Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hepatotrophic factors reduce hepatic fibrosis in rats.

CONTEXT Hepatic fibrosis occurs in response to several aggressive agents and is a predisposing factor in cirrhosis. Hepatotrophic factors were shown to stimulate liver growth and to restore the histological architecture of the liver. They also cause an improvement in liver function and accelerate the reversion of fibrosis before it progresses to cirrhosis. OBJECTIVE To test the effects of hepatic fibrosis solution composed by amino acids, vitamins, glucose, insulin, glucagon and triiodothyronine on hepatic fibrosis in rats. METHODS Fibrosis was induced in rats by gastric administration of dimethylnitrosamine (10 mg/kg) for 5 weeks. After liver biopsy, the rats received either hepatotrophic factors solution (40 mg/kg/day) or saline solution for 10 days by intraperitoneal injection. Blood samples and liver fragments were collected for hepatic function analysis, standard histopathology evaluation, and morphometric collagen quantification. RESULTS Rats in the hepatotrophic factors group showed a decrease of the histopathological components of fibrosis and an increase of their hepatic mass (12.2%). There was no development of neoplasic lesions in both groups. Compared with the saline group, the hepatotrophic factors group also had a decrease of blood levels of hepatic-lesion markers (AST, ALT) and a decrease of collagen content in the portal spaces (31.6%) and perisinusoidal spaces (42.3%), as well as around the hepatic terminal vein (57.7%). Thus, hepatotrophic factors administration in the portal blood promoted a regenerative hepatic response, with an overall reduction of the volumetric density of collagen, improved hepatic function, and a general improvement in the histopathological aspects of fibrosis. CONCLUSION Taken together, these results suggest the potential therapeutic use of this hepatotrophic factors solution to treat chronic liver diseases.
Computationally Efficient Thermal Analysis of a Low-Speed High-Thrust Linear Electric Actuator With a Three-Dimensional Thermal Network Approach

Permanent-magnet synchronous linear motors (PMSLMs) are more and more frequently used as all-electric direct-drive actuators in those applications where a force needs to be developed along a fixed direction. In this paper, an accurate 3-D thermal model of a PMSLM is derived through a lumped-parameter network approach which exploits all the symmetries in the actuator structure to maximize the spatial density of nodes. Numerically efficient techniques are then proposed to solve the thermal network analytically. Some experimental validations are finally presented based on the thermal testing of a laboratory prototype.
Cooperative Interactions and the Perception of Motion and Stationarity for Directionally Ambiguous Apparent-Motion Stimuli

Evidence is reported that stationarity rather than motion can be perceived for displaced stimuli, not because of insufficient motion energy for the stimulus to activate individual motion detectors, but because of cooperative interactions that actively suppress the perception of motion. A long row of evenly spaced dots was presented in counterphase; the dots presented during each 180 ms frame were located midway between the dots presented during the previous frame. When either a blank interval as brief as 15 ms was inserted between successive frames or the luminance polarity of the dots was reversed on successive frames, the unidirectional motion pattern perceived for small interdot distances (small displacements) was replaced by the perception of stationarity. However, when under the same conditions a single dot was displaced over the same small distances, motion rather than stationarity was perceived. The contrasting results for the long row of displaced dots and the single displaced dot indicated that when the activation of motion detectors is weakened (by nonzero interframe intervals and/or the reversal of luminance polarity), the perception of motion can be actively suppressed by the collective effects of inhibitory interactions among the large ensemble of detectors that is activated by the long row of dots.
Performance management and employee satisfaction in Insurance Company of East Africa, Kisumu branch

Performance management is concerned with enhancing employee performance at work as well as providing them with satisfaction. In its entirety, performance management is primary to the success of any organization considering the global competition and turbulence in the business arena. It is concerned with satisfying the needs and expectations o f an organization’s stakeholders; employees included. This study was carried out to establish the employee performance management process used in Insurance Company of East Africa, Kisumu Branch. In addition, it was aimed at determining the influence o f employee performance management process on employee satisfaction. It employed a case study research design. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics such as the mean, percentages and frequencies. The data was further subjected to Pearson’s Correlation analysis to determine the influence of performance management process on employee satisfaction. The findings indicated that Insurance Company of East Africa, Kisumu Branch has an employee performance management process which incorporates: performance and development agreement; managing employee performance throughout the year and conducting formal performance review. The study therefore agrees with Gareth et al (2000) who suggest that organizations adopt employee performance management as a competitive strategy. The study also established that 66% of employees in the branch were satisfied with the employee performance management process in place. The study further revealed that employee performance management process enhances employee satisfaction and vice versa. This concurs with Robson et al (2005) whose study suggested that organizations that implement “good practices”, such as employee performance management, and who are achieving organizational results are likely to be closer to satisfying their staff. The organization, however, scored poorly in areas such as team work 44% and work environment where 34%. It is recommended that a similar study be replicated in the other branches or the organization as a whole to ascertain consistency with these findings, given that it was limited to one branch.
Efficient implementation of hash sequence authentication based on RFID

Security for accessing an area need to be noticed. Access restriction can be applied using authentication such as password. Thereby, the strong password is required, but it is hard to remember. Strong password can be generated by using hash function and stored on smart card can be solution. Smart card can be used as access card. Nevertheless, vulnerabilities of the card need to be noticed. Lamport's scheme as hash sequence authentication can be implemented to create dynamic access card which replicate resistant. Hash sequence authentication used to authenticate the prover. The prover should give hash value as input that has result equal with the verifier has. This scheme will be implemented using Arduino Mega ADK. The result of this research is a login hardware prototype.
Haemoperitoneum caused by bilateral renal cyst rupture in an ACKD peritoneal dialysis patient.

Acquired cystic kidney disease (ACKD) can bedeveloped during chronic renal insufﬁciency. Theprobability of developing cystic diseases rises with theincrease of time in dialysis [1]. Men and African-AmericanpopulationaremorelikelytodevelopACKD.Also, kidney volumes are bigger and cyst size increasesfaster in this population [1,2]. Typical complicationsof ACKD are intra- and pericystic bleeding as wellas rupture with retroperitoneal haemorrhage. Patientswith ACKD also present a higher risk of malignanttransformation. Haemoperitoneum is an unusual com-plication in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis(PD),mostcasesbeingattributedtomechanical,gynae-cological or intraperitoneal abdominal pathology.Haemoperitoneum, as a complication of renal cystin autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease(ADPKD), has been described only twice in patientson PD [3,4]. However, no previous cases were reportedof ACKD.This report describes one case of spontaneousbilateral cyst rupture with retroperitoneal haemorrhageand haemoperitoneum in a PD patient with ACKD.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of the Ministry of Food programme on self-reported food consumption and confidence with cooking

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Ministry of Food (MoF) cooking programme on self-reported food consumption and confidence within cooking. Design: A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the MoF 8 week cooking course, using a pre-test/post-test study. Pre, post and 6 month follow-up quantitative outcomes were measured using self-administered questionnaires to record number of portions of fruit and vegetables (F&V) consumed per day, number of snacks consumed per day, and participants’ cooking confidence levels (highest score of 5). Qualitative evaluations were undertaken using structured telephone interviews. Setting: Leeds Kirkgate market, Ministry of Food Centre. Subjects: 795 adults (43% male) on MoF courses from 2010-2014. 462 completed questionnaires at all three time points. Findings: Six months after the course self-reported F&V intake had significantly increased from the start by 1.5 (95%CI 1.3, 1.6, p<0.001) portions per day to 4.1 (95%CI 4.0, 4.3). The number of snacks reported significantly decreased over the same period by -0.9 (CI: -1.0, -0.8, p<0.001) snacks per day. Cooking confidence increased over the same period by 1.7 (95%CI 1.6, 1.9, p<0.001) to 4.4 (CI 4.4 4.5). Age and disability, but not deprivation or ethnicity were associated with changes in self-reported F&V intake and cooking confidence scores at six months; and gender with the latter outcome. Qualitative results supported quantitative findings and revealed specific beneficial gains in cooking skill/preparation, nutritional awareness, food purchasing and other social benefits. Conclusions: MoF community based cooking interventions can have significant positive effects on dietary behaviour, food choice and cooking confidence.
Practical Implications of Cochlear Implants in Children

CHILDHOOD DEAFNESS CAN have serious and far-reaching effects on development but, with appropriate intervention, these effects can be reduced (see, for example, Boothroyd. 1988; Davis & Silverman, 1978; Ling & Ling, 1978). One component of modern intervention is effective use of the auditory capacity possessed by most deaf children. With modern hearing aids and suitable training, this “residual hearing” can play a significant role, and often the primary role, in the development of receptive and expressive spoken language skills and language competence (see, for example, Bess, Freeman, & Sinclair, 198 1 ; Ling & Milne, 198 1 : Ross & Giolas, 1978). There have always been deaf children, however, who have little or no residual hearing. Even with the most powerful hearing aids they perceive only gross variations of speech amplitude over time, and for many, this perception is mediated not by the sense of hearing, but by the sense of touch (Boothroyd & Cawkwell, 1970; Erber, 1978, 1979; Nober, 1967). These children account for, perhaps, 5 to 10% of the population with hearing losses of sufficient severity to prevent the spontaneous acquisition of spoken language skills. They typically have better-ear, three-frequency, average thresholds in excess of 110 dB. With the advent of cochlear implants it has become possible to provide many such children with useful auditory capacity. The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the practical implications of this development. Five questions will be addressed: 1. What exactly are the auditory capacities of implanted children? 2. How much greater are these capacities than could reasonably have been expected from hearing aids? 3. Based on our experience with less severely deaf children, how much difference should the improvement of auditory capacity, after implanta4.
Canadian Drug Regulatory Framework

The role of regulatory drug submission evaluators in Canada is to critically assess both the data submitted and the sponsor's interpretation of the data in order to reach an evidence-, and context- based recommendation as to the potential benefits and potential harms (i.e., risks) associated with taking the drug under the proposed conditions of use. The purpose of this document is to outline the regulatory framework in which this assessment occurs, including: defining what “authorization to market a drug in Canada” means, in terms of the role of the sponsor, the responsibility of Health Canada in applying the Food and Drugs Act prior to and after marketing authorization, and the distinction between regulatory authorization versus physician authorization; highlighting organizational, process and legal factors within Health Canada related to authorization of clinical trials and authorization to market a drug; considerations during the review process, such as regulatory and scientific issues related to the drug, patient populations and trial designs; application of international guidelines, and decisions from other jurisdictions; regulatory realities regarding drug authorization, including the requirement for wording in the Product Monograph to accurately reflect the information currently available on the safe and effective use of a drug, and that hypothesis-confirming studies are essential to regulatory endorsement; current issues related to the review of therapies for dementia, such as assessing preventative treatments, and therapies that have symptomatic versus disease-modifying effects, statistical issues regarding missing data, and trial design issues.
Towards Leadership Marketing: An Exploratory and Empirical Study

In an era when collaboration is key to business prosperity, the ability to develop one truly coherent and agile brand lived by its employees and delivered to external stakeholders has become extremely challenging. Unity between the internal brand and a company’s external image, when change is the only constant, has nearly vanished. The marketing function is frequently being underemphasised at the board level. Furthermore, the existing approach to leading business devalues the importance of marketing and its role in leading organisational change. This chapter is about how marketing can partner with organisational leadership for a mutually beneficial exchange of skills and capabilities in order to be able to reinvent organisations rapidly enough to cope with shifts in the external business environment and create a sustainable future for the business. From an interpretivist perspective, this chapter explores the novel concept of “leadership marketing,” which challenges the conventional view of marketing and leadership as two separate fields and offers a holistic approach for business management and brand alignment.
Portal-Large Terminase Interactions of the Bacteriophage T4 DNA Packaging Machine Implicate a Molecular Lever Mechanism for Coupling ATPase to DNA Translocation

ABSTRACT DNA packaging by double-stranded DNA bacteriophages and herpesviruses is driven by a powerful molecular machine assembled at the portal vertex of the empty prohead. The phage T4 packaging machine consists of three components: dodecameric portal (gp20), pentameric large terminase motor (gp17), and 11- or 12-meric small terminase (gp16). These components dynamically interact and orchestrate a complex series of reactions to produce a DNA-filled head containing one viral genome per head. Here, we analyzed the interactions between the portal and motor proteins using a direct binding assay, mutagenesis, and structural analyses. Our results show that a portal binding site is located in the ATP hydrolysis-controlling subdomain II of gp17. Mutations at key residues of this site lead to temperature-sensitive or null phenotypes. A conserved helix-turn-helix (HLH) that is part of this site interacts with the portal. A recombinant HLH peptide competes with gp17 for portal binding and blocks DNA translocation. The helices apparently provide specificity to capture the cognate prohead, whereas the loop residues communicate the portal interaction to the ATPase center. These observations lead to a hypothesis in which a unique HLH-portal interaction in the symmetrically mismatched complex acts as a lever to position the arginine finger and trigger ATP hydrolysis. Transiently connecting the critical parts of the motor; subdomain I (ATP binding), subdomain II (controlling ATP hydrolysis), and C-domain (DNA movement), the portal-motor interactions might ensure tight coupling between ATP hydrolysis and DNA translocation.
The Role of Sodium ‐ Calcium Exchange during the Cardiac Action Potential a

The idea that sodium-calcium exchange might generate a current during cardiac electrical activity was first raised as a possible mechanism for the pathological situation when calcium-overloaded tissue generates the transient inward current responsible for ectopic beating. This was one of the mechanisms proposed by Kass, Lederer, Tsien, and Weingart in 1978.I Mullins* (see also Mul l id) had already suggested on theoretical grounds that a variety of currents flowing across the cardiac cell membrane might be carried by sodium-calcium exchange. With regard to the transient inward current, the evidence that it is carried mostly (though not entirely) by sodium-calcium exchange is now very strong in ventricular cells,4 and it has proved possible to reproduce this mechanism in computer models of cardiac electrical a~t iv i ty . ~ The purpose of the present paper is to review the evidence, experimental and theoretical, for a major role of the sodium-calcium exchange current during normal cardiac rhythm. Brown et al. and Arlock and Noble' recorded slow components of inward current following the calcium current that were attributed to sodium-calcium exchange activated by the intracellular calcium transient, while Mitchell et al.*S9 and Schouten and ter Keurs'O showed that the exchange current could play a major role in maintaining the late low plateau in rat ventricular cells. Several years previously Simurda et al." showed that a component of inward current during weak depolarizations is directly proportional to contractile force, suggesting that it was calcium activated.
Prophylactic Medication for Unipolar Depressive Illness: The Place of Lithium Carbonate in Combination with Antidepressant Medication

A meta-analysis of the controlled clinical trials comparing the efficacy of combined lithium-imipramine therapy with each drug alone in the prevention of relapse in patients with unipolar depressive illness shows the combination to be superior to lithium alone (for any relapse, p < 0.05; for specifically depressive relapse, p < 0.025) and imipramine alone (for any relapse, p < 0.025; for specifically depressive relapse, p < 0.05). The issue of statistical power in studies of this kind is discussed. A single case of unipolar depressive illness is described, in which combined lithiumtranylcypromine therapy was superior to either drug alone. A combination of lithium and an antidepressant should be considered for any patient suffering from this condition who fails to remain well on either drug alone.
Les dirigeants gèrent-ils les résultats comptables avant d’annoncer une réduction d’effectifs ? Le cas des entreprises françaises cotées

This paper examines whether firms engage in earnings management activities in the context of workforce reductions. We assume that firms use income-decreasing accruals before workforce reduction announcements to show that the operation is necessary and thus to avoid incurring political costs. Based on 120 workforce reduction announcements for 104 French listed companies over the period 2007-2012, our results confirm that firms manage earnings downward in the year before workforce reduction announcements (approximately 4% of total assets). Overall, the results validate the political cost hypothesis in the context of workforce reductions.
Oxidative stress affects cytoskeletal structure and cell‐matrix interactions in cells from an ocular tissue: The trabecular meshwork

The trabecular meshwork (TM) is a specialized eye tissue that regulates the aqueous humor outflow and controls intraocular pressure. Cells in this tissue are essential for maintenance of the outflow system. Disturbance of the TM cell status by insults such as oxidative stress may lead to elevation of the intraocular pressure and development of glaucoma. In the present study, we investigated the effect of oxidative stress on the adhesion of human TM cells to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Treatment with 1 mM of H2O2 for 10 or 30 min did not affect cell viability, whereas the adhesion of TM cells to fibronectin, laminin, and collagen types I and IV was significantly reduced. Phalloidin and immunostaining also revealed reorganization of actin and vimentin structures. The level of integrins α5β1, αvβ3, and β1 was not altered, although the distribution of paxillin and focal adhesion kinase in focal contacts was reduced. Concomitantly, the level of transcription factor NF‐κB was enhanced by the H2O2 treatment. Nuclear extracts of the treated cells also contained a heightened NF‐κB binding activity. These changes persisted for up to 6 h after the H2O2 treatment but were partially recovered by 24 h. We concluded that under sublethal oxidative stress conditions, the TM cell adhesion to the ECM was impaired. The short‐term loss of cell‐matrix adhesiveness may be related to the rearrangement of cytoskeletal structures. Extensive and repeated oxidative stress in vivo may result in reduced TM cell adhesion, leading to cell loss, compromised TM integrity, and pathologic consequences. J. Cell. Physiol. 180:182–189, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Evaluation of the quality of drug therapy among elderly patients in nursing homes

Objective. To evaluate drug therapy quality among elderly nursing home residents. Secondary aims were to compare quality in young and old elderly and to determine whether number of prescribers affected quality of drug therapy. Design. A cross-sectional population-based register study. Setting. Nursing home residents in the Gothenburg area using the multi-dose system (e.g. patients who get their drugs machine dispensed into one unit for each dose occasion, a service offered by the National Corporation of Pharmacies). Subjects. All nursing home residents aged 65 years and older. Main outcome measures. The quality of drug therapy assessed using five quality indicators for the elderly recently introduced by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare; number of prescribed drugs per resident. Results. Over 70% of residents had one or more potentially inappropriate prescription. Younger nursing home residents (65–79 years) had significantly (p < 0.001) lower quality of drug therapy than older residents (80 + ). The average number of prescribing physicians per resident was high at almost four per resident. An increasing number of prescribers per resident was associated with a higher number of drugs prescribed and a lower quality of drug therapy. Conclusion. Computerized quality assurance systems can provide support for healthcare providers. Quality indicators should be modified to give maximum support for users.
Improving the pricing of options: a neural network approach

In this paper we apply statistical inference techniques to build neural network models which are able to explain the prices of call options written on the German stock index DAX. By testing for the explanatory power of several input variables serving as network inputs, some insight into the pricing process of the option market is obtained. The results indicate that statistical specification strategies lead to parsimonious networks which have a superior out-of-sample performance when compared to the Black/Scholes model. We further validate our results by providing plausible hedge parameters.