Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rhesus Isoimmunization: Increased Hemolysis during Early Infancy

The objective of the present study was to determine whether whole blood carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) and plasma bilirubin, two indicators of hemolysis, are elevated in infants with severe Rh isoimmune hemolytic disease during the first months of life. Beginning at 2 wk of age and continuing monthly for 3 mo, serial blood samples were obtained for COHb, plasma bilirubin, Hb, reticulocyte count, plasma erythropoietin, plasma enzymes, and plasma iron. Because control infants (n = 13) and infants with ABO hemolytic disease (n = 5) did not differ from one another in any of the study parameters, these two groups were combined and compared with infants with the Rh isoimmunization. Infants with severe Rh isoimmune hemolytic disease(n = 13) were found to have significantly lower Hb and significantly higher bilirubin, the COHb fraction divided by the Hb concentration(COHb√Hb), and plasma erythropoietin levels at 2 and 6 wk of age, and reticulocyte counts at 6 wk. The remaining parameters were not different between the control-ABO group and Rhisoimmune group at any of the study intervals. The study's two primary indicators of hemolysis, plasma bilirubin and COHb√Hb, were significantly correlated with one another in the Rh-immunized group (r = 0.66, p < 0.0001), but not in the combined control-ABO group. Serial Rh antibody concentrations measured in the serum of four neonates with Rh isoimmunization demonstrated a mean half-life of 14.3 d. We speculate that, among infants with severe Rh isoimmune hemolytic disease, elevated total bilirubin levels and COHb√Hb ratios identified in the early weeks of life indicate continuing hemolysis due to persistence of maternal Rh antibodies.
Genetic analysis of growth cone migrations in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Model organisms like Caenorhabditis elegans allow the study of growth cone motility and guidance in vivo. We are using circumferential axon guidance in C. elegans to study both the mechanisms of guidance and the interactions between different guidance systems in vivo. A genetic screen has identified suppressors of the specific axon guidance defects caused by ectopic expression of UNC-5, the repulsive receptor for the UNC-6/netrin guidance cue. These mutations identify eight genes whose products are required for the function of UNC-5 in these cells. In principle, the functions of some of these genes may involve unc-73, which encodes a multidomain, cytoplasmic protein that is an activator of the rac and rho GTPases. Loss of UNC-73 causes errors in axon guidance, and it is hypothesized that UNC-73 acts in multiple signaling pathways used by guidance receptors on the growth cone surface to regulate the underlying cytoskeleton. Here we summarize and discuss these recent developments that are advancing our understanding of growth cone signal transduction in vivo.
Ketamine and MK-801 decrease acetylcholine release in the pontine reticular formation, slow breathing, and disrupt sleep.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Ketamine induces a dissociated state of consciousness by binding to the phencyclidine binding site within the ion channel gated by the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. The brain regions and neurotransmitter systems mediating ketamine-induced alterations in arousal remain incompletely understood. This study used in vivo microdialysis to test the hypothesis that ketamine alters acetylcholine (ACh) release in the medial pontine reticular formation (mPRF). DESIGN Acetylcholine (ACh) release, sleep, and breathing were quantified following systemic ketamine administration. Microdialysis was used to deliver the NMDA-channel blocker dizocilpine maleate (MK-801) and the R(-)-isomer of ketamine into the mPRF while measuring ACh release. SETTING N/A. PARTICIPANTS N/A. INTERVENTIONS N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Systemically administered ketamine disrupted normal sleep-cycle organization, reduced mPRF ACh release, and significantly slowed rate of breathing. Dialysis delivery of MK-801 to the mPRF significantly decreased respiratory rate and mPRF ACh release. Dialysis delivery to the mPRF of the R(-)-ketamine isomer significantly decreased mPRF ACh release. CONCLUSIONS Decreased mPRF ACh release caused by systemically administered ketamine was mimicked by mPRF dialysis delivery of MK-801 and the R(-)-ketamine isomer. These data are consistent with the conclusion that systemically administered ketamine may alter arousal and breathing, in part, by altering cholinergic neurotransmission in the mPRF.
Higher-order finite element modeling of electromagnetically driven flow of molten metal in pipe

Electromagnetically driven flow of incompressible molten metal in a ceramic pipe is modeled. The mathematical model of this multiply coupled problem is solved by the higher-order finite element method (hp-FEM) using the code Hermes developed and written by the authors. The methodology and capabilities of the code are illustrated by a typical example whose results are discussed.
Causes and Effects of N-Terminal Codon Bias in Bacterial Genes

Exploiting Redundancy The genetic code is redundant—multiple codons can code for the same amino acid. So-called synonymous codon changes within genes can nonetheless have substantial affects on protein expression, which have been attributed to changes in the structure of 5′ messenger RNAs, among other factors. Goodman et al. (p. 475, published online 26 September) built and measured the expression of a synthetic library of 14,000 variant N-terminal sequences of 137 Escherichia coli genes to show that, unexpectedly, rare codons had a bigger effect on increasing protein expression than more common codons. Increased RNA structure downstream of translation initiation appeared to represent the major determinant of expression differences owing to codon usage. The structure of the 5′ ends of messenger RNAs downstream of the start of protein translation has a major effect on protein expression. Most amino acids are encoded by multiple codons, and codon choice has strong effects on protein expression. Rare codons are enriched at the N terminus of genes in most organisms, although the causes and effects of this bias are unclear. Here, we measure expression from >14,000 synthetic reporters in Escherichia coli and show that using N-terminal rare codons instead of common ones increases expression by ~14-fold (median 4-fold). We quantify how individual N-terminal codons affect expression and show that these effects shape the sequence of natural genes. Finally, we demonstrate that reduced RNA structure and not codon rarity itself is responsible for expression increases. Our observations resolve controversies over the roles of N-terminal codon bias and suggest a straightforward method for optimizing heterologous gene expression in bacteria.
VERTICAL RELATIONSHIPS AND FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN COORDINATION: THE CASE OF PROCESSING TOMATO SECTOR IN ALGERIA

This paper analyzes the vertical relationship between growers and processors in the Algerian tomato processing industry. We use extensive data on production contract outcomes for processing tomato growers (including 3,740 coordinated contracts) to examine the performance of grower-processor vertical contracts. The results indicate that the tomato grower-processor vertical relationship undergoes some deficiencies resulted in social welfare losses and lower level in contractual performance. From the side of processors, the industry has an oligopsonic structure (with CR4: 57%). From the side of tomato growers, the results indicate a relatively higher contractual default (with 53% in average). These findings suggest that public policy should pay more attention for the performances levels of the used vertical coordination mechanism in order to provide more incentive instruments and by leveraging vertical contract for tomato growers’ benefit.
Adherence pharyngeal and skin strains of group A streptococci to human skin and oral epithelial cells

Group A streptococci isolated from skin adhere in greater numbers to human skin epithelial cells than to cells obtained from buccal mucosa whereas streptococci isolated from a throat tend to adhere in greater numbers to buccal epithelial cells than to skin epithelial cells in vitro. M protein-producing strains of group A streptococci did not adhere in significantly greater numbers than M-negative strains. Lipoteichoic acid inhibited binding of streptococci to skin epithelial cells as well as was previously shown for oral epithelial cells. Our results suggest that lipoteichoic acid is more centrally involved than M protein in binding streptococci to skin and mucosal surfaces.
A Hand-Held Assistant for Semiautomated Percutaneous Needle Steering

Objective: Permanent prostate brachytherapy is an effective and popular treatment modality for prostate cancer in which long needles are inserted into the prostate. Challenges associated with manual needle insertion such as needle deflection limit this procedure to primarily treat the entire prostate gland even for patients with localized cancer. In this paper, we present a new semiautomated hand-held needle steering assistant designed to help surgeons improve needle placement accuracy. Methods: Regular clinical brachytherapy needles are connected to a compact device that the surgeon holds. As the surgeon inserts the needle, the device rotates the needle base on a measured and calculated basis in order to produce a desired trajectory of the needle tip. A novel needle–tissue interaction model and a steering algorithm calculate such control actions based on ultrasound images of the needle in tissue. The assistant can also apply controlled longitudinal microvibrations to the needle that reduce needle–tissue friction. Results: Experimental validation of the proposed system in phantom and ex-vivo biological tissue report an average needle targeting accuracy of 0.33 mm over 72 needle insertions in 12 different experimental scenarios. Conclusion: We introduce a new framework for needle steering in prostate brachytherapy in which the surgeon remains in charge of the needle insertion. The device weighs 160 g, making it easy to incorporate with current insertion techniques. Significance: Expected benefits of the proposed system include more precise needle targeting accuracy, which can result in improved focal treatment of prostate cancer.
Potential Repurposing of Known Drugs as Potent Bacterial β-Glucuronidase Inhibitors

The active metabolite of the chemotherapeutic irinotecan, SN-38, is detoxified through glucuronidation and then excreted into the gastrointestinal tract. Intestinal bacteria convert the glucuronidated metabolite back to the toxic SN-38 using β-glucuronidase (GUS), resulting in debilitating diarrhea. Inhibiting GUS activity may relieve this side effect of irinotecan. In this study, we sought to determine whether any known drugs have GUS inhibitory activity. We screened a library of Food and Drug Administration–approved drugs with a cell-free biochemical enzyme assay using purified bacterial GUS. After triage, five drugs were confirmed to inhibit purified bacterial GUS. Three of these were the monoamine oxidase inhibitors nialamide, isocarboxazid, and phenelzine with average IC50 values for inhibiting GUS of 71, 128, and 2300 nM, respectively. The tricyclic antidepressant amoxapine (IC50 = 388 nM) and the antimalarial mefloquine (IC50 = 1.2 µM) also had activity. Nialamide, isocarboxazid, and amoxapine had no significant activity against purified mammalian GUS but showed potent activity for inhibiting endogenous GUS activity in a cell-based assay using living intact Escherichia coli with average IC50 values of 17, 336, and 119 nM, respectively. Thus, nialamide, isocarboxazid, and amoxapine have potential to be repurposed as therapeutics to reduce diarrhea associated with irinotecan chemotherapy and warrant further investigation for this use.
Prices and availability of pharmaceuticals: evidence from nine countries.

This study compares average price levels for pharmaceuticals in eight countries--Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom--relative to the United States. Our most comprehensive indexes, adjusted for U.S. manufacturer discounts, show Japan's prices to be higher than U.S. prices, and other countries' prices ranging from 6 percent to 33 percent lower than U.S. prices. The decline of the Canadian dollar and rise of the U.K. pound contribute to the finding of lower Canadian prices and higher U.K. prices in 1999 than in 1992. Our findings suggest that U.S.-foreign price differentials are roughly in line with income and smaller for drugs than for other medical services.
MICROFINANCE-ECONOMIC GROWTH NEXUS: A CASE STUDY ON GRAMEEN BANK IN BANGLADESH

Microfinance is one of the fastest growing sectors in Bangladesh and in many parts of the world. Over the last few decades, this sector has been supportive in achieving various socio-economic goals in Bangladesh. The country has made remarkable progress in sectors like education and health, and most importantly it has contributed significantly in poverty alleviation. Although the microfinance mostly concentrates at the micro level, it has direct effect on the macro economy. A forefront Microfinance provider like Grameen Bank has been playing a key role for the socio-economic wellbeing of the people living in the rural areas as well as for the economic development of rural economy. This study aims to investigate the long run dynamic relationship among its loan financing and clients’ deposit and economic growth in Bangladesh. By considering annual time-series data of these variables, a widely used cointegration test and Granger’s causality test have been applied to examine the long run relationship among these variables. The result shows that both financing and depositing aspects of Grameen Bank have positive effect on economic growth of Bangladesh in the long run. It is recommended that Grameen Bank should allow its operations without any external pressure for the sake of sound economic growth of the country.
The disease burden of alcohol consumption

[The editor-in-chief of the CMA driver's guide responds:] Donald Gross raises an important issue that was discussed in depth by the Scientific Editorial Board for the 7th edition of the CMA driver's guide. [1][1] In many instances, the regulations produced by the CCMTA, which are used as the basis
Explaining the number of rebel groups in civil wars

ABSTRACT Why do multiple rebel groups form in some civil wars but not others? Since 1946, only half of all civil wars were fought by a single rebel group; the rest were fought by multiple groups. This article argues that this variation is determined by the incentives political entrepreneurs have to enter a war. The higher the demand for political change and the lower the costs of fighting, the more incentives entrepreneurs have to form their own group. Analyzing UCDP data for all civil wars between 1946 and 2015 I find that the two measures of demand – the number of identifiable ethnic or religious groups in a country and the size of the disgruntled population – have the most consistent effects, but that key measures of costs such as the size of the government military also matter. A detailed analysis of the Ethiopian case further reveals the influence of external intervention on the formation of rebel groups. These results suggest that rebel groups emerge in civil wars in rational, predictable ways related to the ease by which rebel elites can mobilize separate groups for fighting.
Regulation and Partly Purification of the ATP-Sulfurylase from the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus 6301

Abstract ATP-sulfurylase from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus 6301 was regulated in vivo during growth in batch culture. The activity was highest at the third day after inoculation, declining afterwards to a level found in resting cells. During growth with air supplemented with 2% CO2 this activity increased 3-fold compared to controls grown with normal air as CO2 source. Addition of either nitrite or urea enhanced ATP-sulfurylase activity about 2-fold, whereas cysteine and especially methionine decreased ATP-sulfurylase activity to 5% of controls without treatment. The ATP-sulfurylase was purified by conventional techniques using DEAE-cellulose chromatography and further separation on blue sepharose achieving a 250-fold increase in the specific activity. An apparent Kᴍ of 5 μᴍ for APS and of 40 μᴍ for pyrophosphate was determined with the purified enzyme fraction.
Retrospective Analysis of Contrast-Enhanced Computed Tomographic Findings Related to Obstructive Shock Due to Ascending Aortic Dissection

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate contrastenhanced computed tomography findings related to obstructive shock due to ascending aortic dissection (AAD). Methods The computed tomography findings in 9 AAD patients with shock, 11 AAD patients without shock, and 18 control subjects were evaluated for (1) pericardial effusion, (2) diameter of the inferior vena cava, (3) periportal hypodensity, (4) retrograde reflux of contrast material, (5) aortic and visceral enhancement, and (6) other factors (peripancreatic edema, bowel thickening/dilatation). Results Patients with shock showed the highest ratio of pericardial effusion, periportal hypodensity, and retrograde reflux of contrast material; largest inferior vena cava diameter; stronger aortic enhancement in both the arterial and portal phases; lowered splenic and pancreatic enhancement in the arterial phase; and stronger visceral (especially adrenal) enhancement, except for the renal medulla in the portal phase. Conclusions Computed tomography findings related to obstructive shock due to AAD reflected impaired diastolic filling, decreased cardiac output, and flow redistribution in visceral organs.
Visual Data Mining: Analysis of Airline Service Quality Attributes

ABSTRACT The objectives of the study are to identify the key airline quality attributes from online review posts and to examine the effect of identified airline quality attributes on eWOM communication. This study employed data-mining techniques and logistic regression on 901 passenger reviews to evaluate the service quality of passenger airlines. The major contribution was identifying the most salient topics of travelers complimenting and complaining reviews. Passengers’ comments support that service, staff, cabin seat comfort, and entertainment are among the most discussed themes in positive and negative reviews. Additionally, value, seat comfort, staff/service, and catering were found to be significant predictors of airline eWOM.
Fiscal Distress of Local Government Study on Regencies/Cities in the Provinces of East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and North Maluku

This study aims to examine the factors that influence the occurrence of fiscal distress in local government. The degree of decentralization, local financial dependency ratio and local financial independence ratio were used to predict fiscal distress. The method used in this study is a quantitative research and used the regencies/cities in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku and North Maluku were taken as samples. The results showed different result with previous studies, that the degree of decentralization, local financial dependency ratio and local financial independence ratio do not affect the fiscal distress.
Leasing, Modularity, and the Circular Economy

We investigate the economic and environmental implications of jointly implementing leasing and modularity, two prominent circular economy strategies, and their interaction. We develop a durable goods model to obtain insights for firms considering the use of these strategies. We first analyze the effect of adopting leasing on a firm’s product architecture choice. We find that a modular product architecture is more attractive under leasing only if off-lease products depreciate to a greater extent. We next analyze the effect of adopting a modular product architecture on the firm’s business model choice. We find that adopting a modular architecture can cause a leasing firm to switch to selling but will not lead a selling firm to switch to leasing. Building on these results, we show that leasing a modular product is preferred by the firm only under limited conditions (i.e., when production costs are low, off-lease products are in relatively better condition, and when there is a large difference between depreciation levels of different modules). Finally, we show that jointly implementing leasing and modularity can also lead to higher environmental impact than only adopting leasing or modularity in isolation. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.
Hybrid FPGA : architecture and interface

Hybrid FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) are composed of general-purpose logic resources with different granularities, together with domain-specific coarse-grained units. This thesis proposes a novel hybrid FPGA architecture with embedded coarse-grained Floating Point Units (FPUs) to improve the floating point capability of FPGAs. Based on the proposed hybrid FPGA architecture, we examine three aspects to optimise the speed and area for domain-specific applications. First, we examine the interface between large coarse-grained embedded blocks (EBs) and fine-grained elements in hybrid FPGAs. The interface includes parameters for varying: (1) aspect ratio of EBs, (2) position of the EBs in the FPGA, (3) I/O pins arrangement of EBs, (4) interconnect flexibility of EBs, and (5) location of additional embedded elements such as memory. Second, we examine the interconnect structure for hybrid FPGAs. We investigate how large and highdensity EBs affect the routing demand for hybrid FPGAs over a set of domain-specific applications. We then propose three routing optimisation methods to meet the additional routing demand introduced by large EBs: (1) identifying the best separation distance between EBs, (2) adding routing switches on EBs to increase routing flexibility, and (3) introducing wider channel width near the edge of EBs. We study and compare the trade-offs in delay, area and routability of these three optimisation methods. Finally, we employ common subgraph extraction to determine the number of floating point adders/subtractors, multipliers and wordblocks in the FPUs. The wordblocks include registers and can implement fixed point operations. We study the area, speed and utilisation trade-offs of the selected FPU subgraphs in a set of floating point benchmark circuits. We develop an optimised coarse-grained FPU, taking into account both architectural and system-level issues. Furthermore, we investigate the trade-offs between granularities and performance by composing small FPUs into a large FPU. The results of this thesis would help design a domain-specific hybrid FPGA to meet user requirements, by optimising for speed, area or a combination of speed and area.
Leader’s Role in Fostering Creativity: The Creativity Creation Model at KT AIT

To achieve innovation, constraints that block the effect of a company’s creative culture on innovation and creativity in the organization have to be removed. We propose the creativity creation model that takes account of these constraints and suggest that, to cultivate an innovative climate, * This research was supported by the Institute of Management Research at Seoul National University. ** Graduate School of Management of Technology, Sogang University, e-mail: seongwuk@sogang.ac.kr *** Corresponding author, Ph.D. Student, College of Business Administration, Seoul National University, e-mail: tozenith@snu.ac.kr **** Graduate School of Business, Seoul National University, e-mail: hongsuk@snu. ac.kr *****CTO & Senior Executive Vice President, Advanced Institute of Technology, Korea Telecom, e-mail: james.w. hong@kt.com 98 Seoul Journal of Business leaders should receive feedback from innovation performance. To improve creativity and achieve successful innovation, leaders should be involved in every procedure of the model. We explore the three main procedures of the model and present a practical application to the case of a Korean telecommunications company’s research and development institute, KT AIT.