Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social genetic and social environment effects on parental and helper care in a cooperatively breeding bird

Phenotypes expressed in a social context are not only a function of the individual, but can also be shaped by the phenotypes of social partners. These social effects may play a major role in the evolution of cooperative breeding if social partners differ in the quality of care they provide and if individual carers adjust their effort in relation to that of other carers. When applying social effects models to wild study systems, it is also important to explore sources of individual plasticity that could masquerade as social effects. We studied offspring provisioning rates of parents and helpers in a wild population of long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus using a quantitative genetic framework to identify these social effects and partition them into genetic, permanent environment and current environment components. Controlling for other effects, individuals were consistent in their provisioning effort at a given nest, but adjusted their effort based on who was in their social group, indicating the presence of social effects. However, these social effects differed between years and social contexts, indicating a current environment effect, rather than indicating a genetic or permanent environment effect. While this study reveals the importance of examining environmental and genetic sources of social effects, the framework we present is entirely general, enabling a greater understanding of potentially important social effects within any ecological population.
Fibrinogen receptor exposure and aggregation of human blood platelets produced by ADP and chilling.

ADP-induced platelet aggregation is associated with the specific binding of fibrinogen to receptors. Since fibrinogen is also a cofactor for the spontaneous aggregation of chilled human platelets during rewarming. we examined the ability of these platelets to bind purified 125I-labeled fibrinogen. Specific binding similar to ADP-induced binding at room temperature was observed after the platelets had been chilled for 20 mm at O-2 C. Aggregation. however. occurred only when the ambient temperature was increased and was followed within 1 5-30 sec by loss of most of the bound fibrinogen and disaggregation. ADPand cold-induced fibrinogen binding and aggregation were inhibited by 0.3 M PGE1. 1 mM dibutyryl cyclic AMP. and 2.5 mM EDTA. unaffected by 208 zM colchicine. and absent from thrombasthenic platelets. Platelets change shape from discs to spiny spheres when they are exposed to ADP or cold. PGE1 and dibutyryl cyclic AMP prevented the shape change induced by ADP but not by chilling. Shape change. fibrinogen binding. and aggregation induced by ADP. but not by chilling. were inhibited by incubating platelets with 7.3 M antimycin A and 4.9 mM 2-deoxy-
Mitophagy: mechanisms, pathophysiological roles, and analysis

Abstract Mitochondria are essential organelles that regulate cellular energy homeostasis and cell death. The removal of damaged mitochondria through autophagy, a process called mitophagy, is thus critical for maintaining proper cellular functions. Indeed, mitophagy has been recently proposed to play critical roles in terminal differentiation of red blood cells, paternal mitochondrial degradation, neurodegenerative diseases, and ischemia or drug-induced tissue injury. Removal of damaged mitochondria through autophagy requires two steps: induction of general autophagy and priming of damaged mitochondria for selective autophagic recognition. Recent progress in mitophagy studies reveals that mitochondrial priming is mediated either by the Pink1-Parkin signaling pathway or the mitophagic receptors Nix and Bnip3. In this review, we summarize our current knowledge on the mechanisms of mitophagy. We also discuss the pathophysiological roles of mitophagy and current assays used to monitor mitophagy.
A Risk-Scoring Model for the Prediction of Endometrial Cancer among Symptomatic Postmenopausal Women with Endometrial Thickness > 4 mm

Objective. To develop and test a risk-scoring model for the prediction of endometrial cancer among symptomatic postmenopausal women at risk of intrauterine malignancy. Methods. We prospectively studied 624 postmenopausal women with vaginal bleeding and endometrial thickness > 4 mm undergoing diagnostic hysteroscopy. Patient characteristics and endometrial assessment of women with or without endometrial cancer were compared. Then, a risk-scoring model, including the best predictors of endometrial cancer, was tested. Univariate, multivariate, and ROC curve analysis were performed. Finally, a split-sampling internal validation was also performed. Results. The best predictors of endometrial cancer were recurrent vaginal bleeding (odds ratio (OR) = 2.96), the presence of hypertension (OR = 2.01) endometrial thickness > 8 mm (OR = 1.31), and age > 65 years (OR = 1.11). These variables were used to create a risk-scoring model (RHEA risk-model) for the prediction of intrauterine malignancy, with an area under the curve of 0.878 (95% CI 0.842 to 0.908; P < 0.0001). At the best cut-off value (score ≥ 4), sensitivity and specificity were 87.5% and 80.1%, respectively. Conclusion. Among symptomatic postmenopausal women with endometrial thickness > 4 mm, a risk-scoring model including patient characteristics and endometrial thickness showed a moderate diagnostic accuracy in discriminating women with or without endometrial cancer. Based on this model, a decision algorithm was developed for the management of such a population.
Altholactone Inhibits NF-κB and STAT3 Activation and Induces Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Apoptosis in Prostate Cancer DU145 Cells

Altholactone, a natural compound isolated from Goniothalamus spp. , has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities, but its molecular mechanisms are still not fully defined. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) play pivotal roles in the cell survival of many human tumors. The objective of this study was to elucidate the mechanism of action of altholactone against prostate cancer DU145 cells and to evaluate whether its effects are mediated by inhibition of NF-κB and STAT3 activity. Altholactone inhibited proliferation of DU145 cells and induced cell cycle arrest in S phase and triggered apoptosis. Reporter assays revealed that altholactone repressed p65- and TNF-α-enhanced NF-κB transcriptional activity and also inhibited both constitutive and IL-6-induced transcriptional activity of STAT3. Consistent with this, altholactone down-regulated phosphorylation of STAT3 and moreover, decreased constitutively active mutant of STAT3 (STAT3C)-induced transcriptional activity. Altholactone treatment also results in down-regulation of STAT3 target genes such as survivin, and Bcl-2 followed by up regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax protein. However, pre-treatment with the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) significantly inhibited the activation of Bax and prevented down-regulation of STAT3 target genes. Collectively, our findings suggest that altholactone induces DU145 cells death through inhibition of NF-κB and STAT3 activity.
Screening for Domestic Violence in a General Pediatric Clinic: Be Prepared!

Objectives. Exposure to violence, particularly domestic violence (DV), negatively affects children's physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends routine DV screening of female caretakers of pediatric patients. Few reports of screening in pediatric practices exist, and none have reported outcomes from a resident-run urban academic center. We set out to determine whether the use of the Partner Violence Screen (PVS) increases detection of DV and to test the mechanics of implementing large-scale DV screening in a busy, pediatric residency training clinic. Methods. Using the PVS, we screened a sample of consecutive female caretakers/guardians of children seen for pediatric care in the general pediatric clinic of Children's Hospital of Michigan from March 1, 2002, through February 28, 2003. Positive screens obtained during the study period were compared with the number of DV referrals received by the clinic social workers from January 1, 2001, through December 31, 2001, before PVS screening began. To test the mechanics of screening, we also analyzed the number of forms returned blank or marked “no opportunity to screen” in the last 8 months of the study period. Results. In the 12 months before use of the PVS, our social work department received 9 referrals because of DV from the general pediatric clinic, among a total of 5446 caretakers/guardians bringing 6380 children for a total of 13 576 patient care visits. In contrast, the social work department received 164 referrals because of positive screening results among 5445 caretakers/guardians bringing 7429 children for 17 346 patient care visits in the 12-month study period after introduction of the PVS. Fourteen of 164 positive PVSs were found to involve nondomestic violence perpetrated by nonpartners or violence with the patient as the victim, not the mother or female caretaker. A total of 150 PVSs involved true DV. The difference in identification of DV with the PVS, compared with the rate before its introduction, was highly significant. The positive predictive value for the PVS was 91.5%, and the identified prevalence rate was 3.7%. In the last 8 months of the study period, 6301 of 8055 PVS forms (78%) were completed; 1754 of 8055 PVS forms (22%) were left blank, but it was not possible to determine whether these represented duplicate screening forms for instances in which the mother or female caretaker had brought >1 child for care. Conclusions. Formal screening for DV with the PVS in this study setting of a busy, urban, academic, general pediatric clinic appeared to be very successful, in terms of increasing referrals and documentation of previously unrecognized DV situations. This increase signals the need for resources (time and/or social work services) to provide appropriate referral services. The PVS identifies nonpartner violence occasionally.
Degenerate Nonlinear Programming with a Quadratic Growth Condition

We show that the quadratic growth condition and the Mangasarian--Fromovitz constraint qualification (MFCQ) imply that local minima of nonlinear programs are isolated stationary points. As a result, when started sufficiently close to such points, an $L_\infty$ exact penalty sequential quadratic programming algorithm will induce at least R-linear convergence of the iterates to such a local minimum. We construct an example of a degenerate nonlinear program with a unique local minimum satisfying the quadratic growth and the MFCQ but for which no positive semidefinite augmented Lagrangian exists. We present numerical results obtained using several nonlinear programming packages on this example and discuss its implications for some algorithms.
3A Comparison between R-THP-COP and R-CHOP Regimens for the Treatment of Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma in Old Patients: A Single-institution Analysis

Objective We retrospectively compared the clinical efficacy and toxicity of rituximab (R)-THP-COP (pirarubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisolone) with that of R-CHOP (rituximab, adriamicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisolone) in previously untreated old patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Patients and Methods Patients admitted to our institution between 2004 and 2013 were examined. The patients received either R(375 mg/m2, day 1)-THP-COP (pirarubicin 50 mg/m2 day 1, cyclophosphamide 750 mg/m2 day 1, vincristine 1.4 mg/m2 day 1, and prednisolone 100 mg day 1-5) or R-CHOP (adriamicin 50 mg/m2 day 1, cyclophosphamide 750 mg/m2 day 1, vincristine 1.4 mg/m2 day 1, and prednisolone 100 mg day 1-5). The doses of chemotherapeutic agents were adjusted depending on the patient's age and associated complications. The treatment was performed for 6 to 8 cycles. Results Among 74 patients with DLBCL (median 76, range 65-90 years; male 39, female 35), 29 received R-THP-COP, while 45 received R-CHOP. The overall response rates were 94.6% (complete response 86.4%, partial response 8.1%). The 2-year overall and progression-free survival rates were 77.6% and 68.5% for the R-THP-COP regimen and 79.2% and 78.9% for R-CHOP, respectively. No significant differences were found between these two regimens regarding the clinical efficacies. The most frequent adverse event was neutropenia (72.4% for the R-THP-COP regimen, 88.9% for the R-CHOP regimen). The cardiac function as evaluated by ejection fraction values was not impaired in either regimen. Conclusion R-THP-COP was effective and safe as an alternative to R-CHOP.
The Physical Nature of the Lyman-Limit Systems

We analyze Keck HIRES observations of a Lyman-limit system at z = 2.652 toward Q2231-00. These observations afford the most comprehensive study of the physical properties of a Lyman-limit system to date. By comparing the ionic column densities for Fe+, Fe++, Si+, and Si3+ against calculations derived from the CLOUDY software package, we have strictly constrained the ionization state of this system. This has enabled us to calculate accurate abundances of a Lyman-limit system for the first time at z > 2, e.g., [Fe/H] = -0.5±0.1. We also derive a total hydrogen column density of log N(H) = 20.73 ± 0.2, which is comparable to values observed for the damped Lyα systems. The system is special for exhibiting C II* λ1335 absorption, allowing us to estimate the electron density, ne = 6.5 ± 1.3 × 10-2 cm-3. Coupling this measurement with our knowledge of the ionization state, we derive the following physical properties: (1) hydrogen volume density nH = 5.9 ± 1.2 × 10-2 cm-3, (2) path length ℓ = 3 ± 1.6 kpc, and (3) ionizing intensity log J912 = -20.22 ± 0.21. We point out that a number of the physical properties (e.g., [Fe/H], N(H), nH) resemble those observed for the damped Lyα systems, which suggests that this system may be the photoionized analog of a damped system. The techniques introduced in this Letter should be applicable to a number of Lyman-limit systems and therefore enable a survey of their chemical abundances and other physical properties.
Recent Developments in the Economics of Happiness: A Selective Overview

What makes people happy in life? This is a crucial question that has the potential to shake up economics. In recent years, the dissatisfaction with the understanding of welfare in economics together with the new opportunities to empirically study people's subjective wellbeing have spurred impressive and stimulating new research in the often called dismal science. The economics of happiness has emerged as one of the most thriving areas in current economic research. This introductory chapter refers to important contributions to the economics of happiness that characterize the recent developments in the area. First, we refer to reviews of the literature, the measurement and the relationship of happiness research to welfare economics. Second, we emphasize four factors from the large literature on the determinants of happiness in economics, i.e. income, employment, social capital and health. In fact, the main body of research in this new area is on the preconditions or covariates of high individual well-being. Third, important studies applying the so-called Life Satisfaction Approach as an alternative valuation approach are discussed. Fourth, we point to contributions that elaborate on the understanding of utility in terms of people's adaptation to circumstances and their difficulties in predicting future utility. Fifth, we provide references to the controversial question regarding the policy consequences of this new development.
Most Central or Least Central? How Much Modeling Decisions Influence a Node's Centrality Ranking in Multiplex Networks

To understand a node's centrality in a multiplex network, its centrality values in all the layers of the network can be aggregated. This requires a normalization of the values, to allow their meaningful comparison and aggregation over networks with different sizes and orders. The concrete choices of such preprocessing steps like normalization and aggregation are almost never discussed in network analytic papers. In this paper, we show that even sticking to the most simple centrality index (the degree) but using different, classic choices of normalization and aggregation strategies, can turn a node from being among the most central to being among the least central. We present our results by using an aggregation operator which scales between different, classic aggregation strategies based on three multiplex networks. We also introduce a new visualization and characterization of a node's sensitivity to the choice of a normalization and aggregation strategy in multiplex networks. The observed high sensitivity of single nodes to the specific choice of aggregation and normalization strategies is of strong importance, especially for all kinds of intelligence-analytic software as it questions the interpretations of the findings.
Advances in Chemotherapy against Advanced or Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

In the early 1990s, some prospective controlled trials revealed the superiority of chemotherapy for survival compared with best supportive care for advanced or metastatic colorectal carcinoma. Until recently, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin (LV) were the standard therapies against advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer. Theoretically, LV should increase the antitumor activity of 5-FU, although this effect of LV addition has been controversial. A meta-analysis which analyzed 21 randomized controlled trials revealed that a combination of 5-FU and LV doubled the response rate compared with 5-FU alone (from 11 to 21%) and prolonged the median survival time by about 1 month (from 10.5 to 11.7 months). Chemotherapy against advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer has steadily advanced after the introduction of triplet regimens containing 7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-piperidino]carbonyloxy-camptothecin (CPT-11) and (trans-R,R-1,2-diamine cyclohexane)oxalatoplatinum(II) (L-OHP). For LV/5-FU/CPT-11, the regimen in which 5-FU is administered with continuous infusion (FOLFIRI) is preferred compared with the 5-FU bolus infusion. According to the results of the randomized controlled trial comparing FOLFIRI followed by FOLFOX6 and the reverse sequence, FOLFOX6 followed by FOFIRI, in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer, FOLFIRI and FOLFOX are now considered to have almost the same efficacy in the treatment of advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer. FOLFIRI followed by FOLFOX or FOLFOX followed by FOLFIRI provide a median survival time of about 21 months in advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer. Both an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor monoclonal antibody, bevacizumab, and an anti- epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody, cetuximab, should prolong the survival of advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer by 2–3 months in combination with FOLFIRI or FOLFOX. However, from the viewpoint of medical economics, because of the high acquisition costs in relation to clinical benefits, antibodies are unlikely to represent a cost-utility solution. New agents, including macromolecule agents, small-molecule agents and vaccines, will be introduced alongside chemotherapy against colorectal cancer. Subsequently, clinical researchers will have to consider the cost-utility of these agents.
TLR8 on dendritic cells and TLR9 on B cells restrain TLR7-mediated spontaneous autoimmunity in C57BL/6 mice

Significance Toll-like receptors (TLRs) that sense microbial or endogenous DNA and RNA have been well implicated in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a multisystem disease characterized by an autoimmune response to nuclear antigens. In mice, both TLR8 and TLR9 control TLR7-mediated lupus, but it is unknown if they have an additive effect in controlling TLR7. We demonstrate that double TLR8/9-deficient mice have increased abnormalities characteristic of SLE and that both TLR8 and TLR9 keep under control TLR7-mediated lupus, but they act on different cell types. TLR8 controls TLR7 function on dendritic cells, and TLR9 restrains TLR7 response on B cells. These TLR interactions have to be taken into account when novel therapeutic approaches are developed that target the blocking of TLRs. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disease with diverse clinical presentations characterized by the presence of autoantibodies to nuclear components. Toll-like receptor (TLR)7, TLR8, and TLR9 sense microbial or endogenous nucleic acids and are implicated in the development of SLE. In mice TLR7-deficiency ameliorates SLE, but TLR8- or TLR9-deficiency exacerbates the disease because of increased TLR7 response. Thus, both TLR8 and TLR9 control TLR7 function, but whether TLR8 and TLR9 act in parallel or in series in the same or different cell types in controlling TLR7-mediated lupus remains unknown. Here, we reveal that double TLR8/9-deficient (TLR8/9−/−) mice on the C57BL/6 background showed increased abnormalities characteristic of SLE, including splenomegaly, autoantibody production, frequencies of marginal zone and B1 B cells, and renal pathology compared with single TLR8−/− or TLR9−/− mice. On the cellular level, TLR8−/− and TLR8/9−/− dendritic cells were hyperesponsive to TLR7 ligand R848, but TLR9−/− cells responded normally. Moreover, B cells from TLR9−/− and TLR8/9−/− mice were hyperesponsive to R848, but TLR8−/− B cells were not. These results reveal that TLR8 and TLR9 have an additive effect on controlling TLR7 function and TLR7-mediated lupus; however, they act on different cell types. TLR8 controls TLR7 function on dendritic cells, and TLR9 restrains TLR7 response on B cells.
A Collection of Scholarly Book Reviews from the Platforms of electronic sources in Humanities and Social Sciences OpenEdition.org

In this paper, we present our contribution for the automatic construction of the Scholarly Book Reviews corpora from two different sources, the OpenEdition platform which is dedicated to electronic resources in the humanities and social sciences, and the Web. The main target is the collect of reviews in order to provide automatic links between each review and its potential book in the future. For these purposes, we propose different document representations and we apply some supervised approaches for binary genre classification before evaluating their impact.
A Systematic Fuzzy Decision-Making Process to Choose the Best Model Among a Set of Competing Models

The assessment of a theory is the main objective of scientists. Theories are always introduced by models, and model selection is applied to many various fields of scientific studies in order to corroborate or verify the theory as the winning one among a set of competing hypotheses. Different criteria are taken as bases to select one model among several parallel models in both statistical and visual types. This paper proposes a new method in model selection based on the solutions of a fuzzy decision-making problem. The method enables us to apply systematically all desired validation criteria by defining a proper possibility distribution function (PDF) for each criterion. The generality of the method allows us to consider even intuitive, inaccurate, or linguistic criteria. Finally, the maximization of a utility function, rationally composed of the PDFs, will determine the best choice of competing models. The method is illustrated by two sets of linear and nonlinear parallel models.