Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for a Role of Orexin/Hypocretin System in Vestibular Lesion-Induced Locomotor Abnormalities in Rats

Vestibular damage can induce locomotor abnormalities in both animals and humans. Rodents with bilateral vestibular loss showed vestibular deficits syndrome such as circling, opisthotonus as well as locomotor and exploratory hyperactivity. Previous studies have investigated the changes in the dopamine system after vestibular loss, but the results are inconsistent and inconclusive. Numerous evidences indicate that the orexin system is implicated in central motor control. We hypothesized that orexin may be potentially involved in vestibular loss-induced motor disorders. In this study, we examined the effects of arsanilate- or 3,3′-iminodipropionitrile (IDPN)-induced vestibular lesion (AVL or IVL) on the orexin-A (OXA) labeling in rat hypothalamus using immunohistochemistry. The vestibular lesion-induced locomotor abnormalities were recorded and verified using a histamine H4 receptor antagonist JNJ7777120 (20 mg/kg, i.p.). The effects of the orexin receptor type 1 antagonist SB334867 (16 μg, i.c.v.) on these behavior responses were also investigated. At 72 h post-AVL and IVL, animals exhibited vestibular deficit syndrome and locomotor hyperactivity in the home cages. These responses were significantly alleviated by JNJ7777120 which also eliminated AVL-induced increases in exploratory behavior in an open field. The numbers of OXA-labeled neurons in the hypothalamus were significantly increased in the AVL animals at 72 h post-AVL and in the IVL animals at 24, 48, and 72 h post-IVL. SB334867 significantly attenuated the vestibular deficit syndrome and locomotor hyperactivity at 72 h post-AVL and IVL. It also decreased exploratory behavior in the AVL animals. These results suggested that the alteration of OXA expression might contribute to locomotor abnormalities after acute vestibular lesion. The orexin receptors might be the potential therapeutic targets for vestibular disorders.
An Analysis of the Perceptions of the Legal Profession through the Eyes of Dissatisfied Consumers of Legal Services in Manhattan, NY: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

In the past, research on consumer dissatisfaction with legal services tended to be quantitative in nature, and focused primarily on consumer opinion of the legal profession. These quantitative studies have been valuable in gaining a basic understanding of consumer consensus of legal services and the legal profession. However, a qualitative understanding of the complexity of the personal dissatisfaction experience with legal services, as well as the psychological and social meanings and consequences of these experiences, is an important contribution to the literature. This dissertation provides a qualitative view of the experience of consumer dissatisfaction with legal services in Manhattan, NY. An interpretative phenomenological analysis using semistructured interviews was used to examine the dissatisfaction experiences of four participants. The analysis resulted in five super-ordinate themes and their accompanying sub-themes. The super-ordinate themes are: (a) disconfirmation of expectations leads to alienation, (b) rationalizing disconfirmation experience, (c) resisting alienation by developing coping mechanisms, (d) psychological reactions, and (e) desire for measures that would confirm expectations. The study used existing literature to clarify the results, and make recommendations. Information from this study could provide direction to the New York State legislature and to the legal profession as a whole, as to how to respond to the complex phenomenon of consumer dissatisfaction with legal services. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Education (EdD) Department Executive Leadership First Supervisor Jerry Willis Second Supervisor Mark Villanti Subject Categories Education This dissertation is available at Fisher Digital Publications: http://fisherpub.sjfc. edu/education_etd/215 An Analysis of the Perceptions of the Legal Profession through the Eyes of Dissatisfied Consumers of Legal Services in Manhattan, NY: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
EFFECT OF SOME DIETARY LIPIDS ADMINISTRATION ON THE LEVELS OF SOME SERUM MINERALS IN WISTAR ALBINO RATS

The type of lipid in the diet is essential for the proper functioning of the body system. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of administration of soybean oil, olive oil and margarine on the serum levels of calcium, iron and zinc. Group 1 received standard feed and tap water, while groups 2, 3, and 4 rats received 2 ml/kg body weight of soybean oil, olive oil and margarine respectively, orally for 21 days. Rat fed on diet containing soya bean oil had a significant (p<0.05) increase in serum calcium (mg/dl) levels while rats fed on olive oil and margarine had a significant (p<0.05) decrease compared to the control group. Diet with margarine caused significant (p<0.05) increases in serum zinc (μg/dl) levels whereas the group fed olive oil had significant (p<0.05) decreases in serum zinc compared to the control group. There was no significant (P˃0.05) difference in the serum zinc levels for the group fed soya bean oil as compared with the control group. The results showed significant (p<0.05) increases in the serum iron levels with margarine producing the highest increase (485.25±26.19mmol/l) relative to the control group (281.0±6.12mmol/l). The margarine fed group had significant (p<0.05) increase on serum zinc levels (191.85±4.33μg/dl) whereas the group fed olive oil had significant (p<0.05) decrease in serum zinc (144.77±5.23μg/dl) relative to the control group (179.90±4.56μg/dl). It can be concluded that the administration of soy bean oil increased the serum calcium levels which could be beneficial in preventing osteoporosis. The incorporation of these lipids in normal diet will serve as a good source of some vital minerals.
Comparison of success of antibiotic therapy during lactation and results of antimicrobial susceptibility tests for bovine mastitis.

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted on a variety of mastitis pathogens. The infected quarters were subsequently treated during lactation with a commercially available product containing penicillin and novobiocin that was designed for lactating cows. Cows were treated as per the recommendations of the product manufacturer, and cures were determined by the absence of bacteria in both sets of duplicate quarter milk samples that were collected at 28 d posttreatment. Comparisons were made between the susceptibility of the bacteria and the therapeutic success or failure. All isolates tested were considered to be susceptible to the penicillin and novobiocin combination. Bacteriologic cure rates for newly acquired Staphylococcus aureus intramammary infection (IMI) (< 2 wk in duration) at 28 d posttreatment were 70%. Cure rates for chronic Staph. aureus IMI (> 4 wk duration) were much lower (35%), reaffirming previous reports of the intractable nature of chronic Staph. aureus IMI. Cure rates for subclinical IMI caused by other organisms were 90% for Streptococcus agalactiae, 91% for Streptococcus uberis, 90% for Streptococcus dysgalactiae, 77% for other Streptococcus spp. , and 71% for Staphylococcus spp. other than Staph. aureus. In vitro testing was considered to be a predictor of therapy outcome for IMI caused by Staphylococcus spp. , newly acquired Staph. aureus, Strep. uberis, Strep. dysgalactiae, and Strep. agalactiae, but was not considered to be a useful predictor of efficacy for chronic IMI caused by Staph. aureus.
Performance bounds and associated design principles for multi-cellular wireless OFDMA systems

In this paper, we consider the downlink of large-scale multi-cellular OFDMA-based networks and study performance bounds of the system as a function of the number of users K, the number of base-stations B, and the number of resource-blocks N. Here, a resource block is a collection of subcarriers such that all such collections, that are disjoint have associated independently fading channels. We derive novel upper and lower bounds on the sum-utility for a general spatial geometry of base stations, a truncated path loss model, and a variety of fading models (Rayleigh, Nakagami-m, Weibull, and LogNormal). We also establish the associated scaling laws and show that, in the special case of fixed number of resource blocks, a grid-based network of base stations, and Rayleigh-fading channels, the sum information capacity of the system scales as Θ(B log log K/B) for extended networks, and as O(B log log K) and Ω(log log K) for dense networks. Interpreting these results, we develop some design principles for the service providers along with some guidelines for the regulators in order to achieve provisioning of various QoS guarantees for the end users and, at the same time, maximize revenue for the service providers.
European development of clofarabine as treatment for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia considered unsuitable for intensive chemotherapy.

PURPOSE Treatment options for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are not considered suitable for intensive chemotherapy are limited. We assessed the second-generation purine nucleoside analog, clofarabine, in two similar phase II studies in this group of patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two consecutive studies, UWCM-001 and BIOV-121, recruited untreated older patients with AML to receive up to four or six 5-day courses of clofarabine. Patients in UWCM-001 were either older than 70 years or 60 to 69 years of age with poor performance status (WHO > 2) or with cardiac comorbidity. Patients in BIOV-121 were >or= 65 years of age and deemed unsuitable for intensive chemotherapy. RESULTS A total of 106 patients were treated in the two monotherapy studies. Median age was 71 years (range, 60 to 84 years), 30% had adverse-risk cytogenetics, and 36% had a WHO performance score >or= 2. Forty-eight percent had a complete response (32% complete remission, 16% complete remission with incomplete peripheral blood count recovery), and 18% died within 30 days. Interestingly, response and overall survival were not inferior in the adverse cytogenetic risk group. The safety profile of clofarabine in these elderly patients with AML who were unsuitable for intensive chemotherapy was manageable and typical of a cytotoxic agent in patients with acute leukemia. Patients had similar prognostic characteristics to matched patients treated with low-dose cytarabine in the United Kingdom AML14 trial, but had significantly superior response and overall survival. CONCLUSION Clofarabine is active and generally well tolerated in this patient group. It is worthy of further evaluation in comparative trials and might be of particular use in patients with adverse cytogenetics.
Kallikrein 7 enhances pancreatic cancer cell invasion by shedding E‐cadherin

Pancreatic cancer (PaC) is characterized by local invasion and early metastasis. Serine proteases have been associated with invasion and metastasis of many cancers due to their ability to degrade extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and to activate other proteases; thus, the serine proteases expressed in PaC were investigated.
On the frequency selection of finite-amplitude vortex shedding in the cylinder wake

In this paper it is shown that the two-dimensional time-periodic vortex shedding régime observed in the cylinder wake at moderate Reynolds numbers may be interpreted as a nonlinear global structure and its naturally selected frequency obtained in the framework of hydrodynamic stability theory. The frequency selection criterion is based on the local absolute frequency curve derived from the unperturbed basic flow fields under the assumption of slow streamwise variations. Although the latter assumption is only approximately fulfilled in the vicinity of the obstacle, the theoretically predicted frequency is in good agreement with direct numerical simulations for Reynolds numbers Re > 100.
IMDS: intelligent malware detection system

The proliferation of malware has presented a serious threat to the security of computer systems. Traditional signature-based anti-virus systems fail to detect polymorphic and new, previously unseen malicious executables. In this paper, resting on the analysis of Windows API execution sequences called by PE files, we develop the Intelligent Malware Detection System (IMDS) using Objective-Oriented Association (OOA) mining based classification. IMDS is an integrated system consisting of three major modules: PE parser, OOA rule generator, and rule based classifier. An OOA_Fast_FP-Growth algorithm is adapted to efficiently generate OOA rules for classification. A comprehensive experimental study on a large collection of PE files obtained from the anti-virus laboratory of King-Soft Corporation is performed to compare various malware detection approaches. Promising experimental results demonstrate that the accuracy and efficiency of our IMDS system out perform popular anti-virus software such as Norton AntiVirus and McAfee VirusScan, as well as previous data mining based detection systems which employed Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Decision Tree techniques.
High school string orchestra teacher as a career choice: A survey of 11th- and 12th-grade high school string orchestra students in Texas.

The purpose of this study was to describe 11th- and 12th-grade high school string orchestra students in Texas public schools in terms of their decision to enter the field of string orchestra teaching as a possible career choice or to pursue another field of study. Convenience sampling techniques were used to secure a study population of 1,683 high school string orchestra students. The Junior and Senior High School String Orchestra Student Survey (researcher designed) was used to gather demographic characteristics, students' perceptions on selected intrinsic/extrinsic work values, tangible elements of teaching, intrinsic characteristics of string orchestra teaching, and individuals assisting in students' career choices. Selected elements of teaching cited by students for their lack of interest in string orchestra teaching were also reviewed. Analysis procedures for descriptive statistics included measures of central tendency, crosstabulation, frequencies and percentages. Consistent with prior research, it was found that a larger number of female students over male students were interested in string orchestra teaching. Students interested in fields outside of string orchestra teaching reported higher class grades, more honors and advanced classes and higher SAT/ACT mean scores. Students interested in string orchestra teaching reported a higher percentage of brothers/sisters, mothers and fathers who played instruments and relatives who were teachers. These students also reported a greater importance of a career that was self-rewarding, that would be directly helpful to society and where they could help contribute to the welfare of society. Students interested in string orchestra teaching expressed the great importance of their deep devotion to music and their desire to be a positive role model for children. Students interested in string orchestra teaching reported the great importance of their high school orchestra director as one of the individuals assisting them in their career decisions. Also consistent with prior research, the number one cited reason for a lack of interest in string orchestra teaching was found to be that teacher's salaries were perceived as too low. Examinations of ethnic group differences relative to the characteristics under investigation were also explored.
Spanish grammatical gender: Its effects on categorization in native Hungarian speakers

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: We asked whether the second-language (L2) learning effects on cognition are affected by properties of the native language (L1) by further examining the effects of grammatical gender on categorization in native speakers of Hungarian, which unlike previously-studied L1s, has no grammatical gender. Design/Methodology/Approach: Hungarian speakers taking an introductory Spanish course participated in two tasks repeatedly during two semesters. One task examined their acquisition of the target nouns and their grammatical gender. The other examined their categorization of pictured objects by using voice assignments. Data and Analysis: A group of 74 beginning Spanish learners participated. Data was analyzed with parametric statistical tests of significance. First we analyzed the results on the language task to examine progress on acquisition of grammatical gender. Then we analyzed the results on the categorization task to determine if learning grammatical gender affected it. Finally, we examined the relationship between knowledge of grammatical gender and categorization by analyzing the categorization performance after 30 weeks of instruction by those who showed high versus low knowledge of grammatical gender. Findings/Conclusions: Similarly to Kurinski and Sera (2011), we began observing changes in categorization after 10 weeks of instruction. Results provide additional evidence that learning a second language in adulthood influences categorization. Unlike previous findings, however, Hungarian learners were more successful at acquiring Spanish grammatical gender than the English speakers previously studied. Originality: Investigating the effects of grammatical gender on categorization in L2 learners whose native language is completely genderless offered a naturally occurring ‘manipulation’ of a relevant factor – the properties of L1 – critical to this line of research. Significance/Implications: The findings provide additional supporting evidence that human cognition can be influenced by learning a language in adulthood. Given that the language effects occurred earlier and were much stronger than those from previous work, we believe that properties of one’s native language may affect acquisition and subsequently the magnitude of language’s effect on cognition.
Genetic Determinants of Responsiveness to the HMG‐CoA Reductase Inhibitor Fluvastatin in Patients With Molecularly Defined Heterozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Background. In familial hypercholesterolemia, plasma lipoproteins can be modulated by 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG‐CoA) reductase inhibitors, although the underlying response mechanisms are still unknown. Methods and Results. A single‐blind study with fluvastatin, an HMG‐CoA reductase inhibitor, was conducted in 64 familial hypercholesterolemia patients who had defined apolipoprotein E (apo E) and apolipoprotein(a) [apo(a)] isoforms. Plasma lipids and lipoproteins were analyzed throughout the study. The patients were grouped according to low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor genotype. After 4 weeks of treatment with 40 mg of fluvastatin, the mean decrease in plasma LDL cholesterol (LDL‐C) in patients with the genetically characterized “Sephardic” and “Lithuanian” mutations was 16‐18%, whereas in the other three groups, it was 25‐30% (p<0.005). High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) levels increased in all groups. Multivariate analyses suggested that 41% of the LDL‐C response can be explained by the LDL receptor mutation, body mass index, apo E3/E4 phenotype, apo(a) isoform LpS2, and baseline LDL‐C levels, and 46% of the change in HDL‐C is associated with age, sex, body mass index, baseline HDL‐C, and the Sephardic mutation. Conclusions. Fluvastatin exhibits diverse and independent effects on plasma lipoproteins related to several constitutional, genetic, and familial factors. Information regarding these factors may provide better prediction of patients' clinical responses to fluvastatin. (Circulation 1993;87[suppl III]:III‐35‐III‐44)
Genetic Deletion of Rac1 GTPase Reveals Its Critical Role in Actin Stress Fiber Formation and Focal Adhesion Complex Assembly*

Rac1 is an intracellular signal transducer regulating a variety of cell functions. Previous studies by overexpression of dominant-negative or constitutively active mutants of Rac1 in clonal cell lines have established that Rac1 plays a key role in actin lamellipodia induction, cell-matrix adhesion, and cell anoikis. In the present studies, we have examined the cellular behaviors of Rac1 gene-targeted primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) after Cre recombinase-mediated deletion of Rac1 gene. Rac1-null MEFs became contracted and elongated in morphology and were defective in lamellipodia formation, cell spreading, cell-fibronectin adhesion, and focal contact formation in response to platelet-derived growth factor or serum. Unexpectedly, deletion of Rac1 also abolished actin stress fibers in the cells without detectable alteration of endogenous RhoA activity. Although the expression and/or activation status of focal adhesion complex components such as Src, FAK, and vinculin were not affected by Rac1 deletion, the number and size of adhesion plaques were significantly reduced, and the molecular complex between Src, FAK, and vinculin was dissembled in Rac1-null cells. Overexpression of an active RhoA mutant or ROK failed to rescue the stress fiber and adhesion plaque defects of the Rac1-null cells. Although Rac1 deletion caused a significant reduction in phospho-PAK1, -AKT, and -ERK under serum stimulation, reconstitution of active PAK1, but not AKT or MEK1, was able to rescue the actin cytoskeleton and adhesion phenotypes of the Rac1-deficient cells. Furthermore, Rac1 deletion led to a marked increase in spontaneous apoptosis that could be rescued by active PAK1, AKT, or MEK1 expression. Our results obtained from gene-targeted primary MEFs indicate that Rac1 is essential not only for lamellipodia induction but also for the RhoA-regulated actin stress fiber and focal adhesion complex formation and that Rac1 is involved in cell survival regulation through anoikis-dependent as well as -independent mechanisms.
Constitutive Association of BRCA1 and c-Abl and Its ATM-Dependent Disruption after Irradiation

ABSTRACT BRCA1 plays an important role in mechanisms of response to double-strand breaks, participating in genome surveillance, DNA repair, and cell cycle checkpoint arrests. Here, we identify a constitutive BRCA1-c-Abl complex and provide evidence for a direct interaction between the PXXP motif in the C terminus of BRCA1 and the SH3 domain of c-Abl. Following exposure to ionizing radiation (IR), the BRCA1-c-Abl complex is disrupted in an ATM-dependent manner, which correlates temporally with ATM-dependent phosphorylation of BRCA1 and ATM-dependent enhancement of the tyrosine kinase activity of c-Abl. The BRCA1-c-Abl interaction is affected by radiation-induced modification to both BRCA1 and c-Abl. We show that the C terminus of BRCA1 is phosphorylated by c-Abl in vitro. In vivo, BRCA1 is phosphorylated at tyrosine residues in an ATM-dependent, radiation-dependent manner. Tyrosine phosphorylation of BRCA1, however, is not required for the disruption of the BRCA1-c-Abl complex. BRCA1-mutated cells exhibit constitutively high c-Abl kinase activity that is not further increased on exposure to IR. We suggest a model in which BRCA1 acts in concert with ATM to regulate c-Abl tyrosine kinase activity.