Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elevated Intact Proinsulin Levels During an Oral Glucose Challenge Indicate Progressive ß-Cell Dysfunction and May Be Predictive for Development of Type 2 Diabetes

Background: Elevated fasting intact proinsulin is a biomarker of late-stage ß-cell-dysfunction associated with clinically relevant insulin resistance. In this pilot investigation, we explored the potential value of measuring intact proinsulin as a functional predictor of ß-cell exhaustion during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Methods: The study was performed with 31 participants, 11 of whom were healthy subjects (7 female, age: 59 ± 20 years), 10 had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, 6 female, 62 ± 10 years), and 10 had known type 2 diabetes (T2DM, 5 female, 53 ± 11 years, HbA1c: 7.0 ± 0.6%, disease duration: 8 ± 5 years). During OGTT, blood was drawn after 0 hours, 1 hour, and 2 hours for determination of glucose and intact proinsulin. Five years later, patients were again contacted to assess their diabetes status and the association to the previous OGTT results was analyzed. Results: The OGTT (0 hours/1 hour/2 hours) results were as follows: healthy subjects: glucose: 94 ± 8 mg/dL/140 ± 29 mg/dL/90 ± 24 mg/dL, intact proinsulin: 3 ± 2 pmol/L/10 ± 7 pmol/L/10 ± 5 pmol/L); IGT: glucose: 102 ± 9 mg/dL/158 ± 57 mg/dL/149 ± 34 mg/dL, intact proinsulin: 7 ± 4 pmol/L/23 ± 8 pmol/L/28 ± 6 pmol/L; T2DM: glucose: 121 ± 20 mg/dL/230 ± 51 mg/dL/213 ± 34 mg/dL; intact proinsulin: 7 ± 7 pmol/L/26 ± 9 pmol/L/27 ± 10 pmol/L). Five years later, all of the IGT and 2 of the healthy subjects had developed T2DM and one had devloped IGT. All of them had elevated 2-hour proinsulin values in the initial OGTT, while patients with normal intact proinsulin results did not develop diabetes. Conclusions: Elevated 2-hour intact proinsulin levels during OGTT were predictive for later type 2 diabetes development. Further studies need to confirm our findings in larger populations.
Single-molecule transport in three-terminal devices

Transport through single molecules has been studied using different test beds. In this paper we focus on three-terminal devices in which a molecule bridges the gap between two gold electrodes and a third electrode—the gate—is able to modulate the conduction properties of the junction. Depending on the electronic coupling, Γ, between the molecule and the gold electrodes, different transport regimes can be distinguished. We show measurements on junctions incorporating different single-molecule systems which demonstrate the distinction between these regimes, as well as the experimental limitations in controlling the exact value of Γ.
ROS1 gene rearrangement is identified in NSCLC.

UNLABELLED MAJOR FINDING: ROS1 chromosomal rearrangements define a molecular subtype of NSCLC. IMPACT ROS1 rearrangements tend to occur in younger, non-smoking NSCLC patients. CLINICAL RELEVANCE ROS1-positive NSCLC patients may benefit from crizotinib therapy.
Polycrystalline-Si TFT TANOS Flash Memory Cell With Si Nanocrystals for High Program/Erase Speed and Good Retention

This letter presents a polycrystalline-silicon channel TaN-Al2O3-Si3N4-SiO2-silicon (TANOS) nonvolatile memory (NVM) with a charge-trapping layer of embedded Si nanocrystals (NCs) (Si-NCs). The fabrication process of the Si-NCs is simple and highly compatible with the current Flash process. NCs enhance the program/erase speed of the NVM devices because the interface between Si-NCs and nitride contains numerous trapping sites for storing electrons. Moreover, the Si-NCs locally concentrate the electric field and reduce the effective nitride thickness. The NC TANOS exhibits a charge loss of only 5% for ten years of data storage.
High-Resolution Indoor RF Ranging !

Our recently developed indoor RF Ranging technology allows new levels of accurate indoor localization based on carrier-phase measurements. Measuring the phase difference over multiple frequencies, and combining it with a novel multipath angle-of-arrival differentiation technique, we achieving accuracies of a few centimeters in direct line of sight, and a few tens of centimeters in non-direct line of sight. Similar to GPS satellites, our system requires self-localizing multi-antenna base stations as a infrastructure and anchor points. Keywords—RF Ranging, Localization
Ownership Structure, Accounting Information Quality and Investment Efficiency: An Empirical Study Based on Chinese Agricultural Listed Companies

The irrational investment in the development of agricultural listed companies leads to low investment efficiency and slow development. In order to explore the inefficient investment of agricultural listed companies, this paper uses China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock A 47 agricultural listed companies from 2013-2015 to analyze the relationship between the quality of accounting information and the inefficient investment of agricultural listed companies, and also the influence of ownership structure on the quality of accounting information and the efficiency of agricultural listed companies. The study found that when the quality of enterprise accounting information is high, the inefficient investment behavior of enterprises is improved, thus improving the efficiency of enterprise investment; the increase of controlling shareholder's equity will weaken the governance effect of accounting information quality on inefficient investment.
Similarity analysis method for structured statements and sentences in Turkish

In this study, a technique using a statistical approach without applying linguistic and syntactic techniques is presented for the similarity analysis of technical specifications and/or sofware requirements expressed in the natural language. For this purpose, a new and practical metric for the similarity of specification/requirement expressions is defined; and comparisons with other metrics in the literature are performed.
Roles of Aortic and Carotid Chemoreceptors in Activating the Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal-Adrenocortical System During Hypoxia 1

Summary Anesthetized mongrel dogs with cannulas in the left lumboadrenal vein were subjected to hypoxia in order to determine the participation of the aortic and carotid bodies, separately and combined, in the adrenocortical response to this stressor. In intact dogs the induction of hypoxia by breathing 10% O2 at ground level for 1 hr caused rapid and sustained maximal 11-OHCS rates which paralleled the alterations in arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide and pH. On the other hand, only 3–40% of these maximal 11-OHCS rates were observed in hypoxic animals with either denervated aortic or carotid chemoreceptors. The adrenocortical response to hypoxia was abolished by denervating both aortic and carotid chemoreceptors while essentially similar changes in arterial gases and pH as those observed in intact hypoxic dogs were seen. These data demonstrate not only the necessity of functioning peripheral arterial chemoreceptors for maximal response of the hypothalamo–hypophyseal–adrenocortical system to hypoxia, but also that the aortic and carotid chemoreceptors participate equally in this response. The technical assistance of E. Blomquist, C. Lau, W. Machaj and L. Malasanos is greatly appreciated. Special thanks are due Dr. G. Courtney for her interest, assistance and review of the manuscript.
Exendin-(9-39) Is an Inverse Agonist of the Murine Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor: Implications for Basal Intracellular Cyclic Adenosine 3',5'-Monophosphate Levels and β-Cell Glucose Competence* *This work was supported by Grant 31-46958.96 from the Swiss National Science Foundation (to B.T.).

The effect of exendin-(9–39), a described antagonist of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor, was evaluated on the formation of cAMP- and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) by the conditionally immortalized murine βTC-Tet cells. These cells have a basal intracellular cAMP level that can be increased by GLP-1 with an EC50 of approximately 1 nm and can be decreased dose dependently by exendin-(9–39). This latter effect was receptor dependent, as aβ -cell line not expressing the GLP-1 receptor was not affected by exendin-(9–39). It was also not due to the endogenous production of GLP-1, because this effect was observed in the absence of detectable preproglucagon messenger RNA levels and radioimmunoassayable GLP-1. Importantly, GSIS was shown to be sensitive to this basal level of cAMP, as perifusion of βTC-Tet cells in the presence of exendin-(9–39) strongly reduced insulin secretion. This reduction of GSIS, however, was observed only with growth-arrested, not proliferating, βTC-Tet cells; i.
Beijing pollution is becoming a “public health catastrophe,” expert says

The heavy smog blanketing Beijing and other major cities in central and eastern China highlights the public health catastrophe accompanying the country’s rapid economic development, a leading expert on air pollution has said. “The levels we have seen in the last few days are approaching those of the catastrophic London fog in 1952, which killed 4500 people in five days,” said Anthony Hedley, honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health. Pollution levels in Beijing started climbing late last week, with the level of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5), which can penetrate deep into the lungs, peaking at 993 micrograms per cubic metre, 40 times the World Health Organization’s maximum limit for safe exposure. Although such …
Assessment of Antioxidant Activity : DPPH Radical Scavenging Activity :

The purpose of the current work was to conduct phytochemical screening and antioxidant activity of different extracts of Leucas aspera. The dried powder of the whole plant was extracted with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol which were subjected to various chemical tests to ascertain the main constituents of the plant. The results revealed the presence of significant amounts of alkaloids, glycosides, tannins and flavonoids in ethanol extract while the other two extracts contain moderate amount of the chemical constituents. Our results indicate the presence of phytochemicals in the order of ethanol > ethyl acetate > n-hexane extract. Antioxidant activity of these extracts were performed by using DPPH free radical scavenging assay, total anti-oxidant capacity and the total phenol capacity where ascorbic acid (for DPPH scavenging and total anti-oxidant) and gallic acid (for total phenol) were used as standards. The results showed that the ethanol extract possesses more anti-oxidant activity than ethyl acetate and n-hexane extracts. INTRODUCTION: Free radical reactions have been implicated in the pathology of numerous diseases including brain disorders, platelet aggregation, atherosclerosis, ageing, cancer, inflammatory diseases and a variety of other disorders. Ultraviolet light, ionizing radiation and chemical reactions can induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), like superoxide radical anion, hydroxyl radicals, singlet oxygen and hydrogen peroxide, in the cells. These reactive oxygen species cause lipid peroxidation, protein peroxidation, DNA damage and cellular degeneration in the cells . Antioxidants are scavenging or trapping agents capable of interfering with processes involved in oxidative stress and appear to be of primary importance in the prevention of these chronic diseases. Although synthetic antioxidants such as butylhydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) are useful, their potential health risks and toxicity have raised concerns to their wide spread use in the food industry 7, . Thus, the need for alternative sources of antioxidants is paramount and the search for natural antioxidants, especially of plant origin, has received much attention, and efforts have been made to identify new natural resources for active antioxidant compounds . Nature has been a source of medicinal agents for thousands of years and an impressive number of modern drugs have been isolated from natural sources, many of which based on their use in traditional medicine. It has been noted that the original source of many important pharmaceuticals currently in use have been plants used by indigenous people . It has been reported that about 64% of the total global population remains dependent on traditional medicine and medicinal plants for provision of their health-care needs .
An experimental investigation of the high frequency effects in low voltage electrical drives

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the harmful effects due to the PWM inverter supply on low voltage induction motors. Laboratory tests have verified on two different models of motors the reflected wave phenomenon, which induces on their terminals a rising voltage edge with peaks higher than twice the DC link voltage; further tests in a qualified firm have revealed that these peaks exceed the partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) for one of the two types of motor. An invasive and specialized series of tests on the insulation material extracted from the stators has proven that an appropriate insulation system represents the best solution to avoid an early die-off of inverter-fed motors. Other two mitigation methods proposed in the literature have been experimentally tested, revealing that they do not assure the solution to the problem.
Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation for Gamma Radiographic Image Enhancement

This paper presents some image processing techniques that can be used for radiographic image enhancement. Contrast enhancement, filtering, denoising, and interpolation processes are carried out in this paper. Contrast enhancement is carried out using adaptive histogram equalization. Filtering is carried out using median, Wiener, Lee, and Kuan filters. Wavelet and curvelet transforms are used for image denoising. Three interpolation are carried out. The results are evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively using the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), Root Mean Squire Error (RMSE), Standard Deviation (SD), smoothness, entropy, Structural Similarity (SSIM), and execution time. The results show that the contrast enhancement improves the radiographic image quality, the Wiener filter achieves better enhancement results than other filters, the curvelet transform denoising gives better enhancement than wavelet denoising. The bicubic interpolation with resolution factor two is promising in terms of the quality assessment metrics.
Reconstruction of algebraic-exponential data from moments

Let $G$ be a bounded open subset of Euclidean space with real algebraic boundary $\Gamma$. Under the assumption that the degree $d$ of $\Gamma$ is given, and the power moments of the Lebesgue measure on $G$ are known up to order $3d$, we describe an algorithmic procedure for obtaining a polynomial vanishing on $\Gamma$. The particular case of semi-algebraic sets defined by a single polynomial inequality raises an intriguing question related to the finite determinateness of the full moment sequence. The more general case of a measure with density equal to the exponential of a polynomial is treated in parallel. Our approach relies on Stokes theorem and simple Hankel-type matrix identities.
Are Economists Getting Climate Dynamics Right and Does it Matter?

Two competing conceptualizations of corruption in the literature allow viewing it either as efficient or burdensome from firms' perspective. Using data on the prevalence and nature of firms' interactions with tax authorities in 28 countries in Europe and Central Asia, this paper contributes to the evaluation of competing ideas in the literature about firms’ experience of corruption in tax administration. The findings presented in the paper provide provisional support for the second line of reasoning, that corruption in taxation is a burden, rather than a type of efficiency. Special emphasis is given to examination of taxation-related determinants of corruption prevalence (frequency and magnitude of bribery), as well as the effect of the interaction with tax authorities on perception of tax and overall corruption. Regardless of country context, it appears that, more than anything else, perceived corruption in tax administration and actual experiences with bribery during interactions with tax officials, affect the overall perceptions of corruption.
Significance of p27 as a predicting marker for medroxyprogesterone acetate therapy against endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma

Watanabe J, Watanabe K, Jobo T, Kamata Y, Kawaguchi M, Imai M, Okayasu I, Kuramoto H. Significance of p27 as a predicting marker for medroxyprogesterone acetate therapy against endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Int J Gynecol Cancer 2006;16(Suppl. 1): 452–457. We reported that p27 induced by medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) may be involved in the progestin-induced growth suppression of human endometrial adenocarcinoma cells. This study aimed at investigating whether p27 expression could be a predicting marker to evaluate the effectiveness of MPA therapy. The clinical responses of 15 patients with endometrial carcinoma treated with MPA were examined. p27 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Percentage of positive nuclear staining was expressed as a strongly positive (SP) labeling index (LI). Before MPA treatment, SP LIs in the effective and noneffective groups were 22.6 ± 14.3% and 9.1 ± 9.2%. At 1–6 weeks in the MPA treatment, SP LIs increased in both groups and were significantly higher than those before the therapy. At 7–12 weeks, SP LIs in both groups decreased to the level of pretherapy. At 13–18 weeks, SP LIs in the effective group were 14.9 ± 5.7%, whereas in the noneffective group, 1.1 ± 2.0%. The former was significantly higher than the latter. p27 expression could predict the effectiveness of MPA treatment for endometrial carcinoma at an early stage of the 4-month period in MPA therapy and could be a useful predicting marker for MPA.
The Effect of Mall Positioning on Shoppers’ Satisfaction and their Patronage Behavior

Malls are the combination of convenience, ambience, promotions, variety of tenants, property management and entertainments. But in today’s competitive environment, malls have shifted focus from general malls to specific malls. Malls can be positioned on the basis of behaviour, psychographic and demographic. The main aim of the study is to develop a model for Malls positioning as convenience, ambience, promotion, entertainment and experiencing. And also to determine the relationships among the constructs of mall positioning, shoppers’ satisfaction and patronage behaviour of mall shoppers. This study ascertains how the positioning dimensions influence shoppers’ satisfaction which, in turn, influences patronage behaviour of the shoppers. Based on the literature review hypotheses are developed and to test the hypotheses, a sample of 1000 shoppers who visited different malls in Jazan region surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The findings of this study revealed that Malls can be positioned as convenience, ambience, promotion, entertainment and experiencing malls. The constructs influenced shoppers' satisfaction which, in turn, influenced patronage behaviour of the shoppers. Mall developers and mall managers who have not been giving importance or priority to positioning should become aware of the significance of mall positioning in determining patronage behaviour of mall shoppers. They can position malls as convenience, ambience, promotion, entertainment and experiencing instead of generic malls. At the same time a clear and sound positioning will lead to the success of a mall in a growing organized retail environment in Saudi Arabia. Keywords: Mall Positioning, Satisfaction, Patronage Behaviour.
Análise da Utilização de Sistemas de Informação, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPs) em Instituições de Ensino

Com o crescente numero de instituicoes de ensino superior e profissionalizante privadas atuando no mercado, fez-se necessaria a preocupacao com a gestao administrativa e educacional destas organizacoes. Para alcancar seus objetivos organizacionais estas instituicoes de ensino superior visam, cada vez mais, utilizar de Sistemas de Informacao (SI) para seu gerenciamento. Os Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPs), auxiliam no processo de gerenciamento de empresas, sao sistemas integrados de gerenciamento comercializados em forma de software e possibilitam favoraveis resultados no ambiente empresarial. O estudo levanta dados referentes a utilizacao e vantagem dos ERPs na area de ensino, fazendo uso da literatura de empresas que desenvolvem o sistema ERP atraves da utilizacao do sistema por gestores de instituicoes de ensino superior e profissionalizante. O intuito foi analisar se esses usuarios tem a mesma percepcao da viabilidade e vantagens da utilizacao do sistema apontadas pelos autores e pelas empresas desenvolvedoras.
Identification and Evaluation of a New Tumor Cell–Binding Peptide, FROP-1

Peptides are useful tools for the targeted delivery of radionuclides or chemotherapeutic drugs to their site of action within an organism. Given that the peptide receptor is overexpressed at the tumor, therapeutically active doses can be delivered to the tumor with reduced side effects. Because currently known peptides are restricted to a small number of tumors, new molecules and their corresponding receptors have to be identified to enlarge the spectrum of malignancies that can be diagnosed or treated using tumor-targeting peptides. Methods: A 12-amino-acid peptide phage display system was applied to identify a new peptide binding to follicular thyroid carcinoma cells. The properties of the radiolabeled peptide were assessed in binding, competition, and internalization experiments in a variety of tumor cell lines including FRO82-2 and MCF-7 cells, and the pharmacokinetic behavior of the radiolabeled peptide was evaluated in tumor-bearing mice. Peptide stability was studied in human serum. Results: After 5 selection rounds, the new peptide, FROP-1 (EDYELMDLLAYL), was identified. It showed binding to follicular thyroid carcinoma as well as anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, mammary carcinoma, cervix carcinoma, prostate carcinoma, and cell lines derived from head and neck tumors, and low affinity could be observed to control cells such as human umbilical vein endothelial cells or immortalized keratinocytes. In MCF7 cells, 78% and 86% of the bound activity was internalized after 10 and 60 min of incubation, respectively. Stability experiments in human serum showed the appearance of a degradation product after 15 min. Tumor uptake of the radioactive labeled peptide increased for 45 min in nude mouse models, reaching an accumulation level of approximately 3.6 percentage injected dose (%ID)/g for FRO82-2 tumors or approximately 3.8 %ID/g for MCF-7 tumors. Conclusion: The target of FROP-1 is most likely a molecule found generally in tumors, making this peptide highly attractive for diagnostic or therapeutic applications. However, modifications are needed to increase stability and affinity.