Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Legionella micdadei (Pittsburgh pneumonia agent): direct fluoresent-antibody examination of infected human lung tissue and characterization of clinical isolates

Legionella micdadei (Pittsburgh pneumonia agent) was identified by direct fluorescent-antibody (DFA) examination of lung tissue in six of seven persons diagnosed previously as having L. micdadei pneumonia only by histopathology and in four persons who also had positive cultures of the organism. No cross-reactions occurred with monospecific DFA conjugates prepared against Legionella pneumophila serogroups 1 to 6, Legionella bozemanii, Legionella dumoffii, and Legionella gormanii. One person had L. pneumophila serogroup 6 identified by DFA examination of lung tissue and subsequent culture of stored pulmonary secretions. Characterization of the four strains of L. micdadei revealed specific DFA reactions, bacteriological behavior, and cellular fatty acid composition that allow identification of the organism. DFA testing appears to be a sensitive method for identifying L. micdadei prescent in human lung tissue or cultured on artificial media.
Altered purinergic signaling in CD73‐deficient mice inhibits tumor progression

CD73/ecto‐5′‐nucleotidase dephosphorylates extracellular AMP into adenosine, and it is a key enzyme in the regulation of adenosinergic signaling. The contribution of host CD73 to tumor growth and anti‐tumor immunity has not been studied. Here, we show that under physiological conditions CD73‐deficient mice had significantly elevated ATPase and ADPase activities in LN T cells. In a melanoma model, the growth of primary tumors and formation of metastasis were significantly attenuated in mice lacking CD73. Among tumor‐infiltrating leukocytes there were fewer Tregs and mannose receptor‐positive macrophages, and increased IFN‐γ and NOS2 mRNA production in CD73‐deficient mice. Treatment of tumor‐bearing animals with soluble apyrase, an enzyme hydrolyzing ATP and ADP, significantly inhibited tumor growth and accumulation of intratumoral Tregs and mannose receptor‐positive macrophages in the WT C57BL/6 mice but not in the CD73‐deficient mice. Pharmacological inhibition of CD73 with α,β‐methylene‐adenosine‐5′‐diphosphate in WT mice retarded tumor progression similarly to the genetic deletion of CD73. Together these data show that increased pericellular ATP degradation in the absence of CD73 activity in the host cells is a novel mechanism controlling anti‐tumor immunity and tumor progression, and that the purinergic balance can be manipulated therapeutically to inhibit tumor growth.
The Index of Cultural Tightness and Looseness Among 68 Countries

If a culture is characterized by pervasive norms and sanctioning of deviance from norms, it is a tight culture. In a tight culture, people’s values, norms, and behavior are similar to each other. Thus, cultural tightness can be conceptualized as homogeneity in values, norms, and behaviors. As such, the cultural tightness and looseness (CTL) can be captured by SD. In the present study, a theoretical framework to study CTL was suggested. Three different indices of CTL in 68 societies were developed based on cultural-level SDs: a domain-specific index, a domain-general index, and a combination index. The combination CTL index showed the greatest validity compared with the domain-specific index, domain-general index, and another measure based on aggregation of individual-level perceptions. With the CTL index at hand, further theoretical predictions pertaining to the CTL can be tested. In general, wider use of SD was advocated.
Children's Perceptions of the Use of Public Open Spaces for Active Free-play

Abstract Activity performed by children in their free-time may have a significant impact on overall physical activity levels, however, very little is known about the influences on children's active free-play. To examine the role and use of public open spaces, 132 children (6–12 years) from a selection of primary schools participated in small focus group interviews. Children reported that their use of public open spaces was influenced by a combination of intrapersonal, social and environmental factors including; the play equipment and facilities at local parks, lack of independent mobility, urban design features, presence of friends, and personal motivation.
Acarbose in obese patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

BACKGROUND The present study assessed the effects of low-dose acarbose on obese patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). METHODS A double-blind placebo-controlled study was conducted on 30 obese hyperinsulinaemic women with PCOS treated with 150 mg/day acarbose or placebo for 6 months. The women were evaluated for hirsutism, menstrual regularity, body mass index (BMI), insulin resistance and glucose tolerance, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), LH, FSH, testosterone and androstenedione, and side-effects. RESULTS The patients in the acarbose group showed a reduction in BMI (35.87 +/- 2.60 versus 33.10 +/- 2.94 kg/m(2)) and in the Ferriman-Gallwey index (8.85 +/- 2.31 versus 8 +/- 1.82), and an increased chance of menstrual regularity (rate = 2.67). SHBG concentration increased (21.01 +/- 7.9 versus 23.85 +/- 7.77 nmol/l) and the free androgen index was reduced (14.81 +/- 9.06 versus 11.48 +/- 6.18). None of these parameters were modified in the placebo group. Mild side-effects occurred in 84% of the patients in the acarbose group and disappeared after the first 3 months. CONCLUSION A low dose of acarbose administered to obese patients with PCOS promotes a reduction in free androgen index and BMI and an increase in SHBG, with improvement of hirsutism and of the menstrual pattern, and is well tolerated by patients.
THE WARMING OF THE UPPER STRATOSPHERE IN FEBRUARY 1966 AND THE ASSOCIATED STRUCTURE OF THE MESOSPHERE

A major warming above the 10-mb level in February 1966 is described with the aid of rocket data from highlatitude stations at Heiss Island (81' N.) and Churchill (59" N.), together with high-level radiosonde reports from Berlin, Germany. At Heiss Island a temperature increase of S5"C is deduced at an altitude of 32 km, preceded by a record wind of nearly 400 kt (at 39 km), verified through thermal wind computations. Extraordinary vertical motions reaching 60 em sec-1 are calculated from the thermodynamic equation. The warming is shown to have been similar to major warmings of the lower stratosphere in several respects, including the occurrence of 1) high winds related to pressure-gradient intensification several days before the peak temperature and 2) upward vertical motion in high latitudes in response to strong horizontal advection. Rocket soundings extending to the mesopause indicate the occurrence of warming to a height of at least 70 km. The mesospheric data further suggest that prior to warming events the upper polar mesosphere is characteristically cold, in accord with radiative calculations for winter. However, the mesospheric analysis is hampered by poor sampling, and an improved program of observation is needed to clarify the full structure of "stratospheric" warmings. "
Conceptualizing the Engaging Bystander Approach to Sexual Violence Prevention on College Campuses

Bystander intervention offers promise as a sexual violence prevention tool for student affairs administrators on college campuses, but the conceptualization and definition of the approach is in its infancy and needs further development. In an effort to emphasize the potential role of bystanders in the primary prevention of sexual violence, we put forth the "engaging bystander approach" (EBA). We discuss how EBA can be used to address primary prevention and present updated versions of Banyard, Plante, and Moynihan's (2005) Bystander Attitude Scale and Bystander Behavior Scale. We then present the results from a quantitative study with 951 undergraduate students that used the updated scales to assess the willingness of incoming college students to engage in primary prevention bystander behaviors. We conclude with implications for future studies and for sexual violence prevention programs on college campuses.
Resolved momentum control: humanoid motion planning based on the linear and angular momentum

We introduce a method to generate whole body motion of a humanoid robot such that the resulted total linear/angular momenta become specified values. First, we derive a linear equation, which gives to total momentum of a robot from its physical parameters, the base link speed and the joint speeds. Constraints between the legs and the environment are also considered. The whole body motion is calculated from a given momentum reference by using a pseudo-inverse of the inertia matrix. As examples, we generated the kicking and walking motions and tested on the actual humanoid robot HRP-2. This method, the resolved momentum control, gives us a unified framework to generate various maneuvers of humanoid robots.
Implicit attitudes and racism: Effects of word familiarity and frequency on the implicit association test.

Abstract Greenwald, McGhee and Schwartz (1998) described a new method-the Implicit Association Test (IAT)-for unobtrusively measuring racial attitudes. This article assesses the validity of the IAT by investigating whether Greenwald et al.'s implicit racism findings resulted from two confounds present in their studies: differential familiarity and frequency of the words that comprised their target concepts. Experiment 1 produced large IAT effects when both low and high familiarity words comprised nonsocial target categories (insects and flowers) and demonstrated that the IAT is more sensitive when high familiarity exemplars form the target concepts. In Experiment 2, we obtained large implicit racism effects for both African American and Hispanic racial groups even when the familiarity and frequency of the names that comprised the racial categories were controlled and even though participants described themselves as unprejudiced. Additionally, explicit self-reports of racial attitudes were only weakly rela.
On runlength codes

Several results on binary (d, k) codes are given. First, a novel derivation for the capacity of these codes based on information-theoretic principles is given. Based on this result the spectrum of a (d, k) code is computed. Finally, the problem of computing the capacity of the binary symmetric channel under the condition that the input sequences satisfy the (d, k) constraint is considered. Lower bounds on the capacity of such a channel are derived. >
The Effect of Foster Carer Training on the Emotional and Behavioural Functioning of Looked after Children

The Foster Carers' Training Project was a three-year research project which examined the effect of training foster carers on the emotions and behaviour of the children they were looking after. The research produced useful quantitative findings, outlined in a paper recently published in Archives of Disease in Childhood (Minnis et al, in press), but the training itself also provided rich information about foster carers' communications and interactions with the children in their care. Helen Minnis and Clare Devine describe the training, the difficulties children presented, the communications which carers had to deal with and the empirical results of the research.
Emergence and disappearance of microarcsecond structure in the scintillating quasar J1819+3845

The 4.8-GHz light curves of the scintillating intraday variable quasar J1819+3845 during 2004–2005 exhibit sharp structure, down to a time-scale of 15 min, that was absent from light curves taken prior to this period and from the 2006 light curves. Analysis of the light curve power spectra show that the variations must be due to the emergence of new structure in the source. The power spectra yield a scattering screen distance of 3.8 ± 0.3 pc for a best-fitting vISS= 59 ± 0.5 km s^−1 or 2.0 ± 0.3 pc for the scintillation velocity reported by Dennett-Thorpe & de Bruyn. The scattering medium is required to be exceptionally turbulent, with C2N≳ 0.7 ΔL^−1pc m^(−20/3) for scattering material of thickness ΔLpc pc along the ray path. The 2004 power spectrum can be explained in terms of a double source with a component separation 240 ± 15 μas in 2004.
The Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Teaching ESL Writing Skills

Despite the existence of many studies showing positive effects of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching and learning process in general, the use of ICT in teaching writing skills in English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms is still not very encouraging. This study attempts to seek findings on the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing skills in Malaysian secondary schools. This paper just reports one part of the findings obtained from a big project which was conducted in Malaysian secondary schools in five areas of Malaysia. This study focuses solely on the data collected from four English teachers in a secondary school in Kuala Lumpur who were interviewed by the researcher. This study revealed that the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing was very low. Advantages of using ICT were reported to be attracting students’ attention, facilitating students’ learning process, helping to improve students’ vocabulary and promoting meaningful learning. Disadvantages found included the difficult class control, distraction and the students’ tendency to use short forms in their writing. It was also revealed that teachers are generally weak in managing problems and planning activities involving the use of ICT in the teaching of ESL writing. The results of this study are hoped to provide insights to the Ministry of Education in Malaysia to improve the low use of ICT in teaching ESL writing skills.
Bayesian photometric redshifts with empirical training sets

We combine in a single framework the two complementary benefits of χ 2 template fits and empirical training sets used e.g. in neural nets: χ 2 is more reliable when its probability density functions (PDFs) are inspected for multiple peaks, while empirical training is more accurate when calibration and priors of query data and training set match. We present a χ 2 empirical method that derives PDFs from empirical models as a subclass of kernel regression methods, and apply it to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 sample of >75 000 quasi-stellar objects, which is full of ambiguities. Objects with single-peak PDFs show 2.5, these figures are two times better. Outliers result purely from the discrete nature and limited size of the model, and rms errors are dominated by the intrinsic variety of object colours. PDFs classed as ambiguous provide accurate probabilities for alternative solutions and thus weights for using both solutions and avoiding needless outliers. E.g. the PDFs predict 78.0 per cent of the stronger peaks to be correct, which is true for 77.9 per cent of them. Redshift incompleteness is common in faint spectroscopic surveys and turns into a massive undetectable outlier risk above other performance limitations, but we can quantify residual outlier risks stemming from size and completeness of the model. We propose a matched χ 2 error scale for noisy data and show that it produces correct error estimates and redshift distributions accurate within Poisson errors. Our method can easily be applied to future large galaxy surveys, which will benefit from the reliability in ambiguity detection and residual risk quantification.
Treatment-Related Changes in Psychopathy Features and Behavior in Adolescent Offenders

The impact of changes in psychopathy characteristics on institutional behavior was assessed in 127 incarcerated delinquent males who were treated in a specialized intensive treatment program. Participants were administered the self-report version of the Antisocial Processes Screening Device (APSD) on admission to the program and every 90 days through treatment. Changes in all APSD scales predicted improvement in institutional behavior and treatment involvement. For the 77 youth who had at least three administrations, repeated-measures analysis of variance showed significant changes in APSD total, Callous/Unemotional, Narcissism, and Impulsivity scores. For 127 youth who had at least two administrations and daily behavioral ratings, changes in each scale predicted improved institutional behavior and treatment compliance.
Social policy and social change – explanations of the development of social policy

The resources of sociology do not appear to have been extensively or systematically utilized in the study of social policy and administration. One source of evidence for this statement is the absence of explicit references to sociological theories in some of the most well known general texts on British social policy and administration. Pinker's recent analysis of social theory and social policy also lends support to the view that there has been, and still remains, something of a division between sociologists and students of social policy and administration. He concludes that the ‘founding fathers’ of sociology (Marx, Durkheim, Weber and Spencer) had a tendency to be ‘not greatly interested…(in)…remedies for social problems’, and makes the general observation that ‘sociologists have been oddly diffident about the subject-matter of social administration’, possibly because of the latter's atheoretical nature.
Effects of low frequency electric fields on synaptic integration in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: implications for power line emissions

The possible cognitive effects of low frequency external electric fields (EFs), such as those generated by power lines, are poorly understood. Their functional consequences for mechanisms at the single neuron level are very difficult to study and identify experimentally, especially in vivo. The major open problem is that experimental investigations on humans have given inconsistent or contradictory results, making it difficult to estimate the possible effects of external low frequency electric fields on cognitive functions. Here we investigate this issue with realistic models of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Our findings suggest how and why EFs, with environmentally observed frequencies and intensities far lower than what is required for direct neural activation, can perturb dendritic signal processing and somatic firing of neurons that are crucially involved in cognitive tasks such as learning and memory. These results show that individual neuronal morphology, ion channel dendritic distribution, and alignment with the electric field are major determinants of overall effects, and provide a physiologically plausible explanation of why experimental findings can appear to be small and difficult to reproduce, yet deserve serious consideration.
Changes of mRNA expression of enkephalin and prodynorphin in hippocampus of rats with chronic immobilization stress.

AIM To observe the changes of enkephalin mRNA and prodynorphin mRNA in hippocampus of rats induced by chronic immobilization stress. METHODS Thirty rats were randomly divided into three groups of 10 each: the normal control group (group A), the group induced by chronic immobilization stress for 7 d (group B) and the group induced by chronic immobilization stress for 21 d (group C). The changes of the enkephalin mRNA and prodynorphin mRNA in the rat hippocampus were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS Expression levels of enkephalin mRNA and prodynorphin mRNA in rat hippocampus were significantly increased under chronic immobilization stress, and the expression of prodynorphin mRNA in the rat hippocampus in group C was remarkably higher than that in group B (0.624 +/- 0.026; n = 5; P<0.01). CONCLUSION The increased enkephalin mRNA and prodynorphin mRNA gene expressions in rat hippocampus were involved in chronic stress.
Effects of electrode deactivation on speech recognition in multichannel cochlear implant recipients

Objectives: The objective of the current study is to evaluate how speech recognition performance is affected by the number of active electrodes that are turned off in multichannel cochlear implants. Several recent studies have demonstrated positive effects of deactivating stimulation sites based on an objective measure in cochlear implant processing strategies. Previous studies using an analysis of variance have shown that, on average, cochlear implant listeners’ performance does not improve beyond eight active electrodes. We hypothesized that using a generalized linear mixed model would allow for better examination of this question. Methods: Seven peri- and post-lingual adult cochlear implant users (eight ears) were tested on speech recognition tasks using experimental MAPs which contained either 8, 12, 16 or 20 active electrodes. Speech recognition tests included CUNY sentences in speech-shaped noise, TIMIT sentences in quiet as well as vowel (CVC) and consonant (CV) stimuli presented in quiet and in signal-to-noise ratios of 0 and +10 dB. Results: The speech recognition threshold in noise (dB SNR) significantly worsened by approximately 2 dB on average as the number of active electrodes was decreased from 20 to 8. Likewise, sentence recognition scores in quiet significantly decreased by an average of approximately 12%. Discussion/conclusion: Cochlear implant recipients can utilize and benefit from using more than eight spectral channels when listening to complex sentences or sentences in background noise. The results of the current study suggest a conservative approach for turning off stimulation sites is best when using site-selection procedures.
Vibrational spectra and thermodynamic analysis of metformin

Metformin is one of the important anti-diabetic drugs to treat non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Fourier transform Raman (FTR) spectra of metformin have been used for the molecular study. A satisfactory band assignment has been made on the fundamental modes of vibration. Employing the molecular mechanics method using MM3 force field, the theoretical vibrational frequencies and geometry parameters like bond lengths, bond angles etc are calculated and compared with the experimental frequencies. The observed frequencies are used to compute the thermodynamic functions, namely, the enthalpy, entropy, heats of formation, heat capacity using standard expressions at temperature 298 K and one atmospheric pressure.
Experimental infection of horses with enzootic and epizootic strains of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus.

Thirty-two horses were infected with enzootic and epizootic strains of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) virus to determine pathogenicity and strainspecific patterns of antibody. Enzootic strains produced fever and mild leukopenia in 16 horses that subsequently developed moderate amounts of neutralizing (N), CF, and HAI antibodies. In contrast, 16 horses given epizootic strains of VEE virus frequently exhibited high fever, severe leukopenia, depressed hematocrit, and signs of encephalitis; most developed severe viremia, and survivors produced large amounts of N antibodies. Measurements of homologous and heterologous strain-specific N antibody detected antibodies by the fifth or sixth day after infection, when viremia ended and clinical encephalitis began. The assays revealed a pattern of variant-specific antibodies similar but not identical to that previously reported for these viruses in rodent sera tested in a modified HAI system. Strain-specific patterns of response in these horses are relevant in understanding the recent, novel VEE epizootics in Central America and the United States.