Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complete Genome Sequence and Analysis of the Multiresistant Nosocomial Pathogen Corynebacterium jeikeium K411, a Lipid-Requiring Bacterium of the Human Skin Flora

ABSTRACT Corynebacterium jeikeium is a “lipophilic” and multidrug-resistant bacterial species of the human skin flora that has been recognized with increasing frequency as a serious nosocomial pathogen. Here we report the genome sequence of the clinical isolate C. jeikeium K411, which was initially recovered from the axilla of a bone marrow transplant patient. The genome of C. jeikeium K411 consists of a circular chromosome of 2,462,499 bp and the 14,323-bp bacteriocin-producing plasmid pKW4. The chromosome of C. jeikeium K411 contains 2,104 predicted coding sequences, 52% of which were considered to be orthologous with genes in the Corynebacterium glutamicum, Corynebacterium efficiens, and Corynebacterium diphtheriae genomes. These genes apparently represent the chromosomal backbone that is conserved between the four corynebacteria. Among the genes that lack an ortholog in the known corynebacterial genomes, many are located close to transposable elements or revealed an atypical G+C content, indicating that horizontal gene transfer played an important role in the acquisition of genes involved in iron and manganese homeostasis, in multidrug resistance, in bacterium-host interaction, and in virulence. Metabolic analyses of the genome sequence indicated that the “lipophilic” phenotype of C. jeikeium most likely originates from the absence of fatty acid synthase and thus represents a fatty acid auxotrophy. Accordingly, both the complete gene repertoire and the deduced lifestyle of C. jeikeium K411 largely reflect the strict dependence of growth on the presence of exogenous fatty acids. The predicted virulence factors of C. jeikeium K411 are apparently involved in ensuring the availability of exogenous fatty acids by damaging the host tissue.
Supply Chain Quality Management Practices and Performance of Pharmaceutical Distributors and Wholesalers in Mombasa, Kenya

The study purposed to investigate the existing relationship between supply chain quality management (SCQM) practices and organizational performance of pharmaceutical players within Mombasa area in Kenya. This was prompted by the need to illustrate the role that SCQM could play in improving organizational market and financial performance without sacrificing customer satisfaction in the industry in the country said to face a number of challenges. Some of the challenges include an influx of counterfeit and substandard products through illegal networks which indicate supply chain vulnerability to risks and disruptions as well as a compromised supply chain quality management practices. A census survey of 20 out of the 22 registered distributors and wholesalers of pharmaceutical products in Mombasa County was undertaken to establish the relationship between SCQM practices and the performance of the industry players. Findings showed that SCQM practices adopted by the players in the study area positively impacted the overall organizational performance of the industry players with postponement having the greatest overall positive effect (β=.666) while level of information sharing registered the most negative effect (β=-.263). It is suggested that industry players should enhance sharing of proprietary information, enhance sharing of critical information and enhance operational partnership with regard to customer relationship. Similarly, they should enhance the level of adoption of supplier partnership and postponement.
Social media, networking, and marketing performance : a study of social enterprises in Hong Kong

Over the past few years, the number of social enterprises has been increasing in Hong Kong. The marketing performance of these social enterprises, however, are found to be problematic. Although some studies have investigated the ways for improving marketing performance of social enterprises through launching various marketing activities, this is surprising that the roles of social media and networking are lacking attention in the literature. In this conceptual paper, we aim at investigating how the implementation of these cost-effective marketing activities, namely (i) social media and (ii) networking, may improve the marketing performance of social enterprises in Hong Kong.
Leverage bounds with default and asymmetric information

This paper analyzes productivity and welfare losses from capital misallocation in a general equilibrium model of occupational choice and financial intermediation. It studies the effects of risk sharing with default and asymmetric information on the optimal allocation of resources and derives engogenous leverage bounds. Default, moral hazard and adverse selection have large impact on entrepreneurs’ entry and firm-size decisions. Efficiency and welfare gains are increasing in the quality of financial markets, particularly in their ability to alleviate a financing constraint by providing incentive-compatible insurance against idiosyncratic risk.
The Innovative Milieus Approach: Toward a Territorialized Understanding of the Economy?

Abstract Space has always been more or less present in economic theories. Nevertheless, traditional approaches, as well as the so-called new economic geography, introduce space subsequently. Economic theories are first built independently of spatial and temporal contexts, for example, through costs varying according to distance. The innovative milieus approach is based on the ideas that space—or, more precisely, territory—is the matrix of economic development and that economic mechanisms transform space. This article describes innovative milieus as an ideal type that articulates three paradigms: the technological paradigm, which stresses innovation, learning, and know-how as the most important competitive advantages; the organizational paradigm, which emphasizes the role of networks, competition, and rules of cooperation, as well as relational capital; and the territorial paradigm, which accounts for the role of proximity and distance and stresses the idea that competition occurs between regions. The originality of the innovative milieus approach is that it considers these three paradigms as a whole, thus providing a stabilized set of concepts that allow for an understanding of economic development processes in their space and time contexts.
Binary cell fate specification during C. elegans embryogenesis driven by reiterated reciprocal asymmetry of TCF POP-1 and its coactivatorβ -catenin SYS-1

C. elegans embryos exhibit an invariant lineage comprised primarily of a stepwise binary diversification of anterior-posterior (A-P) blastomere identities. This binary cell fate specification requires input from both the Wnt and MAP kinase signaling pathways. The nuclear level of the TCF protein POP-1 is lowered in all posterior cells. We show here that theβ -catenin SYS-1 also exhibits reiterated asymmetry throughout multiple A-P divisions and that this asymmetry is reciprocal to that of POP-1. Furthermore, we show that SYS-1 functions as a coactivator for POP-1, and that the SYS-1-to-POP-1 ratio appears critical for both the anterior and posterior cell fates. A high ratio drives posterior cell fates, whereas a low ratio drives anterior cell fates. We show that the SYS-1 and POP-1 asymmetries are regulated independently, each by a subset of genes in the Wnt/MAP kinase pathways. We propose that two genetic pathways, one increasing SYS-1 and the other decreasing POP-1 levels, robustly elevate the SYS-1-to-POP-1 ratio in the posterior cell, thereby driving A-P differential cell fates.
Polyomavirus large T antigen binds independently to multiple, unique regions on the viral genome

To map the polyomavirus large T antigen binding sites on the viral genome we employed a quantitative immunoassay. Defined, radiolabeled fragments of the viral genome were reacted with crude nuclear extracts prepared from lytically infected mouse 3T6 cells, and the fragments bound by large T antigen were immunoprecipitated with anti-T serum and Formalin-fixed Staphylococcus aureus. The immunoprecipitated DNA was then analyzed by gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. By the use of a variety of restriction endonuclease-generated fragments of wild-type and mutant viral DNAs, the region of high-affinity binding was localized to a 153-base-pair stretch between nucleotides 5292 and 152. At least two independent binding sites lie within this region, one upstream and the other downstream of the Bg/I site at nucleotide 87. One of the binding sites is located within sequences required in cis for DNA replication; the other overlaps the TATA box and cap sites of the early transcription unit. The two sites share a common sequence, A/TGAGGC-N4/5-A/TGAGGC, which may serve as the recognition sequence for large T antigen.
A Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program with Quadriceps Strengthening in Closed versus Open Kinetic Chain Exercise in Patients with Anterior Cruciate Ligament Deficiency

Background There is no consensus regarding the optimal rehabilitation regimen for increasing quadriceps strength after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Hypothesis A comprehensive rehabilitation program supplemented with quadriceps strengthening in open kinetic chain (OKC) exercise will increase quadriceps strength and improve knee function without increasing static or dynamic sagittal tibial translation, compared with the same comprehensive rehabilitation program supplemented with quadriceps strengthening in closed kinetic chain (CKC) exercise, in patients with acute ACL deficiency. Study Design Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. Methods Forty-two patients were tested a mean of 43 days (range, 20–96 days) after an ACL injury. Patients were randomized to rehabilitation with CKC quadriceps strengthening (11 men and 9 women) or OKC quadriceps strengthening (13 men and 9 women). Aside from these quadriceps exercises, the 2 rehabilitation programs were identical. Patients were assessed after 4 months of rehabilitation. Sagittal static translation and dynamic tibial translation were evaluated with a CA-4000 electrogoniometer. Muscle strength, jump performance, and muscle activation were also assessed. Functional outcome was evaluated by determining the Lysholm score and the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score. Results There were no group differences in static or dynamic translation after rehabilitation. The OKC group had significantly greater isokinetic quadriceps strength after rehabilitation (P = .009). The hamstring strength, performance on the 1-repetition-maximum squat test, muscle activation, jump performance, and functional outcome did not differ between groups. Conclusions Rehabilitation with OKC quadriceps exercise led to significantly greater quadriceps strength compared with rehabilitation with CKC quadriceps exercise. Hamstring strength, static and dynamic translation, and functional outcome were similar between groups. Patients with ACL deficiency may need OKC quadriceps strengthening to regain good muscle torque.
Capital Markets Prediction: Multi-Faceted Sentiment Analysis using Supervised Machine Learning

Over the years the stock market has proved to be very difficult to predict due to its unpredictable activities. Data mining techniques such as clustering, decision trees, genetic algorithms and artificial neural networks have been used in order to predict the stock market. Although there has been a significant amount of research done in this area, there are still many issues that have not been explored yet. The impact of fundamental analysis in the prediction of the stock market has been ignored though it can play a vital role in the prediction of the stock market. In this research, the problem of how a social data sentiment correlates to stock price is studied. A stock price prediction model was built using social data sentiments to predict the stock market. Sentiments analysis principles were applied to machine learning techniques in order to find the correlation between the stock market and public sentiments. This study particularly intended to assess the predictability of prices on the Botswana Stock Exchange through the application of Facebook sentiments classification. Three classification models were created that depicted news polarity as happy, calm, alert and vital. Results show that Naïve Bayes and Support vector machine performed well in both types of testing as compared to Random Forest. Naïve Bayes gave good results in terms of error margins with an accuracy of 83.3% making it the best classifier for our data set. When plotting the time series plot of sentiment scores and comparing it to the actual stock price graph, a conclusion can be reached that sentiments and stock prices are related and thus stock prices can be predicted using sentiments.
Diagnosis and treatment of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a rare myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative disorder that occurs during infancy and early childhood; this disorder is characterized by hypersensitivity of the myeloid progenitor cells to granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor in vitro. JMML usually involves somatic and/or germline mutations in the genes of the RAS pathway, including PTPN11, NRAS, KRAS, NF1, and CBL, in the leukemic cells. Almost all patients with JMML experience an aggressive clinical course, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the only curative treatment. A certain proportion of patients with somatic NRAS and germline mutations in CBL, however, have spontaneous resolution. A suitable treatment after diagnosis and conditioning regimen prior to HSCT are yet to be determined, but several clinical trials have been initiated throughout the world to develop suitable pre‐ or post‐allogeneic HSCT treatments and new targeted therapies that are less toxic, to improve patient outcome.
Diseño y valoración de coberturas cruzadas en Colombia

This research aims to design and evaluate cross hedging in different sectors such as energy, real state and finance in Colombia. Proper use of hedges allows to achieve profitability targets, reduce risk exposure for greater business efficiency. Cross hedging is one of the most important risk management strategies that a company can use to mitigate exposure to fluctuations in the prices of their commodities. In financial markets, cross hedging is a suitable form to manage risks and to compensate for expected losses. Cross hedging can be designed through financial derivatives such as futures, forwards, options and swaps. The main objective of the hedge is to reduce the risk of a real or financial asset by investing in derivative which has a high correlation. To achieve the objective of this research a theoretical description of cross hedging, the identification of criteria for the choice of optimal contracts, the selection of derivatives contracts and calculating the size of contracts for cross coverage are needed. The application of econometric techniques is required to estimate the optimal hedge ratio, the design and assessment of cross optimal coverage and the analysis of the effectiveness of cross hedging.
CXCR4 Is a Major Chemokine Receptor on Glioma Cells and Mediates Their Survival*

Chemokines were described originally in the context of providing migrational cues for leukocytes. They are now known to have broader activities, including those that favor tumor growth. We addressed whether and which chemokines may be important promoters of the growth of the incurable brain neoplasm, malignant gliomas. Analyses of 16 human glioma lines for the expression of chemokine receptors belonging to the CXCR and CCR series revealed low to negligible levels of all receptors, with the exception of CXCR4 that was expressed by 13 of 16 lines. All six resected human glioma specimens showed similarly high CXCR4 expression. The CXCR4 on glioma lines is a signaling receptor in that its agonist, stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1; CXCL12), produced rapid phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases. Furthermore, SDF-1 induced the phosphorylation of Akt (protein kinase B), a kinase associated with survival, and prevented the apoptosis of glioma cells when serum was withdrawn from the culture medium. SDF-1 also mediated glioma chemotaxis, in accordance with this better known role of chemokines. We conclude that glioma cells express a predominant chemokine receptor, CXCR4, and that this functions to regulate survival in part through activating pathways such as Akt.
CA-ARBAC: privacy preserving using context-aware role-based access control on Android permission system

Existing mobile platforms are based on manual way of granting and revoking permissions to applications. Once the user grants a given permission to an application, the application can use it without limit, unless the user manually revokes the permission. This has become the reason for many privacy problems because of the fact that a permission that is harmless at some occasion may be very dangerous at another condition. One of the promising solutions for this problem is context-aware access control at permission level that allows dynamic granting and denying of permissions based on some predefined context. However, dealing with policy configuration at permission level becomes very complex for the user as the number of policies to configure will become very large. For instance, if there are A applications, P permissions, and C contexts, the user may have to deal with A × P × C number of policy configurations. Therefore, we propose a context-aware role-based access control model that can provide dynamic permission granting and revoking while keeping the number of policies as small as possible. Although our model can be used for all mobile platforms, we use Android platform to demonstrate our system. In our model, Android applications are assigned roles where roles contain a set of permissions and contexts are associated with permissions. Permissions are activated and deactivated for the containing role based on the associated contexts. Our approach is unique in that our system associates contexts with permissions as opposed to existing similar works that associate contexts with roles. As a proof of concept, we have developed a prototype application called context-aware Android role-based access control. We have also performed various tests using our application, and the result shows that our model is working as desired. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Prevalence and Determinants of Catastrophic Health Expenditures in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: In this systematic review, we aimed at estimating the pooled prevalence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) in Iran and identifying and summarizing the determinants of CHE among Iranian households. Methods: WecomprehensivelysearchedtheliteratureonNovember2016inPubMed,Scopus,Webof Science,theCochraneLibrary, and 3 Persian databases. We also obtained the literature through colleague communications. Two review authors independently selectedstudies,extracteddata,andevaluatedthem. Weperformedmeta-analysisof prevalenceof CHEandsubgroupmeta-analyses to assess the inﬂuence of data source and scope of research. Moreover, we categorized the determinants of CHE in Ian. Results: In this review, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria, and of them, 2 presented the results of multiple surveys. Results of 27 cross-sectional studies were used to estimate the pooled prevalence of CHE in Iran during 1995 and 2015, which was found to be 3.91% (95% conﬁdence interval, CI: -3.26- 11.07). Subgroup meta-analyses based on data source revealed that the highest prevalence estimate of facing CHE was associated with author-made questionnaires, and the lowest to the statistical Centre of Iran (SCI) questionnaire. Also,meta-regressionshowedthatthediﬀerenceinsamplesizeandyearof studydidnothaveanysigniﬁcanteﬀectonthe prevalence of CHE. Some of the variables such as use of inpatient, outpatient, and dentistry services, education, place of residence, and household income, which were considered as determinants of CHE in Iran, increased the possibility of facing CHE. Conclusions: DecreaseinCHEtolessthan1%,whichwastheobjectiveof the2of Iran’sﬁve-yeardevelopmentplansin2007and2015, was not met. This percentage may need to be reconsidered according to the pooled estimate of CHE. Also, the factors revealed to be thedeterminantsof anincreaseintheprobabilityof facingCHEcouldindicatetheneedforhealthcareservicesandsocioeconomic variables that lower one’s capacity to pay for health services.
The impact of multi-homing in a ride-sharing market

Platforms such as Uber, Lyft and Airbnb serve two-sided markets with drivers (property owners) on one side and riders (renters) on the other side. Some agents join multiple platforms (multi-home). In the case of ride-sharing, a driver may drive for both Uber and Lyft, and a rider may use both apps and request a ride from the company that has a driver close by. In this paper, we are interested in welfare implications of multi-homing in such a market. Our model abstracts away from entry/exit by drivers and riders as well as pricing by platforms. Both drivers’ and riders’ surpluses are determined by the average time between a request and the actual pickup. The benchmark setting is a monopoly platform and the direct comparison is a single-homing duopoly. The former is more efficient since it has a thicker market. Next, we consider multi-homing on the rider side, multi-homing on the driver side, and multi-homing on both sides. Relative to single-homing duopoly, we find that multi-homing on either side improves the overall welfare. However, multi-homing drivers potentially benefit themselves at the cost of single-homing drivers. In contrast, multi-homing riders benefit themselves as well as single-homing riders, representing a more equitable distribution of gains from multi-homing.
A Near-Lossless Image Compression Algorithm Suitable for Hardware Design in Wireless Endoscopy System

In order to decrease the communication bandwidth and save the transmitting power in the wireless endoscopy capsule, this paper presents a new near-lossless image compression algorithm based on the Bayer format image suitable for hardware design. This algorithm can provide low average compression rate ( bits/pixel) with high image quality (larger than dB) for endoscopic images. Especially, it has low complexity hardware overhead (only two line buffers) and supports real-time compressing. In addition, the algorithm can provide lossless compression for the region of interest (ROI) and high-quality compression for other regions. The ROI can be selected arbitrarily by varying ROI parameters. In addition, the VLSI architecture of this compression algorithm is also given out. Its hardware design has been implemented inm CMOS process.