Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential Pharmacological Profiles of Operant Acquisition, Operant Expression, and Decision-Making Performance As Tested By Antipsychotics and Other Dopaminergic Drugs

Operant acquisition, operant expression, and decision-making differentially rely on brain areas that are differentially affected by antipsychotic and other dopaminergic drugs. The purpose of this thesis was to test if the known differential pharmacological and location of action of antipsychotic and other dopaminergic drugs predict the drug effects on operant acquisition, operant expression, and decision-making. Clozapine and to a lesser extent, risperidone but not metoclopramide or haloperidol affect the prefrontal cortex (PFC); haloperidol, metoclopramide, and to a lesser extent, risperidone affect the dorsolateral striatum (DLS). We used amphetamine as a broadly-acting indirect dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT), and norepinephrine agonist. We found that all antagonists altered operant acquisition and expression, but in different ways. The DA D2-like receptor antagonists blunted reinforcement impact during operant acquisition and induced an extinction-like decline in expression whereas the atypical antipsychotics with high PFC 5-HT-2A affinity maintained inactive lever presses during acquisition, but produced tolerance in expression. Curiously, risperidone and metoclopramide, but not clozapine or haloperidol, more potently suppressed lever pressing in acquisition than expression. In contrast, amphetamine suppressed operant expression, but not acquisition, at a dose range that increased locomotion and induced conditioned place preference. Amphetamine decreased sensitivity to reward presentation and inactive lever pressing during operant acquisition, but had the opposite effects during expression. A very different pattern was found in the rodent gambling task (rGT), a model of the 4choice (deck) Iowa Gambling Task used in humans. The rGT puts small,
Validity of self-reported anthropometry in adult Mexican women.

Objective: To compare direct and self-reported anthropometry in Mexican women. Materials and methods: Women aged 30-72 years, participating in the Mexican Teachers' Cohort, completed a questionnaire with their anthropometric data in 2006-2008. After eleven months (median time), technicians performed anthropometry in 3756 participants. We calculated correlations and multivariable-adjusted mean differences between direct and self-reported anthropometric measures. Results: Correlations between direct and self-reported anthropometric measures ranged from 0.78 (waist circumference) to 0.93 (weight). On average, women over-reported their height by 2.2 cm and underreported their weight, body mass index (BMI) and waist and hip circumferences by 1.3 kg, 1.3 kg/m2, 1.8 cm and 1.9 cm, respectively. Errors in self-reported anthropometry increased with rising measured BMI and were also independently associated with age, education and socioeconomic status. Conclusion: Self-reported anthropometry is sufficiently valid for epidemiological purposes in adult Mexican women. Errors in self-reported anthropometry might result in underestimation of the prevalence of overweight and obesity.
Persuasion and Affect in the Framing of Poverty: An Experiment on Goal Framing

In response to the vast and sometimes conceptually inconsistent literature on valence framing, Levin and colleagues (1998) advanced a typology of valence framing that organized the differing results by risky choice, attribute, and goal framing. This study furthers the literature on goal framing by (a) applying it to the context of a social issue, extreme child poverty; and (b) examining affective mechanisms under which goal framing is persuasive. Experimental results (N = 197) revealed that exposure to the loss-framed message led to greater willingness to support public policies to eradicate child poverty compared to the gain-framed message. Results also found evidence that negative affect served as the mediator of framing effects on public policy support. These findings suggest that, in the context of social support for aiding the poor, the persuasiveness of the loss frame is facilitated when participants experience negative, but not positive, affect.
The effect of mannitol, sucrose, raffinose and dextran on posthypertonic hemolysis.

Inhibition of the hemolysis that occurs after first increasing and then decreasing the concentration of solutes in the surrounding medium of human red blood cells (posthypertonic hemolysis) was studied in in vitro experiments with regard to its possible importance for blood preservation by freezing procedures; hemolysis after freezing and thawing is considered to be mainly due to such variations in solute concentrations (Lovelock 1953). All the tested substances, viz. mannitol, sucrose, raffinose and dextran, gave a substantial decrease in hemoglobin (Hb) liberation. The effect of such substances when used as additives in studies of blood preservation by freezing may thus have found an additional explanation. The low molecular weight substances decreased Hb liberation mainly by reducing the number of hemo-lysed cells. Dextran, however, decreased the amount of Hb liberated from the individual cell without an apparent decrease in the number of damaged cells. Thus when Hb liberation is decreased by the use of dextran, this reduction may not be a good measure of the damage to the cell population. The consistency of the results with a hypothesis for the mechanism of posthypertonic hemolysis is discussed. Assuming this hypothesis to be correct, the inhibitory effects of non-penetrating additives seem, at least partially, to be also explicable.
Feeling Better But Doing Worse: Effects of Facebook Self-Presentation on Implicit Self-Esteem and Cognitive Task Performance

This study uses self-affirmation theory to draw predictions about the effect of Facebook profile self-presentation on two psychological outcomes: users' state self-esteem and their performance in a cognitive task. In an experimental procedure, participants were randomly assigned to examine either their own profiles, which tend to highlight social connectedness and treasured aspects of the self, or a stranger's profile. Afterward, participants reported their self-esteem using an implicit measure that is immune to reporting biases, and completed a serial subtraction task. Results show that a brief exposure to one's own profile raised state self-esteem, but that it hampered performance in a subsequent cognitive task by decreasing the motivation to perform well. The results advance the emerging literature on the effects of online self-presentation and also provide a theoretical contribution to self-affirmation theory.
From vineyard to glass: agrochemicals enhance the melatonin and total polyphenol contents and antiradical activity of red wines

Abstract: Resistance inducers are a class of agrochemicals, including benzothiadiazole and chitosan, which activate the plant own defence mechanisms. In this work, open‐field treatments with plant activators were performed on two red grape (Vitis vinifera L.) varieties cultivated in different localities, Groppello (Brescia, Lombardia, Italy) and Merlot (Treviso, Veneto, Italy). Treatments were carried out every 10 days until the véraison and, after harvesting, experimental wines (microvinificates) were prepared. In general, both melatonin and total polyphenol content, determined by mass spectrometry and Folin‐Ciocalteu assay, respectively, were higher in wines produced from grapes treated with resistance inducers than in those obtained from untreated control and conventional fungicide‐treated grapes. Accordingly, antiradical power of wines derived from plant activator‐treated grapes, measured by both DPPH (2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl) and the ABTS [(2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid)] radical–scavenging assay, was higher than in their counterparts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the effects of agrochemicals on the melatonin content of red wine.
The case for perfusion fixation of large tissue samples for ultrastructural pathology.

We present the case for the perfusion fixation of large, freshly isolated tissue samples of liver and lung from dog, rat, and mouse. Individual lobes of liver and lung were fixed by vascular perfusion using a technique that is simple and quick to perform and results in a reproducibly high standard of ultrastructural preservation compared to immersion fixation. A major advantage to the use of this technique lies in the ability to provide tissue samples for diagnostic ultrastructural pathology and toxicological pathology while avoiding the need for whole-organ or whole-body perfusion fixation. This advantage therefore permits the use of fresh tissue from the same organ for other investigative purposes (e.g., drug metabolism studies and pharmacokinetics), thereby allowing correlation of structure and function. The advantages of perfusion fixation compared to immersion fixation are discussed, and potential applications for tissue preparation of postmortem specimens and also for scanning electron microscopy are indicated.
Identification of HBV DNA sequences that are predictive of response to lamivudine therapy

Numerous studies have shown that resistance to long‐term lamivudine therapy occurs in as many as ⅔ of hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronic carriers. Additional studies have shown that reversion of HBV mutations in the precore/core promoter region conferring an HBeAg‐negative phenotype/genotype can occur in up to 30% of lamivudine‐treated patients. In this study, sequences of the HBV polymerase and precore/core coding regions in 26 HBV‐infected patients (24 with HBeAg‐negative virus infection, 25 genotype D, 1 genotype A) treated for 27 to 53 months with lamivudine were analyzed to determine the relationship between pretreatment HBV DNA sequence patterns and long‐term treatment response, and the effect of therapy on the status of HBV precore mutations. Reversions of precore mutations A1762T/G1764A and G1896A were observed in 29% and 25% of patients, respectively, but none became HBeAg‐positive. These data are consistent with previously published reversion frequencies for 2 other groups of lamivudine‐treated patients. Two naturally‐occurring DNA polymorphisms at aa91 and aa256 of the HBV polymerase were observed in the pretreatment serum samples, which correlated with extended treatment failure. In conclusion, reversion of mutations conferring an HBeAg‐negative phenotype occur relatively frequently under lamivudine therapy. Furthermore, at least in HBeAg‐negative patients infected predominately with HBV genotype D, specific viral DNA sequences which are present before therapy appear to be useful as predictors of long‐term response to lamivudine treatment. (HEPATOLOGY 2004;39:64–73.)
Intra-Personal Correlates of Disordered Eating Patterns in College Students

Julian H. Williford Jr., Advisor Eating disorders are interesting problems on college campuses that appear to be increasing. The purpose of this study was to identify correlations between EAT-26 scores and: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores, General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) scores, nutrients consumed in a self-reported 5-day diet record analyzed by Diet Analysis Plus 6.0, and demographic information from college students. A convenience sample of 390 volunteer college students from an introductory nutrition course at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) completed a 5-day diet record and surveys including the EAT-26, the BDI, the GSES, and demographic information. EAT-26 scores >20 were considered positive for disordered eating patterns. Approximately 15% of the sample had positive EAT-26 scores, which corresponds to previous studies conducted at BGSU (14%-18% positive). Positive EAT-26 scores were significantly correlated (p .05) although EAT-26 scores were not related to the sample meeting the RDA/DRI for each nutrient. RDA/DRI was not met by any gender and age group for energy, magnesium, and potassium: and for females, neither the RDA/RDI for calcium or phosphorus was met. Approximately 88% of the sample had inadequate intakes of magnesium. Females had a higher percentage of inadequate intakes of measured nutrients than males. Subjects from low income families had significantly lower (p < .05) BDI scores. However, subjects from both low income families and high income families had significantly (p < .05) higher self-efficacy than those from middle income
The human iron exporter ferroportin. Insight into the transport mechanism by molecular modeling

Abstract Ferroportin, a membrane protein belonging to the major facilitator superfamily of transporters, is the only vertebrate iron exporter known so far. Several ferroportin mutations lead to the so-called ferroportin disease or type 4 hemochromatosis, characterized by two distinct iron accumulation phenotypes depending on whether the mutation affects the activity of the protein or its degradation pathway. Through extensive molecular modeling analyses using the structure of all known major facilitator superfamily members as templates, multiple structural models of ferroportin in the three mechanistically relevant conformations (inward open, occluded, and outward open) have been obtained. The best models, selected on the ground of experimental data available on wild-type and mutant ferroportion, provide for the first time a prediction at the atomic level of the dynamics of the transporter. Based on these results, a possible mechanism for iron export is proposed.
Treatment of Oral Leukoplakia with Diode Laser: a Pilot Study on Indian Subjects.

BACKGROUND To evaluate the safety, convenience and effectiveness of 940nm diode laser for treatment of homogenous leukoplakia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ten patients having homogenous leukoplakia which were diagnosed clinically were selected from an Indian dental educational institution for the study. Toludine blue staining was applied locally over the lesion. The area where there was increased uptake of stain was excised using a 940 nm EZLASE TM diode laser (BIOLASE-USA). RESULTS Although various treatment modalities have been tried and the search continues for novel treatment modalities for complete removal of homogenous leukoplakia, from results of our preliminary pilot study it is clear that the use of 940 nm diode laser as a treatment modality for homogenous leukoplakia is a good substitute. Healing was perfect without any complication within a duration of 1 month. Pain intensity was also mild and absolutely zero on the VAS scale after 1 month follow up. CONCLUSIONS 940 nm diode lasers are safe and can be effectively used as a treatment modality of homogenous leukoplakia, without any complication and without compromising health and oral function of patients. Considering recurrence factor, long term follow up for patients is a must.
A Relative of Hadwiger's Conjecture

Hadwiger's conjecture asserts that if a simple graph $G$ has no $K_{t+1}$ minor, then its vertex set $V(G)$ can be partitioned into $t$ stable sets. This is still open, but we prove under the same hypothesis that $V(G)$ can be partitioned into $t$ sets $X_1,\ldots,X_t$, such that for $1\le i\le t$, the subgraph induced on $X_i$ has maximum degree at most a function of $t$. This is sharp, in that the conclusion becomes false if we ask for a partition into $t-1$ sets with the same property.
The Context of Child Welfare Performance Measures

A growing movement in the United States seeks to improve the outcomes achieved by public agencies through performance measurement strategies. In child welfare policy, a federally mandated performance measurement system has evolved since the 1980s, establishing the federal Child and Family Services Review which uses a series of performance indicators for evaluating the child welfare system. This article reviews the literature on performance measurement and performance management in the public sector in order to develop a conceptual framework for examining the federal child welfare performance measurement system. It briefly summarizes the evolution of federal policy related to performance measurement in child welfare. The framework is then used to guide an analysis of the debate surrounding the establishment of the current child welfare performance measurement system, concluding with recommendations for consideration in future reform efforts.
Sibling, Family, and Social Influences on Children’s Theory of Mind Understanding

Although a considerable body of research with samples from Western cultures shows that having siblings influences children’s theory of mind (ToM) understanding, research with samples from other cultures does not always support such findings. The current experiment was designed to examine in detail how family and social environment influence ToM competence in a group of Iranian children from various socioeconomic backgrounds. The participants were 142 preschoolers (4-5 years old) from high-SES (socioeconomic status) urban (n = 33), low-SES urban (n = 37), and rural villages (n = 72). The results failed to show any significant differences between children’s scores on ToM measures among the three subsamples, despite the differences between the number of siblings and playmates and the divergent family backgrounds and social experiences of these children. As such, no significant correlation was found between the number of siblings or playmates these children had and their ToM understanding. However, the number of days children spent playing with peers, and the level of parental interference in siblings’ conflicts, was correlated with children’s ToM understanding. The implications of these results are discussed.
A comparative study of misalignment detection using a novel Wireless Sensor with conventional Wired Sensors

The advancement in low cost and low power MEMS sensors makes it possible to develop a cost-effective wireless accelerometer for condition monitoring. Especially, the MEMS accelerometer can be mounted directly on a rotating shaft, which has the potential to capture the dynamics of the shaft more accurately and hence to achieve high monitoring performance. In this paper a systematic comparison of shaft misalignment detection is conducted, based on a bearing test rig, between the wireless sensor measurement scheme and other three common sensors: a laser vibrometer, an accelerometer and a shaft encoder. These four sensors are used to measure simultaneously the dynamic responses: Instantaneous Angular Speed (IAS) from the encoder, bearing house acceleration from the accelerometer, shaft displacements from the laser vibrometer and angular acceleration from the wireless sensor. These responses are then compared in both the time and frequency domains in detecting and diagnosing different levels of shaft misalignment. Results show the effectiveness of wireless accelerometer in detecting the faults.
Geographic Variations in a Model of Physician Treatment Choice with Social Interactions

Location-specific norms of behavior are a widespread phenomenon. In the case of medical practice, numerous studies have found that geographic location exerts a strong influence on the choice of treatments and procedures. This paper shows how the presence of social influence on treatment decisions can help to explain this phenomenon. We construct a theoretical model in which physicians' treatment choices depend on patients' characteristics and on the recent choices of nearby peers - either because there are local knowledge spillovers or because physicians want to conform to local practice patterns. In our model, regional differences in the patient mix give rise to geographically divergent treatment patterns - the treatment a patient receives depends on where she lives. Investigation of Florida data reveals significant geographic variation in treatment rates consistent with the predictions of our model. Implications for patient welfare are explored.
ADOLESCENTS' SATISFACTION WITH SCHOOL EXPERIENCES: RELATIONSHIPS WITH DEMOGRAPHICS, ATTACHMENT RELATIONSHIPS, AND SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT BEHAVIOR

This study investigated the relationships among demographics, parent and peer attachment, school satisfaction, and student engagement behavior in a 1-year longitudinal study of secondary-school students. Statistically significant cross-sectional differences in school satisfaction were observed, based on grade, but not on race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Level of school satisfaction did not moderate the relationships between parent and peer satisfaction and negative student engagement behaviors at Time 2 (controlling for Time 1). School satisfaction did account for significant incremental variance across all levels of parent and peer attachment relationships, although predicting a larger proportion of variance for withdrawal behavior than for resistance/aggression behavior. Adolescents' appraisals of their school satisfaction appear to be an independent predictor of their school engagement behaviors, regardless of the quality of their parent or peer attachment relationships. Limitations of the study as well as implications for future research and educational practice are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Characterization of an eukaryotic peptide deformylase from Plasmodium falciparum.

Ribosomal protein synthesis in eubacteria and eukaryotic organelles initiates with an N-formylmethionyl-tRNA(i), resulting in N-terminal formylation of all nascent polypeptides. Peptide deformylase (PDF) catalyzes the subsequent removal of the N-terminal formyl group from the majority of bacterial proteins. Until recently, PDF has been thought as an enzyme unique to the bacterial kingdom. Searches of the genomic DNA databases identified several genes that encode proteins of high sequence homology to bacterial PDF from eukaryotic organisms. The cDNA encoding Plasmodium falciparum PDF (PfPDF) has been cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant protein is catalytically active in deformylating N-formylated peptides, shares many of the properties of bacterial PDF, and is inhibited by specific PDF inhibitors. Western blot analysis indicated expression of mature PfPDF in trophozoite, schizont, and segmenter stages of intraerythrocytic development. These results provide strong evidence that a functional PDF is present in P. falciparum. In addition, PDF inhibitors inhibited the growth of P. falciparum in the intraerythrocytic culture.