Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stents in the Treatment of Renal Artery Stenosis: Long-Term Follow-up

Purpose: To evaluate the role of percutaneous stenting in the treatment of renal arterial lesions after failure of balloon angioplasty. Methods: Two hundred ten patients (139 males; mean age 67.7 ± 9.9 years, range 27 to 87) had 259 balloon-expandable stents (165 Palmaz and 94 Renal Bridge stents) implanted in 244 renal artery stenoses (171 ostial and 73 nonostial lesions). The patients were suffering from intractable hypertension (n = 210) and/or renal dysfunction (n = 48). The majority of the lesions (n = 234) were atheromatous in origin. Stents were implanted for suboptimal balloon dilation (n = 182, 75%), restenotic lesions (n = 27, 11%), or dissection (n = 9, 4%); 26 (11%) ostial lesions were stented primarily. Mean lesion length was 11.9 ± 4.4 mm (range 5 to 30) and mean percent stenosis was 81.9% ± 8.25% (range 70 to 100). Results: Immediate technical success was 99% (241 of 244). Three (1.2%) major complications included one intraprocedural stent thrombosis, one arterial perforation manifesting as a perirenal hematoma 24 hours after the procedure, and one renal arterial rupture. Follow-up over a mean 25.4 ± 22.8 months (range 1 to 96) in 185 eligible patients (209 arteries) found 24 cases of restenosis (11.4%). Primary and secondary patencies for all lesions at 60 months were 79% and 98%, respectively, with no significant differences between ostial and nonostial lesions or stent types. Hypertension was reversed in 35 (19%), improved in 112 (61%), and remained unchanged in 37 (20%). Renal function was improved in 29% (14 of 48), unchanged in 67% (32 of 48), and worse in 4% (2 of 48). Conclusions: Renal artery stenting is safe, effective, and may be an alternative to surgery, particularly in ostial lesions. Our experience shows reduction in the restenosis rate compared to conventional angioplasty. All ostial stenoses should be stented.
Corporate credit analysis

This series of financial management titles breaks new ground in simplicity, clarity and ease of application on the complex subject of risk management -- a crucial business tool. These are time-tested training tools, whether for classroom application or individual study. Each title in the series makes use of extensive case studies, adapted specifically for a sophisticated international audience. Topics include: -- establishing overall corporate goals for credit worthiness -- using outside sources and vendors to enhance credit analysis techniques -- implementing credit analysis systems -- case studies in applied credit analysis -- exercises and sample analysis programs
Large-signal and small-signal analysis of nonlinear three-terminal switching elements

In this paper, a systematic and efficient method to analyze nonlinear circuits which have three-terminal nonlinear elements like transistors (JFET, MOSFET, or BJT) is presented. Large-signal and small-signal analysis of nonlinear circuits containing these elements are achieved. The nonlinear circuits have non-algebraic equations. The solutions of these equations are based on an algorithm called Newton-Raphson algorithm. The method allows computer-aided analysis of nonlinear circuits to be realized efficiently. One illustrative example is included in the study.
Identification, characterization, and immunogenicity of the lactoferrin-binding protein from Helicobacter pylori

Iron acquisition plays an important role in bacterial virulence. Different studies have been initiated to define the mechanism by which Helicobacter pylori acquires iron. We had previously demonstrated that human lactoferrin (HLf) supported full growth of the bacteria in media lacking other iron sources. The ability of H. pylori to use HLf as an iron source had been found to be dependent on cell-to-protein contact. Since lactoferrin has been found in significant amounts in human stomach resection specimens from patients with superficial or atrophic gastritis, the iron uptake of H. pylori via a specific HLf receptor may play a major role in the virulence of H. pylori infection. In this study, by using affinity chromatography with biotinylated HLf and streptavidin-agarose, we identified a 70-kDa lactoferrin-binding protein (Lbp) from outer membrane proteins of H. pylori. This Lbp was only present when H. pylori was grown in an iron-starved medium, suggesting that it serves in iron uptake. Direct binding assays with increasing concentrations of biotinylated HLf demonstrated that the lactoferrin interaction with the outer membrane of H. pylori grown in iron-restricted medium was saturable. Competitive binding experiments with bovine and human lactoferrin and with transferrin of horse, bovine, and human origin indicated that this Lbp appeared highly specific for HLf. A number of other studies have focused on the importance of transferrin and lactoferrin receptors in pathogenic bacteria and their specificity with the host species. This observation might explain the very strict human specificity of H. pylori.
Photoreactivation of ultraviolet induced reciprocal recombination, gene conversion and mutation to prototrophy in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

SUMMARY: Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae heteroallelic for the adenine-2 locus, heterozygous for outside markers and homozygous for tryptophan-1, were ultraviolet (u.v.)-irradiated and the effect of post-treatment with white light determined. Mitotic gene conversion to adenine independence and mutation to tryptophan independence and to adenine independence were both decreased by post-u.v. -irradiation treatment with white light, whereas mitotic reciprocal recombination of outside markers was unaffected. The effect of varying the treatment with white light after a constant degree of exposure to u.v. -radiation produced a decrease in reversion frequency to a constant value at light exposures of 5 min. and more. The differing responses of reciprocal recombination and gene conversion are discussed.
Enterprise Resource Planning And Its Future Relationship To Decision Support System

This paper looks at the development of ERP and DSS, with a focus on the differences between the two systems in terms of their evolution and applications and the potential for convergence in the future. For the most part, ERP and DSS have evolved in parallel, and as a result those organizations, which have already implemented ERP, are now having problems integrating DSS and data warehousing into their system. ERP vendors hold the opinion that it is comparatively simple to add on DDS applications, but this tends to be contradicted by the fact that most ERP specialists are not experienced in DSS or in data warehousing. Software analysts from both sides of the industry agree that convergence is inevitable, but differ in their views as to how this should be achieved. It would seem that a greater degree of collaboration, and the transfer of skills between the two sides, is the most practical option, coupled with a case-by-case approach to the requirements of individual customers rather than trying to find blanket solutions.
Rab8 is Involved in Zymogen Granule Formation in Pancreatic Acinar AR42J Cells

Zymogen granules (ZGs) are specialized storage organelles in the exocrine pancreas, which allow digestive enzyme storage and regulated apical secretion. To understand the function of these important organelles, we are conducting studies to identify and characterize ZG membrane proteins. Small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) of the Rab family are key protein components involved in vesicular/granular trafficking and membrane fusion in eukaryotic cells. In this study, we show by morphological studies that Rab8 (Rab8A) localizes to ZGs in acinar cells of the pancreas. We find that Rab8 is present on isolated ZGs from rat pancreas and in the ZG membrane fraction obtained after granule subfractionation. To address a putative role of Rab8 in granule biogenesis, we conducted RNA interference experiments to ‘knock down’ the expression of Rab8 in pancreatic AR42J cells. Silencing of Rab8 (but not of Rab3) resulted in a decrease in the number of ZGs and in an accumulation of granule marker proteins within the Golgi complex. By contrast, the trafficking of lysosomal and plasma membrane proteins was not affected. These data provide first evidence for a role of Rab8 early on in ZG formation at the Golgi complex and thus, apical trafficking of digestive enzymes in acinar cells of the pancreas.
Home Outdoor NO2 and New Onset of Self-Reported Asthma in Adults

Background: Few studies have investigated new onset of asthma in adults in relation to air pollution. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between modeled background levels of traffic-related air pollution at the subjects’ home addresses and self-reported asthma incidence in a European adult population. Methods: Adults from the European Respiratory Health Survey were included (n = 4185 from 17 cities). Subjects’ home addresses were geocoded and linked to outdoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) estimates, as a marker of local traffic-related pollution. We obtained this information from the 1-km background NO2 surface modeled in APMoSPHERE (Air Pollution Modelling for Support to Policy on Health and Environmental Risk in Europe). Asthma incidence was defined as reporting asthma in the follow-up (1999 to 2001) but not in the baseline (1991 to 1993). Results: A positive association was found between NO2 and asthma incidence (odds ratio 1.43; 95% confidence interval = 1.02 to 2.01) per 10 &mgr;g/m3. Results were homogeneous among centers (P value for heterogeneity = 0.59). Conclusions: We found an association between a marker of traffic-related air pollution and asthma incidence in European adults.
Marketing Policies Through The Internet: The Case Of Skiing Centers In Greece

Lately, Internet constitutes a major tool for transactions in every aspect and supports innovative marketing policies. Broadband Internet has become “the key to success” for businesses, as it offers various advantages and benefits through Internet marketing (e-marketing) policies. In Greece, mountainous areas are usually covered with snow during winter months; so, skiing centers have become an important asset for winter tourism. The Internet evolution and the development of network infrastructure enhance marketing policies for winter tourism activities. This paper studies the use of marketing policies in Greek skiing centers through the Internet, such as promotional activities, website interactivity, accommodation & entertainment information, online weather forecast, guest book, etc Therefore, the paper aims to optimize and evaluate skiing centers in Greece, qualitatively and quantitatively according to e-marketing policies used as criteria, based on the multicriteria method of PROMETHEE II and further to classify them in groups. Finally we identify and describe the optimum group of skiing centers to be used as a model with enhanced customer communication services.
Energy consumption heuristics in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a collection of sensor nodes which are deployed densely in a distributed environment. Energy is biggest constraints to wireless sensor capabilities. Due to the large number of sensors, network-scale interaction is indeed a more energy consuming. In this paper, an algorithm is proposed for optimum utilization of energy and reliable communication in WSN.
On Predicting Election Results using Twitter and Linked Open Data: The Case of the UK 2010 Election

: The analysis of Social Media data enables eliciting public behaviour and opinion. In this context, a number of studies have recently explored Social Media’s capability to predict the outcome of real-world phenomena. The results of these studies are controversial with elections being the most disputable phenomenon. The objective of this paper is to present a case of predicting the results of the UK 2010 through Twitter. In particular, we study to what extend it is possible to use Twitter data to accurately predict the percentage of votes of the three most prominent political parties namely the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, and the Labour Party. The approach we follow capitalises on (a) a theoretical Social Media data analysis framework for predictions and (b) Linked Open Data to enrich Twitter data. We extensively discuss each step of the framework to emphasise on the details that could aﬀect the prediction accuracy. We anticipate that this paper will contribute to the ongoing discussion of understanding to what extend and under which circumstances election results are predictable through Social Media.
An investigation into factors for successful customer relationship management implementation: Change, information technology and the human being

The importance of effective customer relationships as a key to customer value is widely emphasized and therefore many companies have adopted a relationship marketing approach to manage and improve relationships with customers for longtime profitability. Customer relationship management (CRM) uses information technology in implementing relationship management strategies, and it assists companies to gather customer data, identify the most valuable customers, and increase customer loyalty by providing customized products and services. However, it has been shown that CRM may often fail to produce the expected results. When companies start to adopt relationship marketing strategies, there is often a need to transform the relevant marketing, sales and service processes to become more customer oriented. The transformation of processes may have an effect on the human beings carrying the various sales, service and managerial roles. This dissertation explores qualitatively issues of CRM success from three perspectives: organizational change, the implementation of the information technology (IT) artefact and from the perspective of the role and qualities of the human being as a CRM success factor. In this study multiple approaches in exploring CRM success have been applied: first a case study into the phenomenon of change in a CRM implementation was conducted, secondly design science approach in investigating the piloting of CRM was applied, and thirdly the dissertation is concluded by a conceptual analytical study into the humancentredness of CRM. Based on this dissertation it has been empirically shown that for successful CRM implementation it is important for the company to first establish a clear customer relationship strategy. First then should the company engage in the organizational transformations, which are in many cases needed in order to align business processes and people with the customer-focused strategy. In this study evidence is given to the fact that even though transformational issues may affect CRM success, change should be investigated from a broader perspective than focusing on intentional change events only: emergent and unintentional change should be included as important factors in future CRM success research, too. Moreover, it is shown in this study that the piloting of CRM does not necessarily support successful CRM implementation. On the contrary piloting may even raise the risk for failure. Traditionally human beings are seen in a very fragmented manner in CRM, and most often only one type of human qualities like e.g., cognitive or emotional features are taken into account. In this study evidence is given that in most CRM approaches the prevailing conception of humans is monistic. The human being is seen as consisting of only one basic mode of being in that humans are conceptualized as objects with no mental and social qualities. The prevailing image of the human being in CRM is often a managerial one and it is suggested that CRM
The influence of lighting on visual perception of material qualities

We studied whether lighting influences the visual perception of material scattering qualities. To this aim we made an interface or “material probe”, called MatMix 1.0, in which we used optical mixing of four canonical material modes. The appearance of a 3D object could be adjusted by interactively adjusting the weights of the four material components in the probe. This probe was used in a matching experiment in which we compared material perception under generic office lighting with that under three canonical lighting conditions. For the canonical materials, we selected matte, velvety, specular and glittery, representing diffuse, asperity, forward, and specular micro facet scattering modes. For the canonical lightings, we selected ambient, focus and brilliance lighting modes. In our matching experiment, observers were asked to change the appearance of the probe so that the material qualities of the probe matched that of the stimuli. From the matching results, we found that our brilliance lighting brought out the glossiness of our stimuli and our focus lighting brought out the velvetiness of our stimuli most similarly to office lighting. We conclude that the influence of lighting on material perception is material-dependent.
Repeated anodal transcranial direct current stimulation induces neural plasticity-associated gene expression in the rat cortex and hippocampus.

BACKGROUND Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (A-tDCS) induces a long-lasting increase in cortical excitability that can increase gene transcription in the brain. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression of genes related to activity-dependent neuronal plasticity in the sensorimotor cortex and hippocampus of young Sprague-Dawley rats following A-tDCS. METHODS We applied A-tDCS over the right sensorimotor cortex epicranially with a circular electrode (3 mm diameter) at 250 μA for 20 min per day for 7 consecutive days. Levels of mRNA for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), synapsin I, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc), and c-Fos were analyzed using SYBR Green quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS We found that 7 days of unilateral A-tDCS resulted in significant increases in transcription of all plasticity-related genes tested in the ipsilateral cortex. Daily A-tDCS also resulted in a significant increase in c-Fos mRNA in the ipsilateral hippocampus. CONCLUSION These results indicate that altered expression of plasticity-associated genes in the cortex and hippocampus is a molecular substrate of A-tDCS-induced neural plasticity.
Who is the senior consumer

As the population of seniors in Europe grows, the mature consumer market initiates enormous opportunities for all industries. This new market has now captured the attention of marketers, product manufacturers and service providers who are facing this first issue: who really is the senior consumer and how do we identify him? An in depth analysis of the review of literature in Marketing has been led and has revealed that this question has still no unique and stable answer. In order to provide a stable conceptual framework for research and study on the senior consumer, this article proposes the building of a new, stable and precise definition, linked to an indicator that aims to empirically identify the senior consumer. The applied method of building is inspired from set mathematical theory. The resulting definition could be used by every researcher and practitioner whatever industry he/she is interested in.
Labor Market Data Needs Relating to Antidiscrimination Activity: Comment

Excerpt] Barbara Bergmann's background paper divides data needs in the antidiscrimination area into data that would be useful in the formulation of national policy and data that would be useful as an aid in enforcing the laws and executive orders against discrimination. Although the former are likely to be of greatest concern to the commission, she has performed a valuable service by discussing these interrelated needs in one place. I find much to agree with, and very little to disagree with or question, in her paper. The presentation is, in the main, an objective one and she tempers her desire for new and better data throughout by judgmentally weighing the benefits she perceives will accrue from the data against their likely cost. Presentation of estimates of the cost of the new data she recommends would aid the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about their value and I hope that the commission's staff can provide the commission with such estimates.
Retrochalcone derivatives are positive allosteric modulators at synaptic and extrasynaptic GABAA receptors in vitro

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Flavonoids, important plant pigments, have been shown to allosterically modulate brain GABAA receptors (GABAARs). We previously reported that trans‐6,4′‐dimethoxyretrochalcone (Rc‐OMe), a hydrolytic derivative of the corresponding flavylium salt, displayed nanomolar affinity for the benzodiazepine binding site of GABAARs. Here, we evaluate the functional modulations of Rc‐OMe, along with two other synthetic derivatives trans‐6‐bromo‐4′‐methoxyretrochalcone (Rc‐Br) and 4,3′‐dimethoxychalcone (Ch‐OMe) on GABAARs.
Effect of Chronic Thiamine Deficiency on Oral Carcinogenesis

Suboptimal intake of various nutritional factors, especially the vitamins, has been considered by many investigators as setting the stage for and contributing to the development of different types of malignant disease. With reference to oral cancer, Orr' in 1933 published a paper dealing with the epidemiologic distribution of oral cancer in India and other geographically adjacent areas. In this report Orr mentions the possible relationship of endemic malnutrition (especially vitamin A deficiency) to the observed high incidence of oral tumors. In 1942 in this country, Abels, Rekers, Martin and Rhoads2 reported on the relationship between dietary deficiency and the occurrence of lingual papillary atrophy and leukoplakia-the latter considered to be a precancerous oral lesion. In this study of human subjects, these authors found that administration of large amounts of brewer's yeast as a source of vitamin B-complex resulted in marked improvement of both lesions in many cases. They therefore suggested that vitamin B-complex deficiency resulted in certain epithelial disorders, including the precancerous lesion, leukoplakia. The observation on rats maintained on a diet low in vitamin B-complex that there was decreased oxidation in epidermal and dermal tissues would give indirect support to this contention, although this effect has been specifically related to riboflavin deficiency by Adams.3 With reference to experimentally induced tumors, conflicting results have been reported concerning modification in cancer development by alterations in dietary B vitamins. For example, Morris and Lippincott4 in 1941 reported retardation of growth of spontaneous mammary adenocarcinomas in mice when these animals were maintained on a pantothenic acid deficiency. In 1943, Morris and Robertson5 reported somewhat the same findings on mice held on an extreme riboflavin deficiency. Choline deficiency, on the other hand when studied by Engel, Copeland, and Salmon,6 resulted in neoplasms in rats but no neoplastic change in rats maintained on the same diet supplemented with 0.2 per cent choline chloride. Kreshover7 in 1952 reported on the effect of vitamin B-complex deficiency in mice exposed to daily application of whole cigarette smoke to ears and lips. Although there were no demonstrable lesions on the lips of these animals, he does describe an increased severity of ulceration with epithelial dyskeratosis in the ears of these animals subjected