Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Critical Role of Mast Cells and Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptor γ in the Induction of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells by Marijuana Cannabidiol In Vivo

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a natural nonpsychotropic cannabinoid from marijuana (Cannabis sativa) with anti-epileptic and anti-inflammatory properties. Effect of CBD on naive immune system is not precisely understood. In this study, we observed that administering CBD into naive mice triggers robust induction of CD11b+Gr-1+ myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) in the peritoneum, which expressed functional arginase 1, and potently suppressed T cell proliferation ex vivo. Furthermore, CBD-MDSC suppressed LPS-induced acute inflammatory response upon adoptive transfer in vivo. CBD-induced suppressor cells were comprised of CD11b+Ly6-G+Ly6-C+ granulocytic and CD11b+Ly6-G−Ly6-C+ monocytic subtypes, with monocytic MDSC exhibiting higher T cell–suppressive function. Induction of MDSC by CBD was markedly attenuated in Kit-mutant (KitW/W-v) mast cell–deficient mice. MDSC response was reconstituted upon transfer of wild-type bone marrow–derived mast cells in KitW/W-v mice, suggesting the key role of cKit (CD117) as well as mast cells. Moreover, mast cell activator compound 48/80 induced significant levels of MDSC in vivo. CBD administration in mice induced G-CSF, CXCL1, and M-CSF, but not GM-CSF. G-CSF was found to play a key role in MDSC mobilization inasmuch as neutralizing G-CSF caused a significant decrease in MDSC. Lastly, CBD enhanced the transcriptional activity of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ in luciferase reporter assay, and PPAR-γ selective antagonist completely inhibited MDSC induction in vivo, suggesting its critical role. Together, the results suggest that CBD may induce activation of PPAR-γ in mast cells leading to secretion of G-CSF and consequent MDSC mobilization. CBD being a major component of Cannabis, our study indicates that marijuana may modulate or dysregulate the immune system by mobilizing MDSC.
Consumers’ Responses to Small Portions: Signaling Increases Savoring and Satiation

This research examines the savoring or eating behaviors by which consumers are able to adjust their level of satiation to accommodate different portion sizes. Over three experiments, it shows that consumers who receive a smaller number of chocolates than initially expected compensate by eating more slowly (an effect mediated by number of chews) pay more attention to the experience, take longer to rate each chocolate, and show increased levels of satiation, relative to consumers who, while eating, believe they will receive a larger quantity but actually receive the same number of chocolates. This research suggests that communicating the benefits of slowing consumption and savoring ones food, may be a useful tool in reducing the amount of food eaten, as it can be paired with messages highlighting how doing this maintains the utility gained from food in terms of its satiating effect and enjoyment.
Exposure to multiple accents of English in the English Language Teaching classroom: from second language learners' perspectives

As a result of the global presence of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), it has been argued that learners of English should be exposed to a range of varieties of English, rather than a single variety of English, so that they can be better prepared to communicate with other people in ELF communication. However, little is known about second language (L2) learners' perspectives on exposure to multiple accents of English in the English Language Teaching (ELT) classroom. This paper reports on a study that investigated the views of L2 learners of English concerning exposure to different accents of English in the classroom. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey at a university in Hong Kong. The analysis revealed that these L2 learners showed rather ambivalent attitudes towards exposure to different accents of English in the classroom. While many participants seemed to be aware of the value of exposure to different native and non-native accents, there was less than wholehearted support for such a proposal in practice because of a number of pedagogical and practical concerns. Implications of the findings for classroom teaching are also discussed.
Compact Model of Dual-Drain MAGFETs Simulation

This work offers a study of new simple compact model of dual-drain Magnetic Field Effect Transistor (MAGFET) including geometrical effects and biasing dependency. An explanation of the sensitivity is investigated, involving carrier deflection as the dominant operating principle. Finally, model verification with simulation results is introduced to ensure that acceptable error of 2% is achieved. Keywords—MAGFET, Modeling, Simulation, Split-drain.
Active tectonics and earthquake potential of the Myanmar region

This paper describes geomorphologic evidence for the principal neotectonic features of Myanmar and its immediate surroundings. We combine this evidence with published structural, geodetic, and seismic data to present an overview of the active tectonic architecture of the region and its seismic potential. Three tectonic systems accommodate oblique collision of the Indian plate with Southeast Asia and extrusion of Asian territory around the eastern syntaxis of the Himalayan mountain range. Subduction and collision associated with the Sunda megathrust beneath and within the Indoburman range and Naga Hills accommodate most of the shortening across the transpressional plate boundary. The Sagaing fault system is the predominant locus of dextral motion associated with the northward translation of India. Left‐lateral faults of the northern Shan Plateau, northern Laos, Thailand, and southern China facilitate extrusion of rocks around the eastern syntaxis of the Himalaya. All of these systems have produced major earthquakes within recorded history and continue to present major seismic hazards in the region.
Protein Synthesis Dependence of Growth Cone Collapse Induced by Different Nogo-A-Domains

Background The protein Nogo-A regulates axon growth in the developing and mature nervous system, and this is carried out by two distinct domains in the protein, Nogo-A-Δ20 and Nogo-66. The differences in the signalling pathways engaged in axon growth cones by these domains are not well characterized, and have been investigated in this study. Methodology/Principal Findings We analyzed growth cone collapse induced by the Nogo-A domains Nogo-A-Δ20 and Nogo-66 using explanted chick dorsal root ganglion neurons growing on laminin/poly-lysine substratum. Collapse induced by purified Nogo-A-Δ20 peptide is dependent on protein synthesis whereas that induced by Nogo-66 peptide is not. Nogo-A-Δ20-induced collapse is accompanied by a protein synthesis-dependent rise in RhoA expression in the growth cone, but is unaffected by proteasomal catalytic site inhibition. Conversely Nogo-66-induced collapse is inhibited ∼50% by proteasomal catalytic site inhibition. Conclusion/Significance Growth cone collapse induced by the Nogo-A domains Nogo-A-Δ20 and Nogo-66 is mediated by signalling pathways with distinguishable characteristics concerning their dependence on protein synthesis and proteasomal function.
The Interplay among Acorn Abundance and Rodent Behavior Drives the Spatial Pattern of Seedling Recruitment in Mature Mediterranean Oak Forests

The patterns of seedling recruitment in animal-dispersed plants result from the interactions among environmental and behavioral variables. However, we know little on the contribution and combined effect of both kinds of variables. We designed a field study to assess the interplay between environment (vegetation structure, seed abundance, rodent abundance) and behavior (seed dispersal and predation by rodents, and rooting by wild boars), and their contribution to the spatial patterns of seedling recruitment in a Mediterranean mixed-oak forest. In a spatially explicit design, we monitored intensively all environmental and behavioral variables in fixed points at a small spatial scale from autumn to spring, as well as seedling emergence and survival. Our results revealed that the spatial patterns of seedling emergence were strongly related to acorn availability on the ground, but not by a facilitationeffect of vegetation cover. Rodents changed seed shadows generated by mother trees by dispersing most seeds from shrubby to open areas, but the spatial patterns of acorn dispersal/predation had no direct effect on recruitment. By contrast, rodents had a strong impact on recruitment as pilferers of cached seeds. Rooting by wild boars also reduced recruitment by reducing seed abundance, but also by changing rodent’s behavior towards higher consumption of acorns in situ. Hence, seed abundance and the foraging behavior of scatter-hoarding rodents and wild boars are driving the spatial patterns of seedling recruitment in this mature oak forest, rather than vegetation features. The contribution of vegetation to seedling recruitment (e.g. facilitation by shrubs) may be context dependent, having a little role in closed forests, or being overridden by directed seed dispersal from shrubby to open areas. We warn about the need of using broad approaches that consider the combined action of environment and behavior to improve our knowledge on the dynamics of natural regeneration in forests.
Please select your gender: From the invention of hysteria to the democratizing of transgenderism

this figure’s life events delimit these three periods. For the “second century”, Merea not only proposes the integration of the diverse developments in the field into a common, unified theoretical–technical corpus, but argues that “every analyst can, and perhaps should, realize this integration throughout his theoretical and clinical career” (p. 232). The author supports this argument with interesting observations from his own professional life. The book ends with Chapter 10, ‘Reflections on the Transformation of Psychoanalysis’. In this chapter, the author considers the future of psychoanalysis given the criticisms and attacks it has suffered, and proposes the idea that crises are inevitable, that they promote and give shape to new developments. Given that “the psyche is the center of the world of human existence” (p. 245), and “that psychoanalysis is what apprehends the psyche” (p. 246), our author opines that the survival of psychoanalysis is inevitable. This survival is likely to be aided by the absence in today’s world of “popes” and “gurus”, and by the lack of influence exercised by exclusionary schools of thought. Merea proposes a need for a profound epistemological reflection upon psychoanalytic methodology, clinical practice, and the education of psychoanalysts. He recalls, in a kind of authentic return to Freud, that it is only in his work that we find the necessary articulation between body and culture required for a complete understanding of the self, a point reiterated insistently by Andr e Green. As the author notes in the Prologue, the book came about as an attempt to bring together differents essays, as a result of which the central line of reasoning in this book is not sufficiently or explicitly clear. The author’s desire to encompass an arguably excessive gamut of topics sometimes leaves the reader frustrated by the lack of detailed analysis of certain issues. Nevertheless, we find that this book offers us an excellent source of reflection for future discussions.
Towards Comparability of Linguistic Graph Banks for Semantic Parsing

We announce a new language resource for research on semantic parsing, a large, carefully curated collection of semantic dependency graphs representing multiple linguistic traditions. This resource is called SDP~2016 and provides an update and extension to previous versions used as Semantic Dependency Parsing target representations in the 2014 and 2015 Semantic Evaluation Exercises. For a common core of English text, this third edition comprises semantic dependency graphs from four distinct frameworks, packaged in a unified abstract format and aligned at the sentence and token levels. SDP 2016 is the first general release of this resource and available for licensing from the Linguistic Data Consortium in May 2016. The data is accompanied by an open-source SDP utility toolkit and system results from previous contrastive parsing evaluations against these target representations.
Hepatic, Intestinal, Renal, and Plasma Hydrolysis of Prodrugs in Human, Cynomolgus Monkey, Dog, and Rat: Implications for In Vitro–In Vivo Extrapolation of Clearance of Prodrugs

Hydrolysis plays an important role in metabolic activation of prodrugs. In the current study, species and in vitro system differences in hepatic and extrahepatic hydrolysis were investigated for 11 prodrugs. Ten prodrugs in the data set are predominantly hydrolyzed by carboxylesterases (CES), whereas olmesartan medoxomil is also metabolized by carboxymethylenebutenolidase (CMBL) and paraoxonase. Metabolic stabilities were assessed in cryopreserved hepatocytes, liver S9 (LS9), intestinal S9 (IS9), kidney S9 (KS9), and plasma from human, monkey, dog, and rat. Of all the preclinical species investigated, monkey intrinsic hydrolysis clearance obtained in hepatocytes (CLint,hepatocytes) were the most comparable to human hepatocyte data. Perindopril and candesartan cilexetil showed the lowest and highest CLint,hepatocytes, respectively, regardless of the species investigated. Scaled intrinsic hydrolysis clearance obtained in LS9 were generally higher than CLint,hepatocytes in all species investigated, with the exception of dog. In the case of human and dog intestinal S9, hydrolysis intrinsic clearance could not be obtained for CES1 substrates, but hydrolysis for CES2 and CMBL substrates was detected in IS9 and KS9 from all species. Pronounced species differences were observed in plasma; hydrolysis of CES substrates was only evident in rat. Predictability of human hepatic intrinsic clearance (CLint,h) was assessed for eight CES1 substrates using hepatocytes and LS9; extrahepatic hydrolysis was not considered due to high stability of these prodrugs in intestinal and kidney S9. On average, predicted oral CLint,h from hepatocyte data represented 20% of the observed value; the underprediction was pronounced for high-clearance prodrugs, consistent with the predictability of cytochrome P450/conjugation clearance from this system. Prediction bias was less apparent with LS9, in particular for high-clearance prodrugs, highlighting the application of this in vitro system for investigation of prodrugs.
Zygosity diagnosis in young twins by parental report

Abstract This study reports on zygosity determination in twins of childhood age. Parents responded to questionnaire items dealing with twin similarity in physical characteristics and frequency of mistaking one twin for another by parents, relatives and strangers. The accuracy of zygosity diagnosis was evaluated across twins aged 6, 8, and 10 and across parents. In addition, it was examined whether the use of multiple raters and the use of longitudinal data lead to an improvement of zygosity assignment. Complete data on zygosity questions and on genetic markers or blood profiles were available for 618 twin pairs at the age of 6 years. The method used was predictive discriminant analyses. Agreement between zygosity assigned by the replies to the questions and zygosity determined by DNA markers/blood typing was around 93%. The accuracy of assignment remained constant across age and parents. Analyses of data provided by both parents and collected over multiple ages did not result in better prediction of zygosity. Details on the discriminant function are provided. Twin Research (2000) 3, 134–141.
Dissociation between anterior and posterior cortical regions during self‐specificity and familiarity: A combined fMRI–meta‐analytic study

The familiarity to the subject of any potential stimuli presents one of the major difficulties for the investigation of the self; the separation of effects resulting from familiarity from self‐effects being extremely problematic. The aim of this study was thus to investigate the neural distinction between self and familiarity by combining two sets of fMRI data with a meta‐analysis. In the first fMRI experiment, regions responding to self/familiarity were investigated using the subject's own name and names of familiar others. These effects were confirmed and extended in a second fMRI experiment using the subject's own name and a stranger's name, as spoken by familiar and unfamiliar voices. Finally, a meta‐analysis of self‐ and familiarity‐related studies was conducted. Neural activity in the anterior brain regions, such as the anterior cingulate (ACC) and anterior insula (AI), was found to be specific for self‐specific stimuli. In contrast, posterior brain regions, such as the posterior cingulate, were activated by familiar stimuli. Finally, the distinction between anterior and posterior regions for self and familiarity was confirmed by meta‐analytic data. This study demonstrates a clear anterior–posterior cortical partition between self‐specificity and familiarity. Hum Brain Mapp, 2012. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Women's literacy and health: can an ethnographic research find the links?

This chapter, in a book shortlisted for the BAAL book prize in 2001, looks at the implications of conducting ethnographic research in a development policy context. Based on an impact study designed to evaluate the links between a women's literacy programme and family planning take-up in Nepal, the chapter examines the conflicting assumptions of the researchers, research participants and policy makers who sponsored the study. This detailed analysis of the process of introducing ethnographic research into a policy context dominated by quantitative approaches has had an impact on several development programmes adopting qualitative research methods within their evaluation and planning procedures. The chapter has been used as a key text in teaching of research methodology on literacy planning and policy courses, particularly at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Lancaster. This chapter was refereed by the book editor (Brian Street), series editor (David Barton) and other contributors to the book.
A qualitative study of two management models of community health centres in two Chinese megacities

ABSTRACT Two common public models of community health centres (CHCs) exist in China, i.e. the ‘government-owned and government-managed’ CHCs (G-CHCs) and the ‘government-owned and hospital-managed’ CHCs (H-CHCs). Shanghai and Shenzhen are two Chinese megacities that lead the primary care development on the G-CHC and H-CHC models, respectively. Using a qualitative case study design, this study compares the management of the G-CHC model in Shanghai and H-CHC model in Shenzhen, through perspectives of a range of health providers. In each city, we randomly selected four CHCs and in total conducted 31 interviews with officers from the municipal health authorities, directors, GPs, nurses and public health doctors of the CHCs. When comparing with the H-CHC model in Shenzhen, the G-CHC model in Shanghai, a model with more simplified but accountable structure tended to present better management conditions, in terms of financial transparency, recruitment autonomy, community health workforce development (CHC staffing and family medicine training), funding and priority for public health. However, regardless of the models, staff retention remained a challenge. While our study tends to suggest that the G-CHC model in Shanghai presents better management conditions, future study can test whether and to what extent the model itself can lead to such differences.
Evoked prior experiences in first-year university student learning

In this article, we focus on three aspects of students' prior experiences of learning: evoked conceptions of learning, evoked motivation and evoked self-efficacy. We show how, for a first-year undergraduate population, these three aspects of evoked prior experience relate to students' approaches to learning and their perceptions of the learning environment as well as to their previous schooling, their gender and the broad discipline area in which they are studying. In doing so, we confirm that evoked prior experiences are distinct and measurable and can be used to better understand the ways in which students experience learning in higher education.
DNA Double Strand Breaks as Predictor of Efficacy of the Alpha-Particle Emitter Ac-225 and the Electron Emitter Lu-177 for Somatostatin Receptor Targeted Radiotherapy

Rationale Key biologic effects of the alpha-particle emitter Actinium-225 in comparison to the beta-particle emitter Lutetium-177 labeled somatostatin-analogue DOTATOC in vitro and in vivo were studied to evaluate the significance of γH2AX-foci formation. Methods To determine the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) between the two isotopes (as - biological consequence of different ionisation-densities along a particle-track), somatostatin expressing AR42J cells were incubated with Ac-225-DOTATOC and Lu-177-DOTATOC up to 48 h and viability was analyzed using the MTT assay. DNA double strand breaks (DSB) were quantified by immunofluorescence staining of γH2AX-foci. Cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry. In vivo uptake of both radiolabeled somatostatin-analogues into subcutaneously growing AR42J tumors and the number of cells displaying γH2AX-foci were measured. Therapeutic efficacy was assayed by monitoring tumor growth after treatment with activities estimated from in vitro cytotoxicity. Results Ac-225-DOTATOC resulted in ED50 values of 14 kBq/ml after 48 h, whereas Lu-177-DOTATOC displayed ED50 values of 10 MBq/ml. The number of DSB grew with increasing concentration of Ac-225-DOTATOC and similarly with Lu-177-DOTATOC when applying a factor of 700-fold higher activity compared to Ac-225. Already 24 h after incubation with 2.5–10 kBq/ml, Ac-225-DOTATOC cell-cycle studies showed up to a 60% increase in the percentage of tumor cells in G2/M phase. After 72 h an apoptotic subG1 peak was also detectable. Tumor uptake for both radio peptides at 48 h was identical (7.5%ID/g), though the overall number of cells with γH2AX-foci was higher in tumors treated with 48 kBq Ac-225-DOTATOC compared to tumors treated with 30 MBq Lu-177-DOTATOC (35% vs. 21%). Tumors with a volume of 0.34 ml reached delayed exponential tumor growth after 25 days (44 kBq Ac-225-DOTATOC) and after 21 days (34 MBq Lu-177-DOTATOC). Conclusion γH2AX-foci formation, triggered by beta- and alpha-irradiation, is an early key parameter in predicting response to internal radiotherapy.
Fair scheduling of multiple resource types over multiple and heterogeneous resource pools ∗

We consider the problem of scheduling a group of heterogeneous, distributed processes to a group of heterogeneous resource pools (physical servers, clusters of processors/cores) each with different types of resources. The processes specify their preference-constraints [20] and linearly elastic resource needs for heterogeneous resource pools. Our setting is a neutral, public cloud datacenter [6]. We extend the results of [12] on proportional and Max-Min Fairness (MMF) to this problem setting. A compromise is sought between a kind of proportional fairness across all resource pools, which may lead to not fully booked resources, and weighted Dominant Resource Fairness (DRF) [5] within each pool. We also give example models of subadditive elastic demand.