Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Folic Acid-Targeted Etoposide Cubosomes for Theranostic Application of Cancer Cell Imaging and Therapy

Background The aim of this study was to develop a novel Poloxamer-based drug delivery system featuring a tumor-targeting folate moiety, which was expected to provide better targeting properties and therapeutic effects compared with the traditional cubosomes (Cubs). Material/Methods Both folate-modified Cubs containing etoposide (ETP-Cubs-FA) and normal cubic nanoparticles loaded with etoposide (ETP-Cubs) were prepared through the fragmentation of bulk gels under the homogenization condition of 1500 bar, and a mean particle size of around 180 nm was obtained with a narrow size distribution. The cubosomes were further characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Polarized light microscopy (PLM). The release of ETP in vitro from these nanoparticles was found to be 82.5% at 36 h, showing a sustained release property compared with the free drug administration. Results Folate-modified cubosomes exhibited best anti-proliferative activity followed by normal cubosomes and the free drug. A further cell uptake study of Rhodamine B-loaded Cubs-FA (Rh-B-Cubs-FA) showed a marked increase of cellular accumulation compared with free Rh-B and Rh-B-loaded Cubs (Rh-B-Cubs). In vivo Rh-B-based tumor imaging demonstrated that Cubs-FA specifically targeted the tumor tissue. Conclusions The folate-modified cubosomes containing ETP may be a promising drug candidate for antitumor treatment.
Leopards in the temple : nominated public representatives on the boards of professional orders in Quebec

L'objectif de cette recherche etait de decrire les attitudes des presidents des ordres professionnels du Quebec envers le role des representants du public nommes au Bureau des ordres professionnels. Les buts etaient, premierement, d'investiguer ce facteur specifique, envisage comme un element important. En deuxieme lieu, il etait question d'explorer et d'identifier d'autres facteurs ou criteres susceptibles d'etre incorpores a un modele d'evaluation du processus participatif. Ce double but se veut une rampe de lancement propre a orienter la recherche. Tels quels, ces buts sont etablis en depit du fait que le recensement des ecrits concernant la participation du public au Bureau des ordres professionnels est tres limite. En depit du fait, egalement, que ce recensement ne contient aucune reference relative a l'evaluation de ladite participation du public. La methodologie de cette etude etait surtout exploratoire et en grande partie qualitative, a meme une collecte de donnees et une analyse aussi flexibles qu'eclectiques. Dans cette perspective, de decembre 2001 a janvier 2002, 32 presidents d'ordres professionnels ont ete interviewes a meme un questionnaire prepare a cette fin. En general, les presidents percoivent le role du representant nomme comme celui d'un administrateur fonctionnel et « instrumental. » Ainsi, la majorite des presidents (27 sur 32) peut etre vue comme ayant une attitude positive. Mais c'est une minorite (3 sur 32) qui percoit ce role comme vraiment decisionnel. Aussi, 19 le percoivent comme susceptible d'influencer les decisions du Bureau sans etre decisionnel pour autant. Ajoutons que cinq croient que le representant du public peut influencer les decisions dudit Bureau, mais estiment que cette influence est tout au plus symbolique. A l'oppose, trois presidents voient le role de ce representant comme celui d'un « faiseur de bruit » sans influence manifeste. Enfin, deux de ces 32 presidents estiment que le representant en question n'a aucune influence sur le processus administratif ni sur les decisions qui s'ensuivent. Aussi, malgre qu'il n'y ait aucune approche systematique de l'evaluation du processus en cause, les resultats de la presente etude indiquent deux facteurs qui meritent une attention particuliere. Le premier concerne l'etape de developpement du processus participatif. Et le deuxieme porte sur les attentes des individus impliques dans ledit processus. Enfin, fortes de conclusions deja significatives, les recherches valent d'etre poursuivies.
Pay for Performance of Hospital Nursing Employment in Korea

Objective: This study examines the effect of a national legislation paying hospitals depending on staffing levels to increase hospitals’ use of nursing resources in Korea. Background: Although financial incentives have been widely adopted to improve hospital performance, little is known about whether the approach is effective in increasing nurse staffing. A decade of experience in Korean nursing payment system provides a testable case to examine the effectiveness of the approach. Methods: Time series data on hospital-level nurse staffing and a nationwide survey of nurses (N= 2,214) were used to compare before and after the reform. Results: We found an increasing trend of RN employment after implementing the reform. However, the effects differ depending on hospital type. Nurse outcomes including job dissatisfaction, burnout, and intention to leave were not significantly improved. Conclusions: Linking reimbursement rates to nursing resources can be more effective in improving staffing levels, if considering hospitals in poor financial shape.
Entrepreneurial Orientation, Access to Finance and Business Performance: A Preliminary Analysis

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can be a cushion for unstable economic condition. They are believed to be able strengthen the economic development of a country. The statistics shows that they are accounted for more than 95 per cent of enterprises across the world. Acknowledging the importance of various contributions of SMEs business performance to an economy, many studies on internal and external factors affecting business performance including entrepreneurial orientation and access to finance has been done. Business performance, however, requires more than resources. To cope with these situations, they must have enough financial access in order to finance their business development. Despite its increasing importance to the economy and individual entrepreneurs, SMEs struggle hard to access to finance. Unfortunately, there is limited study to prove that entrepreneurial orientation would increase access to finance and ultimately increase performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to test the relationship of entrepreneurial orientation and access to finance on SMEs performance and unearth whether access to finance can be a mediator in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and business performance. For start-up, this study employed a primary data set drawn from 30 SMEs and using regression analysis to test all hypotheses. By testing the mediator effect, this study advances the previous works on this area which considers this effect on business performance simultaneously. The main findings indicate that entrepreneurial orientation and access to finance are positively significant on business performance and entrepreneurial orientation would help business to get access to capital and hence its performance could be improved. Since this study is preliminary stage, the small sample size was the major limitation of this study which inhibited the comparison of the results between industry sectors. A study of this nature is vitally-important to highlight the stakeholder such as government, private bodies, NGOs, policy maker and entrepreneurs on the important of entrepreneurial orientation and accessibility to finance on business performance.
The effects of child sexual abuse on school life

Child sexual abuse has received considerable professional and research attention, but review of the literature highlights a gap in professional knowledge about the educational needs of young people who have been sexually abused. Therefore, this research attempted to answer the question, ‘What are the effects of child sexual abuse on schooling? ’. The research method was semi-structured in-depth interviews with 16 people, including a selection of professionals, volunteers and survivors of sexual abuse who the researcher considered to have knowledge and experience of the effects of child sexual abuse. Results indicated that the experience of child sexual abuse had significant effects on school life particularly in the areas of social development, behaviour, learning, bullying and truancy. The paper concludes with some suggestions for developing educational psychology practice in response to the educational needs of children and young people who have been sexually abused. *
BAALC and ERG Expression in Egyptian Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Relation to Survival and Response to Treatment

AIM: Aim was to detect Brain and Acute Leukemia, Cytoplasmic (BAALC) and ETS-related gene (ERG) expression in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as well as to study their biologic and prognostic impact on the disease outcome and survival. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The current study was carried out on 44 patients with denovo acute myeloid leukemia, as well as 44 age and sex matched controls. The quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was performed for estimation of BAALC and ERG expression. RESULTS: The current study was carried out on 44 patients with denovo acute myeloid leukemia, as well as 44 age and sex matched controls. The quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was performed for estimation of BAALC and ERG expression. BAALC was expressed in 36 (81.82%) of AML cases versus 10 (22.72%) of the control group which was highly statistically significant (P < 0.001). While ERG was positive in 39(88.64%) of cases and 8(18.18 %) of controls and that was also highly statistically significant (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Further researches still needed to clarify the role of BAALC and ERG in the pathogenesis of leukemia and their importance as targets for treatment of AML.
Correction for ‘ ‘ HDAC 2 blockade by nitric oxide and histone deacetylase inhibitors reveals a common target in Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment

PERSPECTIVE Correction for ‘‘Chemical Ecology Special Feature: The evolution of gene collectives: How natural selection drives chemical innovation,’’ by Michael A. Fischbach, Christopher T. Walsh, and Jon Clardy, which appeared in issue 12, March 25, 2008, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (105:4601–4608; first published January 23, 2008; 10.1073 pnas.0709132105). The authors note that a reference was inadvertently omitted from their article. On page 4607, right column, in Conclusion: How Do New Gene Clusters Form? , line 17, the reference callout ‘‘(109–111)’’ should instead read ‘‘(109–111, 113). ’’ The added reference appears below.
GP-diagnosed internalizing and externalizing problems and dropout from secondary school: a cross-sectional study

Background Dropout from secondary education is a major concern in many Western countries because it is associated with later adverse consequences at the individual and societal level. Efforts have thus been made to identify precursors for dropout. The aim of the study was to examine the risk for not finishing secondary education by age 20 when mental health problems were diagnosed during general practitioner (GP) consultations. Methods National registries were linked to assess the association between GP-diagnosed internalizing and externalizing problems from the ages of 15-20 years and school dropout in a sample of 63 970 Norwegians, adjusting for health and social background factors. Relative risks (RR) were estimated by Poisson regression. Results Dropout was bivariately related to both internalizing (RR = 2.2 among girls and 1.7 among boys) and externalizing problems (RR = 2.7 for girls and 2.0 for boys), though the associations were somewhat attenuated in the adjusted analyses. After controlling for somatic comorbidity and parent education level, the absolute risk for not fulfilling secondary education by age 20 was 43% among girls and 60% among boys with internalizing problems and approximately 15% points higher with externalizing problems. The highest absolute risk for dropout was found for boys and girls who have both externalizing and internalizing problems. However, with some overlap in the confidence intervals, the added impact of internalizing problems when added to externalizing problems is uncertain. Conclusions Intervention for mental health problems by a GP could benefit adolescent education outcomes and mental well-being.
Learning non-structured , overcomplete and sparsifying transform

Transform learning has been introduced and studied in [1],[2], [3] and [4]. An optimal transform learning for structured and overcomplete matrix was proposed in [5]. However, several issues (optimality, convergence and computational complexity) related to learning an incoherent, well-conditioned, non-structured and overcomplete sparsifing transform still remain open. Let X ∈ <N×L be a data matrix, having as columns data samples xi ∈ < , i ∈ I = {1, 2, . , L}. Assuming a sparsifing transform model [1], then the problem formulation for learning the overcomplete transform matrix A ∈ <M×N , (M > N) has the following form:
A Switch-Level Model and Simulator for MOS Digital Systems

The switch-level model describes the logical behavior of digital systems implemented in metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) technology. In this model a network consists of a set of nodes connected by transistor "switches" with each node having a state 0, 1, or X (for invalid or uninitialized), and each transistor having a state "open," "closed," or "indeterminate. " Many characteristics of MOS circuits can be modeled accurately, including: ratioed, complementary, and precharged logic; dynamic and static storage; (bidirectional) pass transistors; buses; charge sharing; and sneak paths. In this paper we present a formal development of the switch-level model starting from a description of circuit behavior in terms of switch graphs. Then we describe an algorithm for a logic simulator based on the switch-level model which computes the new state of the network by solving a set of equations in a simple, discrete algebra. This algorithm has been implemented in the simulator MOSSIM II and operates at speeds approaching those of conventional logic gate simulators. By developing a formal theory of MOS logic circuits, we have achieved a greater degree of generality and accuracy than is found in other logic simulators for MOS.
Soluble Amyloid Precursor Protein 770 Is Released from Inflamed Endothelial Cells and Activated Platelets

Background: Separate monitoring of the cleavage products of different amyloid β precursor protein (APP) variants may provide useful information. Results: We found that soluble APP770 (sAPP770) is released from inflamed endothelial cells and activated platelets as judged by ELISA. Conclusion: sAPP770 is an indicator for endothelial and platelet dysfunctions. Significance: How sAPP770 is released in vivo has been shown. Most Alzheimer disease (AD) patients show deposition of amyloid β (Aβ) peptide in blood vessels as well as the brain parenchyma. We previously found that vascular endothelial cells express amyloid β precursor protein (APP) 770, a different APP isoform from neuronal APP695, and produce Aβ. Since the soluble APP cleavage product, sAPP, is considered to be a possible marker for AD diagnosis, sAPP has been widely measured as a mixture of these variants. We hypothesized that measurement of the endothelial APP770 cleavage product in patients separately from that of neuronal APP695 would enable discrimination between endothelial and neurological dysfunctions. Using our newly developed ELISA system for sAPP770, we observed that inflammatory cytokines significantly enhanced sAPP770 secretion by endothelial cells. Furthermore, we unexpectedly found that sAPP770 was rapidly released from activated platelets. We also found that cerebrospinal fluid mainly contained sAPP695, while serum mostly contained sAPP770. Finally, to test our hypothesis that sAPP770 could be an indicator for endothelial dysfunction, we applied our APP770 ELISA to patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), in which endothelial injury and platelet activation lead to fibrous plaque disruption and thrombus formation. Development of a biomarker is essential to facilitate ACS diagnosis in clinical practice. The results revealed that ACS patients had significantly higher plasma sAPP770 levels. Furthermore, in myocardial infarction model rats, an increase in plasma sAPP preceded the release of cardiac enzymes, currently used markers for acute myocardial infarction. These findings raise the possibility that sAPP770 can be a useful biomarker for ACS.
European Union retail electricity markets in the Green Transition: The quest for adequate design

After a gradual process of reforms, retail electricity markets in Europe are well established. In parallel, the decarbonization agenda and rapid technological progress lead the way toward a renewable‐based and distributed electricity system, in which new business models emerge. Distributed resources, prosumers, and peer‐to‐peer trading are all part of the most likely future scenarios. The newly adopted Clean Energy Package, put forward by the European Commission in 2016, responded to the consensus that existing electricity markets needed to adapt and aimed at putting consumers at the center. But will the ongoing reforms live up to the challenges posed by the coming stages of the ongoing Green Transition? While most recent analyses focus on wholesale issues, the present review narrows this gap. We analyze the European Union (EU) retail electricity market design in isolation, but also in its interaction with the renewable energy policy. We compare the current and the forthcoming legislative framework to elucidate if the recently adopted reforms mitigate conflicts or facilitate complementarities arising from the implementation of the European energy policy framework. While the reforms remove fundamental barriers for consumer participation, several unresolved conflicts remain. Thus, looking forward, there is a significant implementation challenge. Among these are the overdue task of making competition effective, striking the right balance between the verticality and horizontality of the future retail market and confronting market reconfiguration. In this respect, the paper makes several policy recommendations aimed at EU Member States, which are also valid for any jurisdiction willing to advance a transition to renewables.
THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE AMPHIBOLE- ASBESTOS OF SOUTH AFRICA

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Experimental and Numerical Coupling Proof of Conical Frictional Joints

Conical rings are used to joint a shaft with other mechanical parts through frictional forces induced by clamping of the inner ring into the outer one. In design, their coupling strength and the allowable torque are determined with the well known analytical formulas. However, the assumption of rigid and smooth contacts considered in the analytical solution generates technical uncertainties for reliability of conical joints especially for their small dimensions. The coupling strength of the conical rings is investigated at a set-up and by using Finite Element (FE) Method. A FE model of the analytically analysed conical joint is created with friction contact conditions on all interfaces of the joint. For a very fine mesh with the smooth interfaces, the FE contact forces differ remarkably from the analytical solution. This confirms that the elasticity of parts has to be taken into account in the design process. To assess an influence of real contact profiles on the coupling performance, contours of contact surfaces are measured at a Mitutoyo coordinate measuring machine. Based on the measured height variation in the normal to the contact plane, the surface profiles are extrapolated by approximation functions. Then, the FE mesh is modified locally on the contact with respect to the extrapolated profile functions and coupling strength of the conical joint is computed with friction sliding. According to the obtained results, the implementation of the real profile of the contact is needed in the design process to avoid failures under real operation conditions of conical joints. According to the obtained FE static results, the contour irregularities induces local separations in the contact, which can be monitored by measuring electrical resistance between the outer and inner conical rings.
Liver-targeted hydrodynamic gene therapy: Recent advances in the technique

One of the major research focuses in the field of gene therapy is the development of clinically applicable, safe, and effective gene-delivery methods. Since the first case of human gene therapy was performed in 1990, a number of gene-delivery methods have been developed, evaluated for efficacy and safety, and modified for human application. To date, viral-vector-mediated deliveries have shown effective therapeutic results. However, the risk of lethal immune response and carcinogenesis have been reported, and it is still controversial to be applied as a standard therapeutic option. On the other hand, delivery methods for nonviral vector systems have been developed, extensively studied, and utilized in in vivo gene-transfer studies. Compared to viral-vector mediated gene transfer, nonviral systems have less risk of biological reactions. However, the lower gene-transfer efficiency was a critical hurdle for applying them to human gene therapy. Among a number of nonviral vector systems, our studies focus on hydrodynamic gene delivery to utilize physical force to deliver naked DNA into the cells in the living animals. This method achieves a high gene-transfer level by DNA solution injections into the tail vein of rodents, especially in the liver. With the development of genome editing methods, in vivo gene-transfer therapy using this method is currently the focus in this research field. This review explains the method principle, efficiency, safety, and procedural modifications to achieve a high level of reproducibility in large-animal models.