To approach this level of performance requires stiff lightweight moving parts, responsive actuators, high-resolution sensors, a fast control system, and a real-time simulation closely integrated with the device. Lorentz levitation is well suited to high-performance, tool-based haptic interaction because noncontact actuation and sensing provide motion and force feedback in 6 DoF with the simple dynamics of a single moving part at high control bandwidths and sensitivity. New actuation and sensing subsystem designs greatly increase the user range of motion over previous maglev devices. The motion range of the new device is ± 12.5 mm in translation and ± 7.5 deg in rotation to accommodate haptic fingertip motion tasks. The device has a measured closed-loop position bandwidth of more than 100 Hz in each DoF, a maximum stiffness of 25.0 N/mm, and a position resolution of 5-10 μm. Virtual coupling and intermediate representation methods were implemented to combine the simulation and the device controller and maximize the realism of haptic user interaction when computational resources are limited. In our system, the device controller must cycle several times faster than the simulation to generate stiff constraints during stable levitation. With virtual coupling, the updated position and orientation data from the interface device and the simulated tool act as error and velocity feedback control setpoints for each other. With the contact point intermediate representation method, a list of current tool contact points and directions is generated at each update of the simulation so that the device controller can evalute contact constrains locally and change impedance to respond to user motions at the fast control rate rather than the slower simulation rate. The contact point intermediate representation provides a crisper, more responsive feeling than virtual coupling during interaction but is not as easily stabilized. Experimental data from the virtual coupling and a modified contact point intermediate representation are presented.
The Role of Inflammasomes in Intestinal Inflammation

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis cause severe gastrointestinal dysfunction and reduce the quality of life. Despite intensive research, the exact pathogenesis of IBD remains elusive. Mucosal immune responses are central to intestinal homeostasis. Immune responses in the gut are orchestrated through innate and adaptive immune responses. In this paper, we will focus on innate immune responses mounted through Toll-like receptors (TLR) and NOD-like receptors (NLR). Recently, inflammasome protein complexes working through Iinterleukin-1β and 18 have been shown to play a pivotal role in the maintenance of gut homeostasis. Recent research work indicates NLRs such as NLRP1, 3, 6 and 12 provide functional roles in inflammasome activation in intestinal physiology. This review highlights the role of inflammasomes in intestinal health and dysfunction.
Intangible Assets and Insurer Performance

In this paper, we explore the effect of intangible assets on insurer operating and stock performance. In the insurance industry intangible assets (or franchise value) include characteristics such as brand name, renewable business, specialty claim or underwriting service, and personnel. Prior studies point to the importance of intangible assets on firm value, but little is known about the effect specifically of intangible assets on insurers. The purpose of this paper is to provide the first evidence on a potentially important determinant of insurer value and to develop some new measures of intangible assets as well. We quantify intangible assets using benchmark adjusted Best’s ratings and regression residual ratings. We find that insurers with greater intangible assets have better operating performance for up to three years after the initial sorting year. Public insurers with higher intangible assets earn a greater stock return in the following year and our results are robust in different stages of insurance underwriting cycles. We also find that risk-adjusted alphas (Fama-French (1993) and Carhart (1997)) of high intangible asset insurers no longer significantly outperform those of low intangible asset insurers.
A cross cultural examination of consumer behaviour and GM food products : results from Australian and South Korean female consumers

The call for the cross cultural examination and validation of commonly accepted relationships within consumer behaviour is strengthening. Consequently, this paper seeks to address this call by examining consumer risk perceptions, reliance on country of origin information and willingness to buy Genetically Modified (GM) food products on Australian and South Korean consumers. Findings indicate a number of cross cultural similarities and differences that have both theoretical and practical implications.