Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Screening for membrane hormone receptor expression in primary aldosteronism.

OBJECTIVE The investigation of expression and functional relevance of G-protein coupled receptors in primary aldosteronism (PA) by molecular and clinical studies. PATIENTS AND METHODS Tissues of 14 aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA), of one unilateral adrenal hyperplasia and of six healthy adult adrenal glands; 12 patients with confirmed PA due to APA; (n=5), idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (n=7) and 8 control subjects (C). The tissues were subjected to a quantitative PCR for determination of mRNA expression levels of AT2R1, GIPR, MC2R, GnRHR, LHR, TRHR, TSHR, glucagon-R, V1aR, V2R, and 5-HT4R. The patients and controls were enrolled in a test protocol consisting of stimulation by posture, mixed meal, ACTH, GnRH, TRH, glucagon, vasopressin, and metoclopramide (MCP). Three patients could be analyzed by both studies. A positive response was defined as an aldosterone increase of more than 50% following stimulation. RESULTS All the tissues revealed AT2R1, MC2R, AVPR, and 5-HT4R mRNA expression. LHR mRNA was found in normal adrenals and 13 adrenal tumors. By contrast with normal adrenals tumorous adrenal tissue expressed GnRHR mRNA (4/15) and TSHR mRNA (1/15). Both the patients and controls responded to posture, ACTH, glucagon, AVP, and MCP. Specific responses were seen in one patient following TRH and three patients following GnRH stimulation. CONCLUSIONS We provide evidence for peptide hormone responsiveness to various peptide hormones in patients with PA, including GnRH and TRH. A good correlation between clinical and molecular testing could be observed, making an involvement of the receptor expressed in PA possible.
Effect of different dietary fats on oxygen consumption and on serum lipid levels in the baboon (Papio ursinus)

In herbivores such as the rabbit the regulation is easily overloaded; the addition of large amounts of cholesterol to the diet may result in a tenfold increase in the level of cholesterol in the serum. Even in omnivores such as poultry, dietary cholesterol causes a marked rise in serum cholesterol (March, Biely & Lindsay, 1964). Also in man, recent experiments have clearly shown that an excess of dietary cholesterol may raise the level of serum cholesterol (Connor, Stone & Hodges, 1964; Connor, Hodges & Bleiler, 1961 a, b ; Erickson, Coots, Mattson & Kligman, 1963). It can be accepted then that there is a cholesterol-regulating mechanism, easily overloaded in some animals and much more stable in others. For some years it has been known that an excess of dietary fats can also affect the concentration of cholesterol in the blood ; saturated fatty acids raise serum cholesterol level whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids lower it (Kinsell, Michaels, Friskey & Splitter, 1958; Bronte-Stewart, Antonis, Eales & Brock, 1956; Ahrens, Hirsch, Insull, Tsaltas, Blomstrand & Peterson, 1957). Little is known about the mechanism of this effect. We wished to investigate whether excess of saturated or, alternatively, polyunsaturated fat in the diet had some further action on a mammal in addition to the well-known effect on lipid levels. We have therefore studied the effect of such diets on basal oxygen consumption. We have used primates because, like man, they are omnivorous and are thus more likely to respond similarly to changes in diet. Two groups of baboons were studied. One group was given a diet rich in saturated fatty acids and the other group a diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. We have also determined the concentrations of cholesterol and phospholipid in the serums of the animals on the different dietary treatments. 1956).
Trend deviation analysis for automated detection of defects in GPR data for road condition surveys

This paper presents a novel approach for automated detection of defects and structural changes in GPR data acquired in HMA (Hot Mix Asphalt) road surveys. Unlike the majority of existing approaches for road GPR data processing that are mainly used for extraction of layer profile information, the proposed method focuses on automated identification of significant deviations in subsurface structure and material properties. It is based on the detection of variations in intensity trends of longitudinal lines of interpolated B-scans that are characterized by deviations above a defined threshold. The outputs include mapped defects and deterioration areas together with the locations of detected changes in road structure design.
Foliar Nutrient Distribution Patterns in Sympatric Maple Species Reflect Contrasting Sensitivity to Excess Manganese

Sugar maple and red maple are closely-related co-occurring tree species significant to the North American forest biome. Plant abiotic stress effects including nutritional imbalance and manganese (Mn) toxicity are well documented within this system, and are implicated in enhanced susceptibility to biotic stresses such as insect attack. Both tree species are known to overaccumulate foliar manganese (Mn) when growing on unbuffered acidified soils, however, sugar maple is Mn-sensitive, while red maple is not. Currently there is no knowledge about the cellular sequestration of Mn and other nutrients in these two species. Here, electron-probe x-ray microanalysis was employed to examine cellular and sub-cellular deposition of excessively accumulated foliar Mn and other mineral nutrients in vivo. For both species, excess foliar Mn was deposited in symplastic cellular compartments. There were striking between-species differences in Mn, magnesium (Mg), sulphur (S) and calcium (Ca) distribution patterns. Unusually, Mn was highly co-localised with Mg in mesophyll cells of red maple only. The known sensitivity of sugar maple to excess Mn is likely linked to Mg deficiency in the leaf mesophyll. There was strong evidence that Mn toxicity in sugar maple is primarily a symplastic process. For each species, leaf-surface damage due to biotic stress including insect herbivory was compared between sites with acidified and non-acidified soils. Although it was greatest overall in red maple, there was no difference in biotic stress damage to red maple leaves between acidified and non-acidified soils. Sugar maple trees on buffered non-acidified soil were less damaged by biotic stress compared to those on unbuffered acidified soil, where they are also affected by Mn toxicity abiotic stress. This study concluded that foliar nutrient distribution in symplastic compartments is a determinant of Mn sensitivity, and that Mn stress hinders plant resistance to biotic stress.
Relationship between coping and university adjustment and academic achivement amongst First Year Undergraduates in Malaysian Public University.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between coping efforts amongst first year undergraduates and their university adjustment and academic achievement. 250 first year students attending various undergraduate programs at a Malaysian public university participated in this study. The study employed a correlation design and data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to address the research objectives. Findings from this study showed that there is a significant and positive relationship between students’ coping and their overall university adjustment, academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal-emotional adjustment, students’ attachment to the university, and academic achievement. Results also indicated that throughout a period of one semester, students’ overall adjustment and academic achievement was found to be significantly predicted by their coping strategies.
Genotype analysis of polymorphisms in autoimmune susceptibility genes, CTLA-4 and PTPN22, in an acute anterior uveitis cohort

Purpose Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is the most common form of uveitis and is thought to be autoimmune in nature. Recent studies have described genes that act as master controllers of autoimmunity. Protein tyrosine phosphatase type 22 (PTPN22) and Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) are two of these genes, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes encoding these molecules have been associated with several autoimmune diseases. In this study we have analyzed SNPs in PTPN22 and CTLA-4 in patients with AAU. Methods The functional protein tyrosine phosphatase type 22 (PTPN22) SNP (R620W rs2476601, 1858C/T), and two CTLA-4 SNPs (rs5742909, −318C/T and rs231775, 49A/G) were analyzed in 140 patients with AAU and 92 healthy controls by sequence-specific primer -polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR). Data was analyzed by χ2 analysis and Fisher’s exact test. Results There was no significant association between PTPN22 620W, CTLA-4 −318C/T, or CTLA-4 49A/G and AAU. Similarly, there was no association with the three SNPs when patients were classified by race or gender. Finally, there was no association with the presence of ankylosing spondylitis in the patient cohort. Conclusions The data do not support an association between SNPs in PTPN22 and CTLA-4, genes regarded as genetic master switches of autoimmunity. This raises the issue of the etiology of AAU and the possibility that it should be regarded as an autoinflammatory rather than an autoimmune condition.
Some properties of phloem exudate collected from root of sugar beet.

Much has been written concerning the mechanism and rate of movement of organic solutes in plants. The information concerning the physical properties and the composition of the liquid content of the phloem of plants is limited. The exudate from the sieve tubes of cucurbits has been studied most extensively. Crafts (5) reviewed the earlier literature and made extensive studies ( 1, 2, 3) on the movement of solutes, using the exudate from the sieve tubes of the cucurbits. Crafts and Lorenz (4), after careful microscopic observations, concluded that the exudate from the cucurbits comes from the sieve tubes. This has been accepted by other investigators. After a reexamination of the data and further extensive studies, however, they concluded that the phloem exudate from the cucurbits cannot be considered a true sample of the assimilate stream. These investigators pointed out that the phloem exudate from other species of plants is relatively high in sugars and that possibly the phloem exudate from some of these species might, therefore, be a true sample of the assimilate stream. Under certain conditions which are not well understood. some sugar beet roots will exude sufficient quantities of liquid from the phloem in sufficient quantities for studies on its physical and chemical properties. The only properties of phloem exudate from the sugar beet root that have been reported are the pH and total solids content. Fife and Frampton (6) reported the pH to be near 8.0 and a total solids content of near 11 %. This pH value agrees closely with that reported by Moose (7). In this paper other properties of phloem exudate are reported and these properties are compared with those of juice expressed from the same sugar beet roots and with xylem exudate collected from roots taken at a time when there existed no appreciable positive pressure in the phloem.
Knowing Bodies: A Visual and Poetic Inquiry into the Professoriate.

Through arts-informed research (Cole & Knowles, 2007) I explore visual identity and scholarship. I conversed with and photographed Lisette, Edward, Kris, Todd, William and Theresa, asking “How are your clothing choices determined by your work as a scholar? ” The photographs and transcripts inspired drawings, paintings and poetry. The study confirms that clothes are negotiated expressions of self and visual identity with the body as mediator (Braziel & LeBesco, 2001; Butler, 1993; Davis, 1997; Holliday & Hassard 2001; Shilling, 1993); scholars’ clothing choices are gendered (Butler, 1999; Kirkham, 1996; Sanders, 1996), and female scholars strategize through dress (Kaiser, Chandler & Hammidi, 2001; Green, 2001). The poems and artworks speak of triumph and pain. They provide opportunities to reflect on arts-informed research, the aesthetics of the clothed body, the body and social theory, and the semiotics of clothing. IJEA Vol. 10 No. 8 http://www.ijea. org/v10n8/ 2
A Social Science Perspective on Social Capital: Social Capital and Collective Action

Paper to be presented at the European Research Conference on “Social Capital: Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” Exeter, United Kingdom, September 15-20, 2001. An earlier version of this paper was submitted to the Bundestag – Enquete Commission and a revised version of this paper will appear in a book of readings on social capital being edited by T. K. Ahn and Elinor Ostrom and published by Edward Elgar.
The Relationship between Centaurs and Jupiter Family Comets with Implications for K-Pg-type Impacts

Centaurs—icy bodies orbiting beyond Jupiter and interior to Neptune—are believed to be dynamically related to Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs), which have aphelia near Jupiter's orbit, and perihelia in the inner Solar System. Previous dynamical simulations have recreated the Centaur/JFC conversion, but the mechanism behind that process remains poorly described. We have performed a numerical simulation of Centaur analogues that recreates this process, generating a dataset detailing over 2.6 million close planet/planetesimal interactions. We explore scenarios stored within that database and, from those, describe the mechanism by which Centaur objects are converted into JFCs. Because many JFCs have perihelia in the terrestrial planet region, and since Centaurs are constantly resupplied from the Scattered Disk, the JFCs are an ever-present impact threat.
Performance assessment metrics for software testers

The reliability of delivered software depends on the performance of the individuals responsible for testing it. However, there are currently no standard methods for assessing the performance of software testers, nor even agreement on important assessment criteria. A literature review reveals several different human-centric factors that have been suggested as important. However, the relative importance of these factors is unknown. This paper reports the results of a survey of professional testers indicating their views on the importance of a number of proposed factors. Their views, we believe, will be important in designing a more formal and widely acceptable performance assessment method for software testers.
An Industry in the Making: The Emergence of Institutional Elder Care in Urban China

Demographic shifts in China pose unprecedented challenges in the care of a rapidly growing older population. Sporadic reports suggest the recent emergence of institutional elder care in China, but little is currently known about this phenomenon. This study documents the growth, ownership, financing, staffing, and resident characteristics of elder care institutions using survey data collected in 2009 from Nanjing, China, supplemented with government registry data from seven additional major Chinese cities. Between one‐half and two‐thirds of facilities operating in these cities were founded in the last decade, primarily in the non‐government sector. In Nanjing, government ownership dominated homes built before 1990 (96%) but was increasingly rare in the 1990s (60%) and in the 2000s (23%), a pattern observed in the other seven cities as well. In Nanjing, the average home now draws more than 80% of its daily operating revenues from private‐pay or other non‐government sources, and this share increases sharply with the recency of facility establishment. The majority (85%) of non‐government‐owned homes are receiving ongoing per‐bed subsidies from the government. The lack of clinical staff characterizes the majority of study facilities; most care staff are rural migratory workers. There is considerable variability across facilities in the case‐mix of residents in terms of functional dependence and acuity levels. These findings portray the emergence and rapid growth of a nascent industry of institutional long‐term care in urban China and a fundamental shift in institutional ownership, financing, and clientele.
The Power of Why

Clearly defined and measurable goals are commonly considered prerequisites for effective evaluation. Goal setting, however, presents a paradox to evaluators because it takes place at the interface of rationality and values. The objective of this article is to demonstrate a method for unlocking this paradox by making goal setting a process of evaluating goals, not simply defining them. Goals can be evaluated by asking program stakeholders why their goals are important to them. Systematic inquiry into goals also prepares the ground for setting consensual goals that express what stakeholders really care about. This article describes the method, provides a case illustration, offers guidelines for practice, and discusses the method in the context of the evaluation literature on goals and goal setting.
Fast Gamma Oscillations Are Generated Intrinsically in CA1 without the Involvement of Fast-Spiking Basket Cells

Information processing in neuronal networks relies on the precise synchronization of ensembles of neurons, coordinated by the diverse family of inhibitory interneurons. Cortical interneurons can be usefully parsed by embryonic origin, with the vast majority arising from either the caudal or medial ganglionic eminences (CGE and MGE). Here, we examine the activity of hippocampal interneurons during gamma oscillations in mouse CA1, using an in vitro model where brief epochs of rhythmic activity were evoked by local application of kainate. We found that this CA1 KA-evoked gamma oscillation was faster than that in CA3 and, crucially, did not appear to require the involvement of fast-spiking basket cells. In contrast to CA3, we also found that optogenetic inhibition of pyramidal cells in CA1 did not significantly affect the power of the oscillation, suggesting that excitation may not be essential for gamma genesis in this region. We found that MGE-derived interneurons were generally more active than CGE interneurons during CA1 gamma, although a group of CGE-derived interneurons, putative trilaminar cells, were strongly phase-locked with gamma oscillations and, together with MGE-derived axo-axonic and bistratified cells, provide attractive candidates for being the driver of this locally generated, predominantly interneuron-driven model of gamma oscillations.
A Stacking Gated Neural Architecture for Implicit Discourse Relation Classification

Discourse parsing is considered as one of the most challenging natural language processing (NLP) tasks. Implicit discourse relation clas-siﬁcation is the bottleneck for discourse parsing. Without the guide of explicit discourse connectives, the relation of sentence pairs are very hard to be inferred. This paper proposes a stacking neural network model to solve the classiﬁcation problem in which a convolutional neural network (CNN) is utilized for sentence modeling and a collaborative gated neural network (CGNN) is proposed for feature transformation. Our evaluation and comparisons show that the proposed model outperforms previous state-of-the-art systems.
Epidemiological estimates of Respiratory diseases in the hospital population, Faisalabad, Pakistan.

A cross sectional study was conducted in two types of respiratory patients in hospital population. It was found that tuberculosis (T.B) was the most common type (29.66%) followed by the asthma (28.08%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (11.31%). Average age of diagnosis was 42.15 ± 0.65 years and average age at present 47.99 ± 0.70 years. Age group 51-60 years was more prone to this disease (21.13%). Most of the patients were married (80.06%). The highest representation of patients with respiratory diseases was observed in 1 birth order (30.36%) followed by 2 (26.49%) and 3 (18.45%), while the lowest was in 10 birth order (0.40%). Tuberculosis, asthma and COPD are the most prevalent types of respiratory diseases. Respiratory diseases were more common in males, in first birth order and in people of age group 51-60 years. This disease was more common in married, unemployed, less educated, and lower socioeconomic status people. Socioeconomic status and urban and rural living had a profound effect on the onset of disease.
Risk factors of enterovirus 71 infection and associated hand, foot, and mouth disease/herpangina in children during an epidemic in Taiwan.

OBJECTIVE In 1998, an enterovirus 71 (EV71) epidemic in Taiwan was associated with hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD)/herpangina and involved 78 fatal cases. We measured EV71 seroprevalence rates before and after the epidemic and investigated risk factors associated with EV71 infection and illness. METHODS Neutralizing antibodies to EV71 were assayed for 539 people before the epidemic and 4619 people of similar ages after the epidemic. Questionnaires, which were completed during household interviews after the epidemic, solicited demographic variables, exposure history, and clinical manifestations. RESULTS A total of 129 106 cases of HFMD were reported during the epidemic. Age-specific pre-epidemic EV71 seroprevalence rates were inversely related to age-specific periepidemic mortality rates (r = -0.82) or severe case rates (r = -0.93). Higher postepidemic EV71 seropositive rates among children who were younger than 3 years positively correlated with higher mortality rates in different areas (r = 0.88). After the epidemic, 51 (56%) of 91 younger siblings of elder siblings who were EV71-seropositive were EV71-seropositive; otherwise, 2.2% (4 of 186) of younger siblings were EV71-seropositive (matched odds ratio [OR]: 10; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.4-29). Stepwise multiple logistic regression revealed other factors associated with EV71 infection to be older age (adjusted OR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.9-3.4), attendance at kindergartens/child care centers (adjusted OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.3-2.5), contact with HFMD/herpangina (adjusted OR: 1.6; 95% CI: 1.2-2.1), greater number of children in a family (adjusted OR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.1-1.7), and rural residence (adjusted OR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.2-1.6). Twenty-nine percent of preschool children who were infected with EV71 developed HFMD/herpangina. Younger age and contact with HFMD/herpangina were significant factors for the development of EV71-related HFMD/herpangina in these children. CONCLUSIONS An increased incidence of EV71 infection in young children occurred more often in geographic areas with increased mortality rates. Intrafamilial and kindergarten transmissions among preschool children were major modes of disease transmission during the widespread EV71 epidemic in Taiwan in 1998.
Family and Politics: Does Parental Unemployment Cause Right-Wing Extremism?

Recent years have witnessed a rise in right-wing extremism among German youth and young adults. This paper investigates the extent to which the experience of parental unemployment during childhood affects young people’s far right-wing attitudes and xenophobia. Estimates from three different German data sets show a positive relationship between growing up with unemployed parents and right-wing extremism, with xenophobia in particular. This paper uses differences in unemployment levels between East and West Germany, both before and after reunification, to investigate a causal relationship. Instrumental variables estimates suggest strong and significant effects of parental unemployment on right-wing extremism. This is consistent with classical theories of economic interest and voting behaviour which predict that persons who develop feelings of economic insecurity are more susceptible to right-wing extremism and anti-foreign sentiments.