Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ATX-101 for reduction of submental fat

Introduction: Facial esthetics are important for self-esteem. Undesired submental fat (SMF) deposits lead to an unappealing submental profile associated with aging and overweight. Compound ATX-101 is a proprietary formulation of purified synthetic deoxycholic acid for pharmacological submental contouring. Review areas covered: This reviews covers anatomy of SMF, biochemistry of deoxycholic acid related to adipose tissue and tissue response to injection of ATX-101. Data from clinical trials were analyzed for efficacy and safety. Methodology: Published studies using PubMed© database 2000 – 2014 have been analyzed. The terms ‘deoxycholate’, ‘deoxycholic acid’, ‘ATX-101’ and ‘injection lipolysis’ were used. Results: Deoxycholic acid causes adipocyte breakdown and an inflammatory tissue reaction leading to fat cell reduction and limited fibrosis. Four large clinical Phase III trials demonstrated efficacy of ATX-101 in reduction of SMF measured by validated scales and objective measurements. Patients reported improved psychological features and feeling. Adverse effects were mild and temporary. Expert opinion: Adipocytolysis of SMF by ATX-101 is an important step forward to the development of approved drugs for reduction of localized fat pads. This could become a growing market.
Creative Accounting Standards and Its Techniques

The study brought to the multi-dimensional nature of the ongoing financial crises and its effect on financial reporting by way of increasing adoption of creative accounting. Creative accounting offers a formidable challenge of the accounting profession which when carried to extreme negativity has cast aspersion on the credibility of accounting principles and standards. In general, creative accounting lends itself as a deceitful and undesirable practice. The effect of the creative accounting raises the need for a close scrutiny of the potential abuse of accounting policy choice and manipulation of transactions. The ethical implication of the Creative Accounting raises the need for a close scrutiny of the potential abuse of accounting policy choice and manipulation of transactions.
Functional and clinical outcomes following anterior hip replacement: a 5‐year comparative study versus posterior approach

With the evolution of total hip joint replacement techniques, there has been a trend towards minimally invasive surgery. The anterior approach (AA) to total hip arthroplasty has been widely associated with less soft tissue damage. The aim of our study was to compare clinical and 1‐year functional outcomes for AA hip arthroplasty versus a posterior approach (PA).
Relationship between disc injury and manual lifting: A poroelastic finite element model study

Abstract Understanding how failure originates in a lumbar motion segment subjected to loading conditions that are representative of manual lifting is important because it will pave the way for a better formulation of the exposure—injury relationship. The aim of the current investigation was to use a poroelastic finite element model of a human lumbar disc to determine its biomechanical characteristics under loading conditions that corresponded to three different, commonly occurring lifting activities and to identify the most hazardous type of loading with regard to damage to the disc. The current study showed that asymmetric lifting may increase the risk of back injury and pain. Lifting that involved lateral bending (asymmetric lifting) of the trunk was found to produce stresses at a localized area in the annulus, annuluar fibres, end plates, and facet joints that were higher than their respective tissue failure strength. Thus asymmetric lifting, if performed over a large number of cycles, might help to propagate this localized failure of the disc tissue to a larger area, owing to fatigue. The analyses also showed that largest fluid exchange between the nucleus and the end plates occurred during asymmetric lifting. If the fluid exchange is restricted owing to end plate calcification or sclerosis of the subchondral bone, high intradiscal pressure might develop, leading to higher disc bulge causing back pain.
Phosphorus-31 brain MR spectroscopy in women during and after pregnancy compared with nonpregnant control subjects.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A reversible decrease in brain size has been demonstrated during normal pregnancy that is maximal at term and returns to normal after many months. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to use phosphorus-31 MR spectroscopy to determine if metabolic changes explain this physiologic event. METHODS Pregnant women (n = 12) were examined at term and up to 6 months after delivery. Nonpregnant control subjects (n = 7) were imaged twice (a month apart) to exclude hormone effects. Brain (31)P MR spectra were acquired at 1.5 T, and intracellular pH was calculated from the chemical shift between phosphocreatine and inorganic phosphate resonances. Statistical analysis was performed by using an analysis of variance. RESULTS We found no statistically significant differences in the relative levels of metabolite associated with cerebral bioenergetics and cell membrane metabolism between pregnant women and nonpregnant women. However, a significant increase in cerebral pH was observed in pregnant women at 6 weeks after delivery compared with control subjects (7.074 +/- 0.063 vs 7.017 +/- 0.041; P < .05). pH returned to normal by 6 months after delivery (7.014 +/- 0.010). CONCLUSION Changes in brain size associated with pregnancy appear to be associated with an increase in intracellular pH after delivery. The observed alkalosis may reflect altered cellular metabolism. These persistent brain perturbations associated with pregnancy indicate that, when postpartum physiologic and pharmacologic changes are measured, long-term effects may be expected in central nervous system processing.
Comprehensive academic undergraduate advising services: One university's successful model

Comprehensive Academic Advising Services: One University’s Successful Model Heidi B. Samuels This qualitative study examined the emerging field of comprehensive academic advising programs (CAAPs). The purpose of this study is to describe a successful CAAP in-depth at one public four-year higher education institution. The research specifically investigated strategies the CAAP uses with the aim of increasing retention rates, and level of CAAP embeddedness into institutional culture. Findings indicated that the CAAP was successful at embedding the CAAP in to the surface and middle layers of the culture. Good academic advising was recognized as an essential element of the effective CAAP across participant groups. Slightly divergent results concerning other CAAP elements indicated that a committed Dean, a decentralized advising model, departmental advising, professional and/or faculty advisors, collaboration, and providing resources and rewards for advising, were considered vital elements of a CAAP to certain participant groups. Specific strategies were identified as: using an advising hold, identifying atrisk students, connecting a student to a specific school or college, focusing on career development, embedding the CAAP in to the curriculum, parallel programs, and good course scheduling. The primary conclusions and recommendations included: a centralized advising center for undecided/exploratory students only, a decentralized advising model, more professional development for faculty advisors, rewarding advising and incorporating it in to the evaluation process, collaboration across the University, and making the CAAP more visible and valued.
Applications of high‐resolution magic angle spinning MRS in biomedical studies II—Human diseases

High‐resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) MRS is a powerful method for gaining insight into the physiological and pathological processes of cellular metabolism. Given its ability to obtain high‐resolution spectra of non‐liquid biological samples, while preserving tissue architecture for subsequent histopathological analysis, the technique has become invaluable for biochemical and biomedical studies. Using HRMAS MRS, alterations in measured metabolites, metabolic ratios, and metabolomic profiles present the possibility to improve identification and prognostication of various diseases and decipher the metabolomic impact of drug therapies. In this review, we evaluate HRMAS MRS results on human tissue specimens from malignancies and non‐localized diseases reported in the literature since the inception of the technique in 1996. We present the diverse applications of the technique in understanding pathological processes of different anatomical origins, correlations with in vivo imaging, effectiveness of therapies, and progress in the HRMAS methodology.
CHALLENGES AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES (SMES) IN NIGERIA

Small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) have been identified as the catalysts and builders for economic growth and national development for both developed and developing countries, particularly Nigeria. The objective of this study is to investigate the challenges affecting the performance of SMEs in Nigeria. This paper identifies the challenges affecting the performance of SMEs in Nigeria to include financial constraints, infrastructural problems, management problems, marketing problems, technological problems, corruption problem, lack of skill labour, government unfavourable fiscal policy and policy inconsistence’s, inadequate training, socio-cultural problem, strategic planning problem, multiple taxation, and location and business environment problem. But this study discovered that the major challenges that affect the performance of SMEs in Nigeria are finance, infrastructure and training among other challenges which this study adequately focused on. This study suggests that finance, infrastructure and training should be given adequate concentration. Thus, it is recommended that the government should make loan available for SMEs entrepreneurs, interest rate charge should be single digit instead of double digit, and the collateral demanded by the financial institutions before given out any financial assistance should be fear or the collateral should not be demanded when the project embark on can serve as the collateral. There is a need for the government to improve the existing infrastructure such as power supply, transportation, communication, water supply and roads in the country. Lastly, the SMEs entrepreneurs should inculcate the habit of training and developing their management and workforce to build a strong capacity for meeting the challenges of time to embrace and take advantage of development. Keywords: challenges, performance, SMEs, development, growth, Nigeria
Military Transition Assistance Program (TAP): An Overview

Abstract : The military Transition Assistance Program (TAP) was established by Congress in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 1991 (P.L. 101-510, Section 502) and codified in 10 U.S.C. 1142. The original purpose of the program was to help ease the transition into civilian life for military service members who were involuntarily separated as part of the force structure drawdowns of the late 1980s. From 1991 to 2011, Congressional interest remained high, particularly in regard to troops in transition following combat service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The occurrence of C-H...O hydrogen bonds in proteins.

Hydrogen bonds are a major feature of protein structure. By a generally accepted definition, they occur whenever a proton is shared by two electronegative atoms. Hence, only hydrogens bonded to nitrogen and oxygen atoms are usually considered in analyses of protein hydrogen bond networks. However, X-ray and neutron diffraction studies have shown that crystals of various organic compounds exhibit close C-H.X contacts (where X is an electronegative atom, in most cases oxygen) which show all the stereochemical hallmarks of hydrogen bonds. In this work, we describe an analysis of short C-H.O interactions in a sample of known protein structures representing different categories of tertiary folds and refined at a resolution of at least 2 A. Although our analysis is based on the calculated coordinates of hydrogen atoms, its results are statistically significant: we find strong evidence that a large percentage of short C.O contacts constitute cohesive interactions. Moreover, the stereochemical study of C-H.O = C contacts, in which the orientation of free electron orbitals on the acceptor oxygen atom can be predicted, reveals that these interactions exhibit stereochemical features typical of hydrogen bonds. Among the hydrogen atoms involved in these contacts, the most common are those bonded to alpha carbon. This is consistent with the fact that these hydrogens are more acidic than others. We describe four different categories of C-H.O = C bonds. Those found between C alpha-H groups and main chain oxygens in adjacent strands of beta sheets are the most ubiquitous. Our results call for a revision of crystallographic restrained refinement programs which treat close carbon-oxygen contacts as purely repulsive; they may also have implications for the understanding of some enzymatic reaction mechanisms.
Sorting in higher education in Brazil

This paper investigates students sorting in higher education in Brazil based on three merged databases: (i) the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD/IBGE), (ii) the National Exam of Student Performance (ENADE), and (iii) the National Survey of Secondary Education (ENEM). First, evidence indicates that family education level is an important factor in students access to higher education institutions (HEI). Each year of education for a student’s mother increases by 1.9% p.p. (0.7% p.p.) the likelihood of a student entering a public HEI. Second, the difference in students score (value added) for their field-specific ENADE scores in their first (freshman) and third years (senior) is calculated to construct a measure of HEI quality. The results suggest that students at public institutions obtain 6.17 (15%) points larger valuedadded scores. Last, the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and general-exam scores results suggest that only 50% of the score differential can be explained by the observable characteristics of families and institutions. However, after including individual’s ENEM scores (our proxy for talent), the model explains nearly 90% of the grade differential between public and private HEIs. The results support that public Brazilian HEIs provide larger value-added education and attract the most talented individuals.
Retinal acetylcholine content in normal and myopic eyes: A role in ocular growth control?

Retinal neurotransmitters are known to play a role in postnatal ocular development and eye growth. The success of muscarinic antagonists in blocking form-deprivation myopia has implicated retinal acetylcholine in the control of ocular growth. The present study investigated whether steady-state content of acetylcholine (ACh) and its metabolite choline (Ch) are altered in the retina of eyes developing axial myopia, in both tree shrews and chicks. Retinal ACh and Ch content were measured using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Posterior and anterior retinal samples were analyzed from myopic (form deprived) and control eyes as well as age-matched normal eyes. Normative data on retinal neurotransmitter content demonstrated that chick retinas contained less than half the ACh and Ch neurotransmitter content of tree shrews when normalized to retinal protein (ACh: 61 ± 3 vs. 130 ± 6 ng, Ch: 131 ± 5 vs. 347 ± 25 ng). There was no significant difference in either ACh or Ch content between myopic and contralateral control eyes in either tree shrews or chicks, irrespective of the degree of myopia. This finding was consistent for both posterior, anterior, and consequently whole retinal samples. In contrast, dopamine and DOPAC contents were found to be reduced in myopic compared to control eyes of the same tree shrews (dopamine −6.9% and DOPAC −15.5%) and chicks (dopamine −12.3% and DOPAC −28.2%). These findings demonstrate that, contrary to dopamine and DOPAC content, steady-state retinal acetylcholine and choline content is not significantly altered during myopia development.
The cost of implementing new accounting standards: The case of IFRS adoption in Australia

This article examines the implementation errors that are made when accounting standards are implemented for the first time. Focusing on the transition to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), we provide evidence on the causes of these errors as well as the economic consequences of disclosing these errors. We find that the quality of both the chief financial officers (CFOs) and the auditors are associated with less implementation errors. We also find that there is a learning process as later adopters of IFRS report less errors compared to early adopters in the financial reporting cycle. In terms of the consequences of disclosing these errors, we find that firms reporting more implementation errors experience an increase in information asymmetry when these errors become known to market participants. Furthermore, we find a positive association between implementation errors and increases in audit fees when the implementation errors are disclosed. Our results are robust with respect to a number of sensitivity tests.
Achieving the Clean Power Plan 2030 CO2 Target with the New Normal in Natural Gas Prices

The U.S. Clean Power Plan (CPP) seeks to reduce CO2 emissions from electric power by 32% from 2005 levels, in part, by adjusting the generation mix. Generating technologies can substitute via two distinct, but interdependent mechanisms: i) utilization—i.e. adjustment of operations of existing capacity and ii) expansion—i.e. decommissioning and construction of capacity. We develop a framework for analyzing these interdependent mechanisms, then construct and validate an empirical model of the U.S. electricity sector using recent data. Assuming current low gas prices persist, increasing utilization of gas (at the expense of higher-emitting coal) will drive higher returns to gas capacity. As a result, under our business-as-usual scenario for 2030 (no CPP) we project approximately 26% less CO2 emissions than 2005 levels, indicating that the CPP target could be met with only limited policy intervention.
Evidence for Separable Functions of Srp1p, the Yeast Homolog of Importin α (Karyopherin α): Role for Srp1p and Sts1p in Protein Degradation

ABSTRACT Srp1p (importin α) functions as the nuclear localization signal (NLS) receptor in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Thesrp1-31 mutant is defective in this nuclear localization function, whereas an srp1-49 mutant exhibits defects that are unrelated to this localization function, as was confirmed by intragenic complementation between the two mutants. RPN11and STS1 (DBF8) were identified as high-dosage suppressors of the srp1-49 mutation but not of thesrp1-31 mutation. We found that Sts1p interacts directly with Srp1p in vitro and also in vivo, as judged by coimmunoprecipitation and two-hybrid analyses. Mutants of Sts1p that cannot interact with Srp1p are incapable of suppressingsrp1-49 defects, strongly suggesting that Sts1p functions in a complex with Srp1p. STS1 also interacted with the second suppressor, RPN11, a subunit of the 26S proteasome, in the two-hybrid system. Further, degradation of Ub-Pro-β-galactosidase, a test substrate for the ubiquitin-proteasome system, was defective in srp1-49 but not insrp1-31. This defect in protein degradation was alleviated by overexpression of either RPN11 or STS1 insrp1-49. These results suggest a role for Srp1p in regulation of protein degradation separate from its well-established role as the NLS receptor.
Differential Replication of Pathogenic and Nonpathogenic Strains of West Nile Virus within Astrocytes

ABSTRACT The severity of West Nile virus (WNV) infection in immunocompetent animals is highly strain dependent, ranging from avirulent to highly neuropathogenic. Here, we investigate the nature of this strain-specific restriction by analyzing the replication of avirulent (WNV-MAD78) and highly virulent (WNV-NY) strains in neurons, astrocytes, and microvascular endothelial cells, which comprise the neurovascular unit within the central nervous system (CNS). We demonstrate that WNV-MAD78 replicated in and traversed brain microvascular endothelial cells as efficiently as WNV-NY. Likewise, similar levels of replication were detected in neurons. Thus, WNV-MAD78's nonneuropathogenic phenotype is not due to an intrinsic inability to replicate in key target cells within the CNS. In contrast, replication of WNV-MAD78 was delayed and reduced compared to that of WNV-NY in astrocytes. The reduced susceptibility of astrocytes to WNV-MAD78 was due to a delay in viral genome replication and an interferon-independent reduction in cell-to-cell spread. Together, our data suggest that astrocytes regulate WNV spread within the CNS and therefore are an attractive target for ameliorating WNV-induced neuropathology.
Low rate wireless personal area networks for public security

Low rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs) target low data rate, low power consumption and low cost wireless networking, and offer device level wireless connectivity. They are ideal for applications such as public security, battle field monitoring, inventory tracking, as well as home and office automation. IEEE 802.15. 4 is the first standard designed for LR-WPANs. We developed an NS2 simulator based on IEEE 802.15. 4 and conducted several sets of experiments to study various features of LR-WPANs, including: (1) star topology and peer-to-peer topology; (2) beacon enabled mode and non-beacon enabled mode; (3) association, tree formation and network auto-configuration; (4) orphaning and coordinator relocation; (5) direct, indirect and guaranteed time slot (GTS) data transmissions.
Stock Market Trends during the Crisis: An Analysis based on Taylor's Methodology

We have tested the random walk hypothesis against the existence of trends in the main stock market indexes before and during the 2008 financial crisis. With that end, Taylor’s (1980) trend price model was employed. In the indexes where there is evidence of trend patterns, a technical trading strategy, proposed by Taylor to obtain extraordinary profits for trend markets, was implemented. Due to the complexity of the log likelihood function of the model, in order to estimate the parameters, a genetic algorithm was employed. In the case of developed, BRIC and Asian-Pacific indexes, our results show that before the crisis, Sharpe’s ratios of Taylor’s strategy are lower than the results of the B&H strategy. During the crisis the results are opposites and Sharpe’s ratios of Taylor’s strategy improve the results of the B&H strategy. For the rest of developing economies the results are diverse.