Quality assessment in the blog space

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is the presentation of a new method for blog quality assessment. The method uses the temporal sequence of link creation events between blogs as an implicit source for the collective tacit knowledge of blog authors about blog quality. Design/methodology/approach: The blog data are processed by the novel method for the assessment of blog quality. The results are compared to Google Page Rank with respect to the Gold Standard, the BlogRazzi Bookmark Rank. Findings: The method is similar or better than Google Page Rank with respect to the chosen Gold Standard. Originality/value: The major contribution of this paper is the introduction of a novel method for blog quality assessment. Even though its superiority to other and more established methods cannot be proven in the context of this limited study, it enriches the toolset available for blog quality assessment and may become important for a deeper understanding of organizational learning. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Machine-Knitted Seamless Pneumatic Actuators for Soft Robotics: Design, Fabrication, and Characterization

Computerized machine knitting offers an attractive fabrication technology for incorporating wearable assistive devices into garments. In this work, we utilized, for the first time, whole-garment knitting techniques to manufacture a seamless fully knitted pneumatic bending actuator, which represents an advancement to existing cut-and-sew manufacturing techniques. Various machine knitting parameters were investigated to create anisotropic actuator structures, which exhibited a range of bending and extension motions when pressurized with air. The functionality of the actuator was demonstrated through integration into an assistive glove for hand grip action. The achieved curvature range when pressurizing the actuators up to 150 kPa was sufficient to grasp objects down to 3 cm in diameter and up to 125 g in weight. This manufacturing technique is rapid and scalable, paving the way for mass-production of customizable soft robotics wearables

The Elements, Lawrence University Flute Ensemble, January 30, 2017

Harper Hal

Religious Officials' knowledge, attitude, and behavior towards smoking and the new tobacco law in Kahramanmaras, Turkey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tobacco control effort should be first started in people that are looked upon as role models for the general population. We aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, and behavior of religious officials towards smoking and the new tobacco law.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The study group was comprised of 492 Imams and 149 Quran course instructors working in Kahramanmaras city of Turkey, 641 religious officials in total, and our survey form was applied on 406 (63.3%) of those religious officials who agreed to participate in the study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-eight (6.9%) participants were current smokers and 35 (8.6%) were ex-smokers. 99.8% of the religious officials believed that smoking was harmful and/or prohibited in terms of religion. While 43.6% respondents thought smoking was "<it>haram</it>" (forbidden by Islam), 56.2% believed it was "<it>makruh</it>" (something regarded as reprehensible, though not forbidden by God according to Islam). 85.2% of the participants were aware of the recent tobacco law. 55.5% of the respondents, who were aware of the recent tobacco law, evaluated their knowledge level on the law as adequate, whereas 44.5% evaluated it as inadequate 92.4% of the participants noted that religious officials should play active roles in tobacco control effort.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smoking rate among religious officials is much lower than that of general public. In order to help religious officials to take a more active role on this issue, they should be trained on the subject and appropriate platforms should be established.</p

Capric Acid Secreted by S. boulardii Inhibits C. albicans Filamentous Growth, Adhesion and Biofilm Formation

Candidiasis are life-threatening systemic fungal diseases, especially of gastro intestinal track, skin and mucous membranes lining various body cavities like the nostrils, the mouth, the lips, the eyelids, the ears or the genital area. Due to increasing resistance of candidiasis to existing drugs, it is very important to look for new strategies helping the treatment of such fungal diseases. One promising strategy is the use of the probiotic microorganisms, which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit. Such a probiotic microorganism is yeast Saccharomyces boulardii, a close relative of baker yeast. Saccharomyces boulardii cells and their extract affect the virulence factors of the important human fungal pathogen C. albicans, its hyphae formation, adhesion and biofilm development. Extract prepared from S. boulardii culture filtrate was fractionated and GC-MS analysis showed that the active fraction contained, apart from 2-phenylethanol, caproic, caprylic and capric acid whose presence was confirmed by ESI-MS analysis. Biological activity was tested on C. albicans using extract and pure identified compounds. Our study demonstrated that this probiotic yeast secretes into the medium active compounds reducing candidal virulence factors. The chief compound inhibiting filamentous C. albicans growth comparably to S. boulardii extract was capric acid, which is thus responsible for inhibition of hyphae formation. It also reduced candidal adhesion and biofilm formation, though three times less than the extract, which thus contains other factors suppressing C. albicans adherence. The expression profile of selected genes associated with C. albicans virulence by real-time PCR showed a reduced expression of HWP1, INO1 and CSH1 genes in C. albicans cells treated with capric acid and S. boulardii extract. Hence capric acid secreted by S. boulardii is responsible for inhibition of C. albicans filamentation and partially also adhesion and biofilm formation

Sustained Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger activation promotes gliotransmitter release from reactive hippocampal astrocytes following oxygen-glucose deprivation

Hypoxia ischemia (HI)-related brain injury is the major cause of long-term morbidity in neonates. One characteristic hallmark of neonatal HI is the development of reactive astrogliosis in the hippocampus. However, the impact of reactive astrogliosis in hippocampal damage after neonatal HI is not fully understood. In the current study, we investigated the role of Na +/H+ exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1) protein in mouse reactive hippocampal astrocyte function in an in vitro ischemia model (oxygen/glucose deprivation and reoxygenation, OGD/REOX). 2 h OGD significantly increased NHE1 protein expression and NHE1-mediated H+ efflux in hippocampal astrocytes. NHE1 activity remained stimulated during 1-5 h REOX and returned to the basal level at 24 h REOX. NHE1 activation in hippocampal astrocytes resulted in intracellular Na+ and Ca2+ overload. The latter was mediated by reversal of Na+/Ca2+ exchange. Hippocampal astrocytes also exhibited a robust release of gliotransmitters (glutamate and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNFα) during 1-24 h REOX. Interestingly, inhibition of NHE1 activity with its potent inhibitor HOE 642 not only reduced Na+ overload but also gliotransmitter release from hippocampal astrocytes. The noncompetitive excitatory amino acid transporter inhibitor TBOA showed a similar effect on blocking the glutamate release. Taken together, we concluded that NHE1 plays an essential role in maintaining H + homeostasis in hippocampal astrocytes. Over-stimulation of NHE1 activity following in vitro ischemia disrupts Na+ and Ca2+ homeostasis, which reduces Na+-dependent glutamate uptake and promotes release of glutamate and cytokines from reactive astrocytes. Therefore, blocking sustained NHE1 activation in reactive astrocytes may provide neuroprotection following HI. © 2014 Cengiz et al

Assessment of endogenous fibrinolysis in clinical using novel tests - Ready for clinical roll-out?

© The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.The occurrence of thrombotic complications, which can result in excess mortality and morbidity, represent an imbalance between the pro-thrombotic and fibrinolytic equilibrium.The mainstay treatment of these complications involves the use of antithrombotic agents but despite advances in pharmacotherapy, there remains a significant proportion of patients who continue to remain at risk.Endogenous fibrinolysis is a physiological counter-measure against lasting thrombosis and may be measured using several techniques to identify higher risk patients who may benefit from more aggressive pharmacotherapy. However, the assessment of the fibrinolytic systemis not yet accepted into routine clinical practice.In this review, we will revisit the different methods of assessing endogenous fibrinolysis (factorial assays, turbidimetric lysis assays, viscoelastic and the global thrombosis tests), including the strengths, limitations, correlation to clinical outcomes of each method and howwe might integrate the assessment of endogenous fibrinolysis into clinical practice in the future.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey dataset on psychological and behavioural consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak

This N = 173,426 social science dataset was collected through the collaborative COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey - an open science effort to improve understanding of the human experiences of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic between 30th March and 30th May, 2020. The dataset allows a cross-cultural study of psychological and behavioural responses to the Coronavirus pandemic and associated government measures like cancellation of public functions and stay at home orders implemented in many countries. The dataset contains demographic background variables as well as measures of Asian Disease Problem, perceived stress (PSS-10), availability of social provisions (SPS-10), trust in various authorities, trust in governmental measures to contain the virus (OECD trust), personality traits (BFF-15), information behaviours, agreement with the level of government intervention, and compliance with preventive measures, along with a rich pool of exploratory variables and written experiences. A global consortium from 39 countries and regions worked together to build and translate a survey with variables of shared interests, and recruited participants in 47 languages and dialects. Raw plus cleaned data and dynamic visualizations are available.Measurement(s) psychological measurement center dot anxiety-related behavior trait center dot Stress center dot response to center dot Isolation center dot loneliness measurement center dot Emotional Distress Technology Type(s) Survey Factor Type(s) geographic location center dot language center dot age of participant center dot responses to the Coronavirus pandemic Sample Characteristic - Organism Homo sapiens Sample Characteristic - Location global Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data:Peer reviewe