Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of the Chemokine Antagonist vMIP II Using a Non-Viral Vector Can Prolong Corneal Allograft Survival

Background. The expression of chemokines is central to the recruitment of inflammatory cells for graft rejection, and modulation of chemokine action is of potential in preventing graft rejection. We have examined chemokine expression in a murine model of corneal allograft rejection, and also determined the effect of expressing a broad acting chemokine antagonist, viral macrophage inflammatory protein II (vMIP II), on graft survival. Method. The expression of chemokines in a murine model of corneal transplantation was determined by real time RT-PCR and, in the case of regulated on activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted, by ELISA. The plasmid encoding the virally derived chemokine antagonist, vMIP II, was introduced into the corneal endothelial cells using a non-viral vector consisting of liposomes and transferrin. The expression and activity of vMIP II was determined by ELISA and functional assays, and the effect on graft survival noted. Results. After allotransplantation, there was up-regulation of all 11 chemokines examined. After gene delivery, there was expression of active vMIP II for more than 14 days and considerable prolongation of graft survival. This was associated with a decrease in leukocyte infiltration of the stroma of the cells. Conclusion. As expected there was considerable up-regulation of chemokines during allograft rejection. The expression of vMIP II showed considerable prolongation of graft survival. This is the first time we have observed prolongation of graft survival after a non-viral (as opposed to viral) means of gene delivery and indicates the potential of interfering with chemokine action to prevent corneal graft failure.
The Influence of Unity and Prototypicality on Aesthetic Responses to New Product Designs

Unity and prototypicality are important visual aspects of product design. These design principles were operationalized by modifying line drawings of existing products. The results of four experiments provide evidence that these two factors positively affect aesthetic response. These effects were strongest when visual properties were the sole basis of judgment and when design variations were easily compared. However, they persisted when aesthetic aspects were combined with other product information and when comparing design features was difficult. The effect of unity was found to be superadditive, suggesting that it has a relational, "all-or-none" character. Finally, regression analyses show that direct effects of the design modifications on aesthetic response exist in addition to possible indirect effects that are mediated by perceived typicality. Copyright 1998 by the University of Chicago.
Carbon monoxide–prostaglandin E2 interaction in the hypothalamic circulation

The heme oxygenase (HO)–carbon monoxide pathway was earlier shown to increase hypothalamic blood flow after inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis in rats. We hypothesized that this effect is mediated by prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Inhibition of constitutive HO activity decreased cerebral PGE2 production and simultaneously increased hypothalamic nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity without changing hypothalamic blood flow. Furthermore, HO blockade induced cyclooxygenase-dependent decrease and NOS-mediated increase of the hypothalamic blood flow after inhibition of NOS and cyclooxygenase, respectively. Therefore, constitutive carbon monoxide release seems to have two indirect effects on the hypothalamic circulation: vasodilation mediated by PGE2 and vasoconstriction as a result of NOS inhibition.
Combined Treatment With Sulpiride and Paroxetine for Accelerated Response in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract: Although serotonin reuptake inhibitors are recommended as first-line agents for major depressive disorder, delayed onset of action is problematic, and faster effective treatment is needed. Sulpiride, a dopamine-mediated agent, has been reported to show faster antidepressant efficacy, and we examined the efficacy of adjunctive sulpiride in combination with paroxetine (PAX), compared with PAX alone, to clarify whether the combined treatment exerts faster effect. Forty-one major depressive disorder patients were enrolled in this 12-week open-label trial and were randomly assigned to a PAX (10-40 mg/d) or a PAX (10-40 mg/d) plus sulpiride (100 mg/d) group. Assessments included the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, and the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale on an intent-to-treat basis, and safety was also monitored. Thirty-three patients completed the study. Both PAX + sulpiride and PAX treatments showed a mean reduction in the total Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale score of 34.4 to 5.6 and 32.2 to 10.4, respectively (P < 0.001). The combined treatment group had a significantly superior outcome in terms of the change in the total Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, and Zung Self-rating Depression Scale scores between week 1 and the study end point (P < 0.05). Median times to response among responders alone for the combined treatment and monotherapy were 2 and 6 weeks, respectively. Both treatments were well tolerated, with no clinically significant differences in safety measures except for an elevation of prolactin in the combined treatment group. The combination treatment may be a safe and effective strategy for accelerating antidepressant response.
Economic deprivation and neighborhood crime rates, 1960-1980

The social disorganization model of crime and delinquency generally has argued that the socioeconomic composition of neighborhoods is related to rates of illegal behavior only to the extent that it increases the likelihood of residential turnover and racial/ethnic heterogeneity. [. ] The AA. examine here the relative validity of an indirect effect hypothesis in Chicago's neighborhood during 1960 and 1980. While the findings generally support the traditional indirect effect assumption of social disorganization, they also emphasize the need to consider the economic and political contexts in which these communities are embedded.
Sequence Analysis of p44 Homologs Expressed by Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Infected Ticks Feeding on Naive Hosts and in Mice Infected by Tick Attachment

ABSTRACT The 44-kDa immunodominant outer membrane proteins (P44 proteins) of Anaplasma phagocytophilum are encoded by the p44 polymorphic multigene family. The present study examined p44 expression and analyzed the cDNA sequences of various p44 transcripts from the spleens and blood of mice infected by the bites of ticks infected with the A. phagocytophilum NTN-1 strain or of naturally infected nymphal ticks and in the salivary glands and midgut tissues of these ticks. A total of 300 p44 cDNAs were subjected to sequence analysis. Of these, 40 distinct p44 species were found, and all of these had orthologs in the A. phagocytophilum HZ strain genome that shared 95 to 100% base sequence identity. The number of unique p44 species expressed in mouse blood was greater than that for mouse spleens. Higher numbers of different p44 transcripts were also expressed in the salivary glands of ticks than in the midgut tissues. Variations in the sequences of the same p44 cDNA species within a single A. phagocytophilum strain and among different strains were concentrated in the conserved regions flanking the central hypervariable region of p44 genes. No mosaic sequences derived from two or more p44 species were found within the p44 hypervariable region. The conservation of the hypervariable region of each p44 cDNA species of A. phagocytophilum in naturally infected ticks and in different geographic isolates suggests that each A. phagocytophilum genome carries a set of p44 paralogs to be expressed. Thus, a large but restricted repertoire of p44 hypervariable sequences exists in A. phagocytophilum strains in the Northeastern United States.
Content Based Image Search over the World Wide Web

Most web pages typically contain both images and text. However, most current search engines index documents based on text only. In order to facilitate effective search for images on the web, we need to complement text with the visual content of the images. We often look for images containing specific objects having some particular spatial and topological relations among them. In this paper, we describe a system which enables the user to effectively search for images using the image content information including color, component objects and their relations in addition to associated text.
Guidelines for the Use of the WAIS-IV with WAIS-III Cross-Cultural Normative Indications

The aim of this article was to provide practitioner guidelines for the use of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale — 4th Edition (WAIS-IV) within the South African context, given the absence of local norms for this edition of the test. Normative indications for WAIS-III test performance (English administration), in respect of South African black African (predominantly Xhosa) first language samples (age range 19–30), demonstrate that Grade 12 and Graduate Xhosa groups with disadvantaged education were significantly lower than the US standardization by 20 to 30 IQ points. This raises the question as to whether practitioners should use the WAIS-III rather than the more clinically advanced WAIS-IV for such testees given the lack of appropriate norms. In response to this dilemma, a mechanism is presented for converting a WAIS-IV raw score test profile into a WAIS-III test profile such that it may be subjected to analysis in terms of available WAIS-III cross-cultural norms. Following this procedure, WAIS-III subtest scaled scores and index scores were calculated from WAIS-IV data for three young adult Xhosa speaking individuals with disadvantaged education. Descriptive comparisons of the original WAIS-IV scores and the derived WAIS-III scores reveal substantial equivalence across each of the three test profiles. Taking both clinical and statistical data into account, a neuropsychological analysis was elucidated in respect of one of these cases, on the basis of which a contextually coherent interpretation of a WAIS-IV brain injury test protocol using the Shuttleworth-Edwards et al. WAIS-III cross-cultural norms is achieved. While further research is warranted, it appears that for diagnostic purposes practitioners can legitimately proceed to the use of the WAIS-IV in respect of such educationally disadvantaged populations by means of cautious application of these WAIS-III local norms.
The Role of Imported Cases and Favorable Meteorological Conditions in the Onset of Dengue Epidemics

Background Travelers who acquire dengue infection are often routes for virus transmission to other regions. Nevertheless, the interplay between infected travelers, climate, vectors, and indigenous dengue incidence remains unclear. The role of foreign-origin cases on local dengue epidemics thus has been largely neglected by research. This study investigated the effect of both imported dengue and local meteorological factors on the occurrence of indigenous dengue in Taiwan. Methods and Principal Findings Using logistic and Poisson regression models, we analyzed bi-weekly, laboratory-confirmed dengue cases at their onset dates of illness from 1998 to 2007 to identify correlations between indigenous dengue and imported dengue cases (in the context of local meteorological factors) across different time lags. Our results revealed that the occurrence of indigenous dengue was significantly correlated with temporally-lagged cases of imported dengue (2–14 weeks), higher temperatures (6–14 weeks), and lower relative humidity (6–20 weeks). In addition, imported and indigenous dengue cases had a significant quantitative relationship in the onset of local epidemics. However, this relationship became less significant once indigenous epidemics progressed past the initial stage. Conclusions These findings imply that imported dengue cases are able to initiate indigenous epidemics when appropriate weather conditions are present. Early detection and case management of imported cases through rapid diagnosis may avert large-scale epidemics of dengue/dengue hemorrhagic fever. The deployment of an early-warning surveillance system, with the capacity to integrate meteorological data, will be an invaluable tool for successful prevention and control of dengue, particularly in non-endemic countries.
Surviving Failures with Performance-Centric Bandwidth Allocation in Private Datacenters

In the context of private datacenters that are operated by Web service providers such as Google, multiple applications using data parallel frameworks, such as MapReduce, coexist and share a limited supply of link bandwidth capacities. It has been shown that failures are the norm, rather than the exception, in datacenters, and will negatively affect the performance of data parallel applications as failed tasks need to be relaunched and placed on newly selected servers. In this paper, we argue that even with the presence of failures, link bandwidth should be allocated to competing applications with performance-centric fairness, in that the performance that applications enjoy should be proportional to their weights. We formulate and solve the open challenge of jointly optimizing placement decisions for relaunched tasks and bandwidth allocation, so that the adverse effects of failures on application performance are minimized. With our proposed algorithm implemented in the Mininet emulation testbed, our experiments show the effectiveness of our solutions towards minimizing the negative effects of failures, while still achieving performance-centric fairness.
An Empirical Examination of the Timing of Land Conversions in the Presence of Farmland Preservation Programs

Using a panel of parcel-level data we estimate a hazard model and find strong evidence that the mere existence of an option to preserve farmland delays decisions to convert farmland to developed uses by about six years, a reduction in median conversion time of 12 to 43% depending on parcel size. Where such delays allow local governments to improve infrastructure or implement stricter growth control measures, benefits of a preservation option may be even more long term. Also, increases in the variance of returns to development tended to slow conversion for parcels with all but the highest lot capacities. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.
Ethical Information Systems Development: A Baumanian Postmodernist Perspective

The paper offers a critique of traditional methodical approaches to Information Systems Development (ISD), arguing that a number of assumptions (for example, universality and rationality) underlying these approaches lead to incomplete ontological and epistemological considerations, and thereby contribute to IS failures in many cases. The paper proposes that ethical analysis undertaken in conjunction with traditional ISD approaches may be a way to address some of the limitations experienced during traditional ISD. Drawing upon ideas from postmodern ethics formulated by Zygmunt Bauman, the paper argues that increased focus on the moral responsibility of key ISD players (such as the team of analysts) may improve the ISD process. Finally, this paper suggests how, consistent with the postmodern stance, such moral responsibility can be implemented in the context of ISD. The paper concludes with the contributions and future implications of this research.
Default mode contributions to automated information processing

Significance In addition to dealing with variable demands of the environment in everyday life, we are continuously faced with routine, predictable challenges that require fast and effective responses. In an fMRI-based cognitive flexibility task, we show greater activity/connectivity centered on the default mode network during such automated decision-making under predictable environmental demands. Furthermore, we report on a significant correlation between this network and hippocampal connectivity and individual differences in the participants’ ability to make automated, fast, and accurate responses. Together, these results suggest an “autopilot” role for this network that may have important theoretical implications for our understanding of healthy brain processing in meeting worldly demands. Concurrent with mental processes that require rigorous computation and control, a series of automated decisions and actions govern our daily lives, providing efficient and adaptive responses to environmental demands. Using a cognitive flexibility task, we show that a set of brain regions collectively known as the default mode network plays a crucial role in such “autopilot” behavior, i.e., when rapidly selecting appropriate responses under predictable behavioral contexts. While applying learned rules, the default mode network shows both greater activity and connectivity. Furthermore, functional interactions between this network and hippocampal and parahippocampal areas as well as primary visual cortex correlate with the speed of accurate responses. These findings indicate a memory-based “autopilot role” for the default mode network, which may have important implications for our current understanding of healthy and adaptive brain processing.
Increasing the Reading Achievement of At-Risk Children Through Direct Instruction: Evaluation of the Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence (RITE)

This article describes an evaluation of a program, the Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence (RITE), which addresses at-risk students' failure to develop reading skills. The evaluation included all Grade K-2 students participating in the program and in comparison schools selected to serve as a control group. Results indicated that the RITE program was successful at increasing the reading abilities of students in at-risk schools. Children who began the RITE program early and who spent more years in the program outperformed all other students. Intervention with teachers was related to improvement in observed teaching skills (behavior management and teacher corrections), and successful implementation of programmatic teaching techniques was related to student performance. These findings close the trainer-teacher-student feedback loop by showing that teacher behavior relates to student performance.
Quorum Quenching in Culturable Phyllosphere Bacteria from Tobacco

Many Gram-negative plant pathogenic bacteria employ a N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL)-based quorum sensing (QS) system to regulate their virulence traits. A sustainable biocontrol strategy has been developed using quorum quenching (QQ) bacteria to interfere with QS and protect plants from pathogens. Here, the prevalence and the diversity of QQ strains inhabiting tobacco leaf surfaces were explored. A total of 1177 leaf-associated isolates were screened for their ability to disrupt AHL-mediated QS, using the biosensor Chromobacterium violaceum CV026. One hundred and sixty-eight strains (14%) are capable of interfering with AHL activity. Among these, 106 strains (63%) of the culturable quenchers can enzymatically degrade AHL molecules, while the remaining strains might use other QS inhibitors to interrupt the chemical communication. Moreover, almost 79% of the QQ strains capable of inactivating AHLs enzymatically have lactonase activity. Further phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA revealed that the leaf-associated QQ bacteria can be classified as Bacillus sp. , Acinetobacter sp. , Lysinibacillus sp. , Serratia sp. , Pseudomonas sp. , and Myroides sp. The naturally occurring diversity of bacterial quenchers might provide opportunities to use them as effective biocontrol reagents for suppressing plant pathogen in situ.
Exploring task properties in crowdsourcing - an empirical study on mechanical turk

In the last years, crowdsourcing has emerged as a new approach for outsourcing work to a large number of human workers in the form of an open call. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) enables requesters to efficiently distribute micro tasks to an unknown workforce which selects and processes them for small financial rewards. While worker behavior and demographics as well as task design and quality management have been studied in detail, more research is needed on the relationship between workers and task design. In this paper, we conduct a series of explorative studies on task properties on MTurk. First, we identify properties that may be relevant to workers’ task selection through qualitative and quantitative preliminary studies. Second, we provide a quantitative survey with 345 participants. As a result, the task properties are ranked and set into relation with the workers’ demographics and background. The analysis suggests that there is little influence of education level, age, and gender. Culture may influence the importance of bonuses, however. Based on the explorative data analysis, five hypotheses for future research are derived. This paper contributes to a better understanding of task choice and implies that other factors than demographics influence workers’ task selection.
Factors Affecting the Gender Difference in Dream Sharing Frequency

Numerous studies have shown that women tend to share dreams more often than men. However, research looking at factors that might explain this gender difference is scarce. The present online study (N = 1,808) clearly showed that gender differences in frequency of sharing emotional experiences and sex role orientation (femininity/expressivity) did affect the gender difference in dream sharing whereas dream-related variables such as dream recall frequency and attitude towards dreams did not. Many of the factors associated with dream sharing indicate that the socialization processes might have an effect on dream variables in adulthood. To pursue this line of research, it would be fruitful to study dream sharing within the family.
A Security Model for Aglets

Mobile agents offer a new paradigm for distributed computation, but their potential benefits must be weighed against the very real security threats they pose. These threats originate not just in malicious agents but in malicious hosts as well. For example, if there is no mechanism to prevent attacks, a host can implant its own tasks into an agent or modify the agent's state. This can lead in turn to theft of the agent's resources if it has to pay for the execution of tasks, or to loss of the agent's reputation if its state changes from one host to another in ways that alter its behavior in negative ways. Aglets are mobile agents developed at IBM's Tokyo Research Laboratory. The article describes a security model for the Aglets development environment that supports flexible architectural definition of security policies.