Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Angiotensin Type 1a Receptors in the Subfornical Organ Are Required for Deoxycorticosterone Acetate-Salt Hypertension

Although elevated renin–angiotensin system activity and angiotensinergic signaling within the brain are required for hypertension, polydipsia, and increased metabolic rate induced by deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt, the contribution of specific receptor subtypes and brain nuclei mediating these responses remains poorly defined. We hypothesized that angiotensin type 1a receptors (AT1aR) within the subfornical organ (SFO) mediate these responses. Transgenic mice carrying a conditional allele of the endogenous AT1aR (AT1aRflox) were administered an adenovirus encoding Cre-recombinase and enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) or adenovirus encoding eGFP alone into the lateral cerebral ventricle. Adenovirus encoding Cre-recombinase reduced AT1aR mRNA and induced recombination in AT1aRflox genomic DNA specifically in the SFO, without significant effect in the paraventricular or arcuate nuclei, and also induced SFO-specific recombination in ROSATdTomato reporter mice. The effect of SFO-targeted ablation of endogenous AT1aR was evaluated in AT1aRflox mice at 3 time points: (1) baseline, (2) 1 week after virus injection but before DOCA-salt, and (3) after 3 weeks of DOCA-salt. DOCA-salt–treated mice with deletion of AT1aR in SFO exhibited a blunted increase in arterial pressure. Increased sympathetic cardiac modulation and urine copeptin, a marker of vasopressin release, were both significantly reduced in DOCA-salt mice when AT1aR was deleted in the SFO. Additionally, deletion of AT1aR in the SFO significantly attenuated the polydipsia, polyuria, and sodium intake in response to DOCA-salt. Together, these data highlight the contribution of AT1aR in the SFO to arterial pressure regulation potentially through changes on sympathetic cardiac modulation, vasopressin release, and hydromineral balance in the DOCA-salt model of hypertension.
A Monitoring Network to Map and Assess Landslide Activity in a Highly Anthropized Area

Mapping landslide activity in a highly anthropized area entails specific problems. The integration of different monitoring techniques in order to measure the displacements rate within the slope is mandatory. We describe our activity for the Mortisa landslide which is located on the western flank of the Cortina d’Ampezzo valley (northeastern Italy) in a highly anthropized area in the heart of the Dolomites, a UNESCO world heritage site. The mass movement threatens some houses, an important national road, and part of the area that will be the venue for the upcoming 2021 Alpine Skiing World Championship. The hazardous context along with its prestigious location makes the construction of new settlements and infrastructure very challenging. Owing to that, precise mapping and assessment of the activity of the Mortisa landslide is extremely important. To achieve this task, multitemporal aerial photo interpretation, A-DInSAR analysis, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) surveys, and inclinometric measurements were performed. Through the integration of the monitoring data and geomorphological interpretation, a hazard map of the Mortisa area was produced with the intent to assist the local authorities in the definition of the new urban development plan.
On multilinear oscillatory integrals, nonsingular and singular

Let G be a compact, connected Lie group, acting smoothly on a manifold M. Goresky-Kottwitz-MacPherson described a small Cartan model for the equivariant cohomology of M, quasi-isomorphic to the standard Cartan complex of equivariant differential forms. In this paper, we construct an explicit cochain map from the small Cartan model into the standard Cartan model, inducing an isomorphism in cohomology. The construction involves the solution of a remarkable inhomogeneous Maurer-Cartan equation. This solution has further applications to the theory of transgression in the Weil algebra, and to the Chevalley-Koszul theory of the cohomology of principal bundles.
The inhibition of inflammatory molecule expression on 3T3-L1 adipocytes by berberine is not mediated by leptin signaling

In our previous study, we have shown that berberine has both anti-adipogenic and anti-inflammatory effects on 3T3-L1 adipocytes, and the anti-adipogenic effect is due to the down-regulation of adipogenic enzymes and transcription factors. Here we focused more on anti-inflammatory effect of berberine using real time RT-PCR and found it changes expressions of adipokines. We hypothesized that anti-adipogenicity of berberine mediates anti-inflammtory effect and explored leptin as a candidate mediator of this signaling. We studied this hypothesis by western blot analysis, but our results showed that berberine has no effect on the phosphorylations of STAT-3 and ERK which have important roles on leptin signaling. These results led us to conclude that the anti-inflammatory effect of berberine is not mediated by the inhibition of leptin signal transduction. Moreover, we have found that berberine down-regulates NF-κB signaling, one of the inflammation-related signaling pathway, through western blot analysis. Taken together, the anti-inflammatory effect of berberine is not mediated by leptin, and berberine induces anti-inflammatory effect independent of leptin signaling.
From campus to classroom : a study of elementary teacher candidates’ pedagogical content knowledge

ii PREFACE . iv TABLE OF CONTENTS . v LIST OF TABLES . viii LIST OF FIGURES . xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . xiii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY . 1 Study Background . 1 Problem Statement . 3 Research Questions . 4 Significance of the Study . 4 Brief Researcher Background . 5 Organization of the Thesis . 6 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . 8 Pedagogical Content Knowledge . 8 A Historical Perspective . 8 PCK: An Elaboration . 12 Science PCK . 15 PCK: Theoretical Framework . 23 Summary . 23 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY AND METHODS . 25 Context of the Study . 25 The Teacher Education Program . 25 The Elementary Science Methods Course (SCI 349) . 27 Teacher Candidates . 28 The Study . 29 Investigational Approach: Case Study . 34 Research Methodology . 39 Survey Methods . 40 Qualitative Methods . 41 Phenomenographic Method . 43 Summary of Phenomenography . 45 Data Collection Procedures . 46 Quantitative Data Collection . 47 Qualitative Data Collection . 51 Reliability and Validity . 51 Reliability and Validity of the Instrument . 52 Reliability and Validity in a Phenomenographic Study . 54 Data Analysis . 57 Quantitative Data Analysis . 57 Phenomenographic Data Analysis . 60 Ethical Considerations . 62 Limitations of the Study . 63
Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement.

This is the new and fully updated edition of this classic work on the development of Chicano radicalism in America. "Youth, Identity, Power" is a unique exploration of the origins and development of Chicano radicalism in America. Carlos Munoz Jr, himself a leader of the Chicano movement of the 1960s, places the movement in the wider context of the political development of Mexicans and their descendants in the US. He traces the emergence of Chicano student activists in the 1930s, the rise and fall of the Chicano Power Movement, and situates the student protests of the 1960s within the changing political scene of the time. Fully revised and updated throughout, "Youth, Identity, Power" fills a significant gap in the history of political protest in the United States, and a significant contribution to the cultural development of the Chicano population as a whole.
Spatial-Mode Diversity and Multiplexing for FSO Communication With Direct Detection

This paper investigates spatial-mode multiplexing (SMM) for practical free-space optical communication (FSO) systems using direct detection. Unlike several works in the literature where mutually incoherent channels are assumed, we consider mutually coherent channels that accurately describe SMM FSO systems employing a single laser source at the transmitter with a narrow linewidth. We develop an analytical model for such mutually coherent channels and derive expressions for aggregate achievable rate (AAR). Through numerical simulations, it was shown that there exist optimal transmit mode sets which result in the maximal asymptotic AAR at high transmitted power. Moreover, in order to resolve the reliability issues of such SMM FSO systems in the presence of turbulence, a so-called mode diversity scheme is proposed that can be easily implemented along with SMM FSO systems. It is demonstrated that mode diversity can significantly improve the outage probability and the $\epsilon $ -outage achievable rate performance of the multiplexed channels in SMM FSO systems degraded by turbulence.
Exploiting Drug Repositioning for Discovery of a Novel HIV Combination Therapy

ABSTRACT The development of HIV drugs is an expensive and a lengthy process. In this study, we used drug repositioning, a process whereby a drug approved to treat one condition is used to treat a different condition, to identify clinically approved drugs that have anti-HIV activity. The data presented here show that a combination of two clinically approved drugs, decitabine and gemcitabine, reduced HIV infectivity by 73% at concentrations that had minimal antiviral activity when used individually. Decreased infectivity coincided with a significant increase in mutation frequency and a shift in the HIV mutation spectrum. These results indicate that an increased mutational load is the primary antiviral mechanism for inhibiting the generation of infectious progeny virus from provirus. Similar results were seen when decitabine was used in combination with another ribonucleotide reductase inhibitor. Our results suggest that HIV infectivity can be decreased by combining a nucleoside analog that forms noncanonical base pairs with certain ribonucleotide reductase inhibitors. Such drug combinations are relevant since members of these drug classes are used clinically. Our observations support a model in which increased mutation frequency decreases infectivity through lethal mutagenesis.
Deformable Registration-Based Super-resolution for Isotropic Reconstruction of 4-D MRI Volumes

Multi-plane super-resolution (SR) has been widely employed for resolution improvement of MR images. However, this has mostly been limited to MRI acquisitions with rigid motion. In cases of non-rigid motion, volumes are usually pre-registered using deformable registration methods before SR reconstruction. The pre-registered images are then used as input for the SR reconstruction. Since deformable registration involves smoothening of the inputs, using pre-registered inputs could lead to loss in information in SR reconstructions. Additionally, any registration errors present in pre-registered inputs could propagate throughout SR reconstructions leading to error accumulation. To address these limitations, in this study, we propose a deformable registration-based super-resolution reconstruction (DIRSR) reconstruction, which handles deformable registration as part of super-resolution. This approach has been demonstrated using 12 synthetic 4-D MRI lung datasets created using single plane (coronal) datasets of six patients and multi-plane (coronal and axial) 4-D lung MRI dataset of one patient. From our evaluation, DIRSR reconstructions are sharper and well aligned compared to reconstructions using SR of pre-registered inputs and rigid-registration SR. MSE, SNR and SSIM evaluations also indicate better reconstruction quality from DIRSR compared to reconstructions from SR of pre-registered inputs (p-value less than 0.0001). In conclusion, we found superior isotropic reconstructions of 4-D MR datasets from DIRSR reconstructions, which could benefit volumetric MR analyses.
Direct chemical bond of bioactive glass-ceramic materials to bone and muscle.

The objective of this research is to achieve direct chemical bonding of structurally strong implant materials with hard and soft tissues. This objective has been achieved through the development of a series of surface-active bioglasses and bioglass-ceramics. A controlled release of Ca, P, and Na ions from the surface of the materials produces an alkaline pH and nutrient constituents at a time when the body can incorporate the ions into newly formed tissues. Optical and electron microscopy of in-vivo implants in rat femurs and muscles show the development of stable chemically bonded physiological interfaces after 6 weeks. Microstructure and crystallinity of the materials do not influence the bonding achieved. Mechanical measurements of the bond strength in bone show that the bone fractures before the interface does. In-vitro studies of protein epitaxy, hydroxyapatite crystallization, and solubility kinetics correlate with the proposed interfacial bonding theory.
Learning Strategies of Students Attending a "Second Chance" School.

This study was conducted in Quebec with 608 students (aged 16-19) in four “second chance” schools of the greater Montreal area. The objectives were twofold: (a) to identify the strategies of these students in the context of five learning activities; and (b) to compare the strategies of students who had withdrawn from school after their mandatory attendance period (age 16-17) with those of students exceeding the age limit for high school (age 18-19). Results from a self-reported questionnaire in French show that the students lack many learning strategies, particularly for two of the five activities. The differences between the two groups always favor the older students and pertain to a specific aspect of the activity. These results argue for differentiation in research and classroom practices according to the activities presented to the students and according to the two age groups. Cette etude a ete realisee au Quebec aupres de 608 eleves (âges de 16 a 19 ans) de quatre ecoles de « raccrocheurs » de la region metropolitaine de Montreal. La recherche a poursuivi deux objectifs : (a) identifier les strategies des eleves « raccrocheurs » dans le cadre de cinq activites d’apprentissage; et (b) comparer les strategies des eleves qui avaient abandonne l’ecole apres la periode de frequentation obligatoire (16-17 ans) a celles des eleves qui avaient depasse l’âge limite de frequentation de l’ecole secondaire (18-19 ans). Les resultats a un questionnaire valide en francais indiquent que tous les eleves, en general, disent avoir recours a un nombre restreint de strategies d’apprentissage, notamment dans deux des cinq activites. Les differences entre les deux groupes favorisent toujours les eleves plus âges et sont pertinentes pour un aspect specifique de l’activite. Ces resultats militent en faveur d’une differenciation de la recherche et des pratiques pedagogiques selon les activites presentees aux eleves d’une part, et les deux groupes d’âge d’autre part.
Prospective Memory Tasks in Aviation: Effects of Age and Working Memory

Prospective memory is the ability to remember to perform acts in the future. Prospective memory is essential in the aviation domain because it supports a range of tasks including remembering to complete critical radio communications. A wide variety of literature reports that in the laboratory younger adults outperform older adults on many prospective memory tasks. In naturalistic settings however, older adults perform as well as or better than younger adults. It is suggested that lower working memory load from on-going background tasks, context cues and the habitual nature of the tasks are reasons for the improved performance by older adults in naturalistic settings. We tested this notion using a Cessna 172 aircraft simulator to examine radio communication task completion rates of 45 pilots (16 older and 29 younger participants). Individual measures of working memory were also collected. In contrast to the trends reported in the literature, we found that older pilots had significantly lower communication task completion rates than younger pilots in both the low and high working memory workload conditions. A multiple regression model identified age and working memory scores as the strongest individual predictors of prospective memory task performance in the low workload condition and working memory and recent pilot-in-command hours as significant predictors of performance in the high workload condition. Our results suggest that, even in a low workload condition, a naturalistic aviation context did not afford advantages to older pilots and that prospective memory task performance appears associated with age and working memory function.
Predictive value of insight for suicide, violence, hospitalization, and social adjustment for outpatients with schizophrenia: a prospective study.

This prospective study explores the predictive value of insight for suicide, violence, hospitalization, and social adjustment for a group of schizophrenic outpatients over 1 year. The Schedule of Assessment of Insight (SAI) and its expanded version (SAI-E) were used to provide a baseline insight score for 74 schizophrenic outpatients considered to be in remission or to have minimal psychopathology. Subjects were reassessed at the end of the period to determine the predictive value of initial insight rating by comparison. Insight into treatment was associated with less hospitalization and better social adjustment, but insight into mental illness or psychotic experience was not. It was also found that insight could neither predict suicidal behavior or violent tendencies. Therefore, some dimension of insight may predict hospitalization and social adjustment in schizophrenics, although its predictive efficacy for other clinical outcomes and behaviors may be limited.
Offer of financial incentives for unprotected sex in the context of sex work.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS Commercial sex workers (CSW) are often portrayed as vectors of disease transmission. However, the role clients play in sexual risk taking and related decision making has not been thoroughly characterised. DESIGN AND METHODS Participants were drawn from the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study, a longitudinal cohort. Analyses were restricted to those who reported selling sex between June 2001 and December 2005. Using multivariate generalised estimating equation, we evaluated the prevalence of and factors associated with being offered money for sex without a condom. RESULTS A total of 232 CSW were included in the analyses, with 73.7% reporting being offered more money for condom non-use, and 30.6% of these CSW accepting. Variables independently associated with being offered money for sex without a condom included daily speedball use [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.23-0.62], daily crack smoking (AOR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.04-2.19), daily heroin injection (AOR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.27-2.43) and drug use with clients (AOR = 3.22, 95% CI: 2.37-4.37). Human immunodeficiency virus seropositivity was not significant (AOR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.67-1.44). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Findings highlight the role clients play in contributing to unprotected sex through economic influence and exploitation of CSW drug use. HIV serostatus has no bearing on whether more money is offered for sex without a condom. Novel interventions should target both CSW and clients.
Impact of risk factors on hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, in primiparae and multiparae

Abstract Background: Hypertensive disorders complicating pregnancy increase the risk of adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes. Aim: To assess the impact of age, education, family history of cardiovascular disease, pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity and weight gain during pregnancy on hypertensive disorders, among primiparae and multiparae. Subjects and methods: In a birth cohort study, puerperae were consecutively recruited at public maternity units of Porto, Portugal (2005–2006). The study included 6952 women with singleton births and complete data. Hypertensive disorders included chronic hypertension, gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia/eclampsia. Results: Overall, hypertensive disorders affected 4.6% of single pregnancies and were associated with older age, lower education, family history of cardiovascular disease and excessive weight before and during pregnancy, similarly in primiparae and multiparae. Approximately 50% of cases among primiparae and 70% among multiparae were attributable to the joint effect of pregnancies after 34 years of age, education below 12 years, family history of cardiovascular disease and excessive weight before and during pregnancy. Conclusion: The risk factors explained a high proportion of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. Excessive weight before and during pregnancy had a very large contribution. The substantial joint effect of the risk factors suggests that interventions focusing on these risk factors should be part of pre-conceptional and pre-natal care.
Consistent etiology of severe, frequent psychotic experiences and milder, less frequent manifestations: a twin study of specific psychotic experiences in adolescence.

IMPORTANCE The onset of psychosis is usually preceded by psychotic experiences (PE). Little is known about the etiology of PE and whether the degree of genetic and environmental influences varies across different levels of severity. A recognized challenge is to identify individuals at high risk of developing psychotic disorders prior to disease onset. OBJECTIVES To investigate the degree of genetic and environmental influences on specific PE, assessed dimensionally, in adolescents in the community and in those who have many, frequent experiences (defined using quantitative cutoffs). We also assessed the degree of overlap in etiological influences between specific PE. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Structural equation model-fitting, including univariate and bivariate twin models, liability threshold models, DeFries-Fulker extremes analysis, and the Cherny method, was used to analyze a representative community sample of 5059 adolescent twin pairs (mean [SD] age, 16.31 [0.68] years) from England and Wales. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Psychotic experiences assessed as quantitative traits (self-rated paranoia, hallucinations, cognitive disorganization, grandiosity, and anhedonia, as well as parent-rated negative symptoms). RESULTS Genetic influences were apparent for all PE (15%-59%), with modest shared environment for hallucinations and negative symptoms (17%-24%) and significant nonshared environment (49%-64%) for the self-rated scales and 17% for parent-rated negative symptoms. Three empirical approaches converged to suggest that the etiology in extreme-scoring groups (most extreme scoring: 5%, 10%, and 15%) did not differ significantly from that of the whole distribution. There was no linear change in heritability across the distribution of PE, with the exception of a modest increase in heritability for increasing severity of parent-rated negative symptoms. Of the PE that showed covariation, this appeared to be due to shared genetic influences (bivariate heritabilities, 0.54-0.71). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE These findings are consistent with the concept of a psychosis continuum, suggesting that the same genetic and environmental factors influence both extreme, frequent PE and milder, less frequent manifestations in adolescents. Individual PE in adolescence, assessed quantitatively, have lower heritability estimates and higher estimates of nonshared environment than those for the liability to schizophrenia. Heritability varies by type of PE, being highest for paranoia and parent-rated negative symptoms and lowest for hallucinations.
Motivic homology of semiabelian varieties

We generalize some classical results on the Chow group of an abelian variety to semiabelian varieties and to motivic (co)homology, using a result of Ancona-Enright-Ward-Huber (1) on a decomposition of the motive of a semiabelian variety in Voevodsky's category of motives.