Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DGKζ deficiency protects against peripheral insulin resistance and improves energy metabolism

Diacylglycerol kinases (DGKs) regulate the balance between diacylglycerol (DAG) and phosphatidic acid. DGKζ is highly abundant in skeletal muscle and induces fiber hypertrophy. We hypothesized that DGKζ influences functional and metabolic adaptations in skeletal muscle and whole-body fuel utilization. DAG content was increased in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, but unaltered in liver of DGKζ KO mice. Linear growth, body weight, fat mass, and lean mass were reduced in DGKζ KO versus wild-type mice. Conversely, male DGKζ KO and wild-type mice displayed a similar robust increase in plantaris weight after functional overload, suggesting that DGKζ is dispensable for muscle hypertrophy. Although glucose tolerance was similar, insulin levels were reduced in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed DGKζ KO versus wild-type mice. Submaximal insulin-stimulated glucose transport and p-Akt Ser473 were increased, suggesting enhanced skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity. Energy homeostasis was altered in DGKζ KO mice, as evidenced by an elevated respiratory exchange ratio, independent of altered physical activity or food intake. In conclusion, DGKζ deficiency increases tissue DAG content and leads to modest growth retardation, reduced adiposity, and protection against insulin resistance. DGKζ plays a role in the control of growth and metabolic processes, further highlighting specialized functions of DGK isoforms in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology.
Photoperiodic control of the onset of breeding activity and fecundity in ewes.

The seasonal nature of fertility of sheep has been accepted for many years (Hafez, 1952). It has also placed major restraints on farmers wishing to maximize farm output Because sheep have a 5-month pregnancy and a 3-month lactation period it should be possible to produce 3 sets of lambs every 2 years. A major restraint on such a programme is the very strong seasonal photoperiodic influence upon fertility. In the farming systems of Europe there is a need to maximize the efficiency of labour-intensive management while in Australia there is a need to minimize labour-extensive farming systems. Both management strategies require better control of the onset of breeding activity In many areas of Australia the late autumn start of breeding of Suffolk. Romney. Border Leicester and Perindale ewes means that the lambs are often weaned at a time of deteriorating pasture quality in late spring/summer with subsequent poor weight gain. An earlier season would allow better growth of the lambs before the summer burn off. This review covers recent studies on the photoperiodic control of reproduction in ewes. We concentrate on evidence for the role of light, the pineal gland and melatonin on seasonal breeding in the ewe and discuss the ways this information has been used to gain control of sheep fertility and fecundity.
New Realities for International Trade and Political Implications for the Emerging Economies

This paper analyses the current global economic trends and explores the new realities for international trade in the current set of economic parameters. While there are encouraging positive economic trends and further liberalisation of international trade is in order, the overall trade system still imposes many barriers to the developing countries including many emerging markets. Thus, based on the deliberate economic trend analysis and anatomy of the current trading system, the paper draws a number of implications for firms in emerging markets to internationalise their operations and for government policy makers in those countries to design strategic policies to respond to new economic and trade realities and the need of their domestic businesses to expand abroad.
Identification of a P-glycoprotein-deficient subpopulation in the CF-1 mouse strain using a restriction fragment length polymorphism.

There is a subpopulation of the CF-1 mouse strain that is very sensitive to the neurotoxicity induced by the avermectins, a class of natural products widely used in veterinary and human medicine as anti-parasitic agents. This sensitivity results from a lack of P-glycoprotein in the intestine and brain of sensitive animals, allowing increased penetration of these compounds in the blood and brain, respectively. We describe a restriction fragment length polymorphism that is able to predict which animals will be deficient in this protein, confirming at the genetic level a heterogeneous population of this mouse strain. Breeding studies demonstrated that the inheritance of the markers follows a normal Mendelian autosomal pattern. Sensitive "-/-" animals are deficient in P-glycoprotein in those tissues known to express primarily mdr1a, but have normal P-glycoprotein levels in tissues known to express primarily mdr1b or mdr2, suggesting that the defect in the sensitive animals is limited to the mdr1a gene. The P-glycoprotein expression in the brain is dependent on the genotype, which also determines the susceptibility to the avermectin-induced neurotoxicity, with the "-/-" animals being most sensitive, and the "+/-" animals having less P-glycoprotein and therefore increased CNS sensitivity compared to the "+/+" animals. The ability to segregate this strain into -/- and +/+ animals may prove useful for examining the physiological role of P-glycoprotein in drug absorption and distribution and related toxicity. These data also provide a warning that experiments carried out with P-glycoprotein substrates in the heterogeneous population of the CF-1 mouse must be interpreted with caution.
A texture-based approach for shadow detection

Shadows detection is a fundamental step in visual surveillance and monitoring systems. Shadow points are often misclassified as object points causing errors in localization, segmentation, measurements, tracking and classification of moving objects. In order to detect potential shadow points an automatic segmentation procedure is performed and, for all moving pixels, the approach evaluates the compatibility of photometric properties with shadow characteristics. The approach is improved using a new method focused on the similarity between little textured patches: this method is based on the observation that shadow regions present same textural characteristics in each frame of the gray-level video-sequence and in the corresponding adaptive background model. We suggest a new approach to describe textural information in terms of redundant functions. The algorithm is designed to be unaffected by scene type, background type or light conditions. Results validate the algorithm 's performance on a benchmark suite of indoor and outdoor video sequences.
Toxicity of phenanthrene and lindane mixtures to marine invertebrates

Surface waters near industrialized and agricultural areas are contaminated with hundreds of different pollutants from a variety of sources. Methods for measurement of sediment, surface water, and porewater toxicity in marine environments include the sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata) fertilization and embryological development tests and copepod (Schizopera knabeni) survival and hatching success assessment. The concentration addition model was applied to determine whether toxicity of two compounds, phenanthrene (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) and lindane (organochlorine pesticide), when combined can be accurately assessed because of similar modes of action. Mixture analysis determined the sea urchin fertilization test to exhibit additivity (TUmix = 1.13), while the copepod test exhibited a synergistic effect (TUmix = 0.22). Mixture toxicity data for the sea urchin embryological test were not conclusive because of the lack of toxicity of the individual chemicals. The synergistic effect to copepods is a concern as it indicates that greater toxic effects may occur when the compounds are present in mixtures. Results from this research suggest that increased toxicity to some categories of organisms should be expected near agricultural and industrial areas where pesticides and other types of compounds may occur simultaneously. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 22: 495–501, 2007.
Significant associations of antidrug antibody levels with serum drug trough levels and therapeutic response of adalimumab and etanercept treatment in rheumatoid arthritis

Objective To evaluate the associations between (1) antidrug antibody (ADAb) and therapeutic response, (2) ADAb and serum drug trough levels and (3) serum drug levels and therapeutic responses in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving adalimumab or etanercept. Secondarily, we aim (1) to evaluate the concordance between radioimmunoassay and bridging ELISA for ADAb assessment and to evaluate the correlation between two different ELISA methods for detecting drug levels, and (2) to determine the optimal cut-off drug levels for good European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response. Methods ADAb levels were determined by bridging ELISA and radioimmunoassay, and drug levels evaluated using sandwich ELISA among 36 adalimumab-treated patients and 34 etanercept-treated patients at the 6th and 12th month. The optimal cut-off drug levels for EULAR responses were determined by receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis. Results ADAb was detected in 10 (27.8%) and 13 (36.1%) of adalimumab-treated patients after 12-month therapy using bridging ELISA and radioimmunoassay respectively, but not detected in any of etanercept-treated patients. The presence of ADAb was associated with lower EULAR response and lower drug levels compared with those without ADAb (both p<0.001). Drug trough levels were positively associated with DAS28 decrement (ΔDAS28) (all p<0.001). The optimal cut-off trough levels for adalimumab were 1.274 μg/mL and 1.046 μg/mL, and those for etanercept were 1.242 μg/mL and 0.800 μg/mL for good EULAR response assessed at the 6th and 12th month, respectively. Conclusions ADAb levels were inversely correlated with therapeutic response and drug levels. The positive correlation between drug levels and ΔDAS28 indicates that drug monitoring would be useful to evaluate therapeutic response of TNF-α inhibitors.
Managerial Accounting: Method and Meaning

Part 1 Framework: towards a definition of managerial control managerial accounting and organizational control managerial accounting information for control and problem solving. Part 2 Feedforward control: planning for current activities short-run decision-making long-run decision-making setting standards and estimates the budgeting process - technical and social aspects. Part 3 Feedback control: responsibility, authority and control performance measurement - variance analysis performance measurement - divisional analysis managerial accounting and organizational control. Part 4 Overview and the future: the development of managerial accounting. Part 5 Workbook: towards a definition of managerial accounting information for control and problem-solving planning for current activities short-run decision-making long-run decision-making setting standards and estimates the budgeting process responsibility, authority and control performance measurement - variance analysis performance measurement - divisional analysis managerial accounting and organizational control the development of managerial accounting.
Pharmacologic Choices for Procedural Sedation

Medications used in intravenous procedural sedation (IVPS) should be understood at a pharmacologic level. In this chapter, the pharmacology of commonly used analgesic and anesthetic agents will be discussed. The mechanisms of action, adverse effects, pharmacologic considerations, and cardiopulmonary effects are described. Conscious sedation, or moderate sedation, is used for procedures that are typically not well tolerated, but that also do not require deep or prolonged sedation. Patients should be kept at a level where they can respond to verbal commands, and should respond purposefully when stimulated. Titration of doses should be done cautiously, and patients should be monitored for effectiveness, adverse effects, altered metabolism, and potential drug interactions. This chapter will provide an overview of the pharmacology of these agents. An understanding of pharmacologic terminology should be understood. Pharmacokinetics focus on 4 primary processes the body has on the current physiological state of the drug. These processes—often referred to as ADME—include absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. The pharmacokinetics of a drug are highly dependent on dosage, route of
Effect of Growth Enhancers on Quality of Chicken Meat during Cold Storage

This study was conducted to assess the effect of some growth enhancers as dietary onion & garlic (Allium sativum) and vitamin E supplementation with water on the meat quality parameters of broiler chicken. A total of 150 chicks were divided into 3 groups, 50 birds per treatment. The first group was fed control diet, the second group fed control diet supplemented with onion 2% and garlic 2% and the third group fed on control diet with vitamin E mixed with water. Birds were slaughtered at the end of the trial to evaluate pH, moisture content, cooking loss, shear force, instrumental color and fatty acids composition of refrigerated (5±1℃ for 6 days) and frozen (3 and 6 months) samples. There was a significant decrease in the mean pH, shear force, a(superscript *)- and b(superscript *)- values and cooking loss in samples from chicken dietary supplemented with onion & garlic, and also in chicken (supplemented) with vitamin E mixed with water compared with the control. The mean moisture contents of chicken samples were not significantly influenced by the used growth enhancers. There was a numeric decrease in total saturated fatty acids (TSF %) and an increase in total unsaturated fatty acids (TUS %) in chicken samples (supplemented) with vitamin E mixed with water than control and which supplemented with onion & garlic. Palmitic was the predominant saturated fatty acid, while oleic was the predominant unsaturated fatty acid. It could be concluded that the supplementation of onion & garlic and vitamin E improved chicken meat quality during refrigerated and frozen storage.
Ultrasonographic Splanchnic Arterial Flow Measurement in Severe Acute Pancreatitis

Introduction Duplex ultrasonographic technology is now capable of detecting flow signals in the various splanchnic vessels and calculating the concomitant flow velocities using fast-Fourier transformation. Aim To use Doppler sonography to investigate how splanchnic hemodynamics vary during the early stage of severe acute pancreatitis. Methodology Six patients with severe acute pancreatitis (age, 59.0 ± 6.57 years; four men, two women) and seven with mild to moderate acute pancreatitis (age, 60.1 ± 7.41 years; five men, two women) were examined with Doppler sonography immediately after disease onset. The maximum velocity, minimum velocity, mean velocity, pulsatility index, and resistive index were determined from the Doppler spectra from the proper hepatic artery, celiac artery, and superior mesenteric artery. We also examined 15 healthy subjects (age, 59.3 ± 4.60 years; 10 men, five women) as controls. Results The maximum velocity of the proper hepatic artery in patients with severe acute pancreatitis was significantly higher than that in patients with mild to moderate acute pancreatitis (p = 0.011) and in control subjects (p = 0.0047). Similarly, significant increases in both the minimum velocity and the mean velocity of the proper hepatic artery were observed in patients with severe acute pancreatitis. Neither pulsatility index nor resistive index of the proper hepatic artery showed a significant difference among the three groups. There were no significant differences among the three groups with respect to the flow velocity of the superior mesenteric artery. In contrast, the pulsatility index of the superior mesenteric artery in patients with severe acute pancreatitis was significantly lower than that in patients with mild to moderate acute pancreatitis (p = 0.0058) or in control subjects (p = 0.0024). For patients with acute pancreatitis, a significant inverse correlation was obtained between the maximum velocity of the proper hepatic artery and the pulsatility index of the superior mesenteric artery (r = −0.658, p = 0.0145). Conclusion The increase in the hepatic arterial flow velocity and the decrease in the superior mesenteric arterial pulsatility index may represent early events of the severe type of acute pancreatitis.
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT – KEY FACTORS

This paper exposes Supply Chain Management by its key factors. Briefly, where the Supply Chain Management is treated as strategic part of a company then maintaining both control and influence throughout the entire supply chain are key factors and critical to success. On the other hand, finding the right partner to manage the non-strategic Supply Chains would be another key factor too. To define the most important key factors within Supply Chain Management means a deeply understanding of both Supply Chain’ s components, procedures, workflow, processes and the importance of Supply Chain Management into maximizing company's value. SCORE model able to provide solid information about measuring performance and identifying priorities within Supply Chain Management will help us to understand the key factors by analyzing its elements: Plan, Source, Make, Deliver,Return, Enable. These elements covers all the challenging areas from first to third tier of Supply Chain Management.
Equilibrium and ultrafast kinetic studies manipulating electron transfer: A short-lived flavin semiquinone is not sufficient for electron bifurcation

Flavin-based electron transfer bifurcation is emerging as a fundamental and powerful mechanism for conservation and deployment of electrochemical energy in enzymatic systems. In this process, a pair of electrons is acquired at intermediate reduction potential (i.e. intermediate reducing power), and each electron is passed to a different acceptor, one with lower and the other with higher reducing power, leading to “bifurcation. ” It is believed that a strongly reducing semiquinone species is essential for this process, and it is expected that this species should be kinetically short-lived. We now demonstrate that the presence of a short-lived anionic flavin semiquinone (ASQ) is not sufficient to infer the existence of bifurcating activity, although such a species may be necessary for the process. We have used transient absorption spectroscopy to compare the rates and mechanisms of decay of ASQ generated photochemically in bifurcating NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP+ oxidoreductase and the non-bifurcating flavoproteins nitroreductase, NADH oxidase, and flavodoxin. We found that different mechanisms dominate ASQ decay in the different protein environments, producing lifetimes ranging over 2 orders of magnitude. Capacity for electron transfer among redox cofactors versus charge recombination with nearby donors can explain the range of ASQ lifetimes that we observe. Our results support a model wherein efficient electron propagation can explain the short lifetime of the ASQ of bifurcating NADH-dependent ferredoxin-NADP+ oxidoreductase I and can be an indication of capacity for electron bifurcation.
A Review of Wavelet Transform Time–Frequency Methods for NIRS-Based Analysis of Cerebral Autoregulation

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been proposed as a suitable technique for the analysis of cerebral autoregulation as it provides a simpler acquisition methodology and more artifact-free signal. A number of sophisticated wavelet transform methods have recently emerged to quantify the cerebral autoregulation mechanism using NIRS and blood pressure signals. These provide an enhanced partitioning of signal information via the time-frequency plane, which facilitates improved extraction of the components of interest. This area is reviewed, and enhancements to this form of analysis are suggested.
Who Benefits Whom in the Neighborhood? Demographics and Retail Product Geography

May 31, 2006 Because of fixed costs, additional people nearby confer a benefit on each other by helping to make more retail products available. Yet, because product preferences differ across groups of consumers, the appeal of what’s available depends on the mix of consumers. If product preferences relate to consumer characteristics such as race, income, age, and ethnicity, then product availability will be stimulated by concentration of like individuals. The sensitivity of product availability to demographic mix of consumers has been documented for metropolitan-area products, such as newspapers, radio, and television, as well as one neighborhood-level product, restaurants. Here I revisit the question for a broader group of local retail establishments. Using the Consumer Expenditure Survey, I document that preferences differ across groups. Then, using the 2000 Census and the 2000 Zipcode Business Patterns, I show that the mix of products available is sensitive to the mix of local preferences. People therefore derive benefit through the product market from agglomerating with persons with similar product preferences, and this may help to explain patterns of residential segregation.
Absence of mutations in the NBS1 gene in B-cell malignant lymphoma patients.

BACKGROUND Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS), also known as ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) variant, is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by microcephaly, growth retardation, severe combined immunodeficiency and a high incidence of lymphoid carcinoma, the majority of which are B-cell lymphomas. To determine whether the NBS1 gene is a tumor suppressor gene in B-cell lymphoma, we screened B-cell malignant lymphoma (ML) for any evidence of NBS1 mutation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sequence analysis of the NBS1 gene was performed from PCR products amplified from the DNA of 12 extracranial ML or RT-PCR products amplified from cDNA of 8 primary central nervous system lymphoma. RESULTS Direct sequence analysis revealed that no NBS1 mutations were present in any of these patients. CONCLUSION The present results suggested that the contribution of NBS1 mutations to B-cell ML was minimal, despite the fact that the NBS1 gene was causative factor in these cases.
Commerce électronique et nouvelle formes d'organisation dans le secteur de la distribution industrielle européenne

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Commerce électronique et nouvelle formes d’organisation dans le secteur de la distribution industrielle européenne Pierre-Jean Benghozi, Alberto Bono
A Structure and Meaning Based Classification of Lexical Categories a

A hierarchical organization for lexical categories is proposed based on the relative contribution of words to the structure and meaning of text. Function words primarily signal the sentential structure while content words primarily convey its meaning. But within these traditional categories, further divisions can be made that have psycholinguistic importance. For example, within the content words, verbs emphasize structure more than nouns do, and within the function words, pronouns emphasize meaning more than prepositions do. The hierarchical organization is supported by subjective ratings of sentences and by distributional analyses of printed text. Further, the time spent reading the various categories depends on the performance demands. Structural information is more important when reading for retention than for comprehension of gist. But meaning is more important for comprehension than for retention tasks.