Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Pretreatment Interstitial Lung Disease on Radiation Pneumonitis and Survival after Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Lung Cancer

Introduction: To investigate the impact of pre-existing radiological interstitial lung disease (ILD) findings on the incidence of radiation pneumonitis (RP) and clinical outcomes after stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for stage I non–small-cell lung cancer. Methods: We included 157 consecutive patients who underwent SBRT alone for stage I non–small-cell lung cancer and whose pretreatment lung computed tomography images were available for retrospective review. The pretreatment computed tomography images were evaluated retrospectively for the presence of ILD. The incidence of RP, overall survival (OS) rate, and the incidence of disease progression and local progression were evaluated between patients with ILD (ILD[+]) and without ILD (ILD[−]). Results: Pre-existing ILD was identified in 20 patients. The median follow-up period was 39.5 months. The incidences of RP worse than grade 2 (≥ Gr2 RP) and worse than grade 3 (≥ Gr3 RP) were significantly higher in ILD(+) than ILD(−) (1 year ≥ Gr2 RP rate, 55.0% versus 13.3%; p < 0.001 and 1year ≥ Gr3 RP rate 10.0% versus 1.5%; p = 0.020). Multivariate analysis also indicated that ILD(+) was a risk factor for ≥ Gr2 and ≥ Gr3 RP, and the volume of the irradiated lung. The OS rate tended to be worse in ILD(+) than ILD(−) (3-year OS, 53.8% versus 70.8%; p = 0.28). No difference was observed in the disease progression or local progression rates. Conclusions: Pre-existing ILD was a significant risk factor for symptomatic and severe RP. Prescreening for ILD findings is important for determining the radiation pneumonitis risk when planning SBRT.
Functional Characterization and Localization of a Bacillus subtilis Sortase and Its Substrate and Use of This Sortase System To Covalently Anchor a Heterologous Protein to the B. subtilis Cell Wall for Surface Display

ABSTRACT Sortases catalyze the covalent anchoring of proteins to the cell surface on Gram-positive bacteria. Bioinformatic analysis suggests the presence of structural genes encoding sortases and their substrates in the Bacillus subtilis genome. In this study, a β-lactamase reporter was fused to the cell wall anchoring domain from a putative sortase substrate, YhcR. Covalent anchoring of this fusion protein to the cell wall was confirmed by using the eight-protease-deficient B. subtilis strain WB800 as the host. Inactivation of yhcS abolished the cell wall anchoring reaction. The amounts of fusion protein anchored to the cell wall were proportional to the levels of YhcS. These data demonstrate that YhcS and YhcR are the sortase and sortase substrate, respectively, in B. subtilis. Furthermore, yhcS is not essential for the survival of B. subtilis under the cultivation condition tested. YhcR fusions were distributed helically in the lateral cell wall. Interestingly, when viewed with an epifluorescence microscope, YhcS also appeared to form short helical arcs. This is the first report to illustrate such distribution of sortases in a rod-shaped bacterium. Models for the spatial distribution of both the sortase and its substrate are discussed. The amount of the reporters displayed on the surface was unambiguously quantified via a unique strategy. Under optimal conditions with the overproduction of YhcS, 47,300 YhcR fusions could be displayed per cell. Displayed reporters were biologically functional and surface accessible. Characterization of the sortase-substrate system allowed the successful development of a YhcR-based covalent surface display system. This system may have various biotechnological applications.
The Elusive Promise of NGOs in Africa: Lessons from Uganda

Uganda, after some thirty years of violent strife and civil war, has staged a remarkable recovery since 1986 when President Museveni took power. He brought peace and security to the major part of the country, although he still faces armed opposition in the extreme north and sporadic raids in the east. He re-established the rule of law, and the economy has seen a satisfactory growth record in recent years. His government is still essentially backed by the military but several of the main elements of democracy have been built up, with presidential and parliamentary elections, free speech and a free press. However, the one major element that is lacking is the freedom of political parties to play an open role in a democratic state; they are meant to be subsumed in Museveni’s ‘Movement’ with an all-embracing membership. This system was confirmed by the voters in a national referendum recently, but the pressures for change are increasing rapidly.
Class identification of married working women: a critical replication of Ritter and

This paper reports on an analysis of the subjective class identification of married women in paid employment, based on the People in Society Survey data-base; in part it replicates earlier American work by Ritter and Hargens (1975). The overall conclusion is that the occupational class of these women is not an important determinant of their self-assigned class, but that educational variables tend to be, if anything, more important than husband's occupational class. Considerable doubt is cast on the utility of cross-sectional data to tackle questions such as these at all, because education, jobs and 'class of marriage' are integrally inter-related and therefore confounded variables.
The Contribution of Orbitofrontal Cortex to Action Selection

Abstract: A number of recent findings suggest that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) influences action selection by providing information about the incentive value of behavioral goals or outcomes. However, much of this evidence has been derived from experiments using Pavlovian conditioning preparations of one form or another, making it difficult to determine whether the OFC is selectively involved in stimulus–outcome learning or whether it plays a more general role in processing reward value. Although many theorists have argued that these are fundamentally similar processes (i.e., that stimulus‐reward learning provides the basis for choosing between actions based on anticipated reward value), several behavioral findings indicate that they are, in fact, dissociable. We have recently investigated the role of the OFC in the control of free operant lever pressing using tests that independently target the effect of stimulus–outcome learning and outcome devaluation on performance. We found that OFC lesions disrupted the tendency of Pavlovian cues to facilitate instrumental performance but left intact the suppressive effects of outcome devaluation. Rather than processing goal value, therefore, we hypothesize that the contribution of the OFC to goal‐directed action is limited to encoding predictive stimulus–outcome relationships that can bias instrumental response selection.
Factors Associated with College Coping among High-Achieving Scholarship Recipients from Adverse Backgrounds

Background/Context Studies have shown that students from low-income backgrounds are particularly at risk of not succeeding in college and that, once in college, students from the lowest socioeconomic groups complete college at a fraction the rate of student from the highest socioeconomic groups. College presents unique challenges for students from adverse backgrounds. To adequately support such students in college, we must first understand the kinds of programs and support services that enable students from adverse backgrounds to cope with stressors encountered during college. Purpose/Objective The purpose of the study was to improve understanding of the factors that enable students from adverse backgrounds to cope with the college environment in pursuit of a bachelor's degree. The analyses addressed the following research questions: (1) Among students from adverse backgrounds, do the services and supports encountered during college enhance their ability to positively cope with the college environment ? (2) Are the associations between college services and supports, and positively coping with the college environment conditional on gender, identifying as a student of color, year in college, or level of adversity experienced prior to college? Research Design The study utilized multivariate regression techniques to analyze survey data. The first analytic stage involved regressing each of the three Coping with the College Environment Scales on distinct blocks of variables. The second analytic stage tested for conditional effects by gender, identifying as a student of color, the number of adversities experienced prior to college, and HAA Scholarship application year as a proxy for year of initial college entry. Conclusions/Recommendations The study's main findings include: having a mentor while in college as well as during high school had a positive influence on college coping; self-efficacy significantly and positively influenced all three dimensions of coping with the college environment; and several relationships differed between females (vs. males) and first-year (vs. other) students. Overall, the study responds to calls for additional research in this arena, builds on the literature on college coping, readiness and success, and extends previous validation research on dimensions of coping with college through analysis of a robust sample of college students. The study reaffirms the importance of college scholarship programs in providing researchers a lens through which to study and learn from unique populations of students.
A crustal model of the ultrahigh‐pressure Dabie Shan orogenic belt, China, derived from deep seismic refraction profiling

We present a new crustal cross section through the east-west trending ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) Dabie Shan orogenic belt, east central China, based on a 400- km-long seismic refraction profile. Data from our profile reveal that the cratonal blocks north and south of the orogen are composed of 35-km-thick crust consisting of three layers (upper, middle, and lower crust) with average seismic velocities of 6.0 6 0.2 km/s, 6.5 6 0.1 km/s, and 6.8 6 0.1 km/s. The crust reaches a maximum thickness of 41.5 km beneath the northern margin of the orogen, and thus the present-day root beneath the orogen is only 6.5 km thick. The upper mantle velocity is 8.0 6 0.1 km/s. Modeling of shear wave data indicate that Poisson's ratio increases from 0.24 6 0.02 in the upper crust to 0.27 6 0.03 in the lower crust. This result is consistent with a dominantly felsic upper crustal composition and a mafic lower crustal composition within the amphibolite or granulite metamorphic facies. Our seismic model indicates that eclogite, which is abundant in surface exposures within the orogen, is not a volumetrically significant component in the middle or lower crust. Much of the Triassic structure associated with the formation of the UHP rocks of the Dabie Shan has been obscured by post-Triassic igneous activity, extension and large-offset strike-slip faulting. Nevertheless, we can identify a high-velocity (6.3 km/s) zone in the upper (,5 km depth) crustal core of the orogen which we interpret as a zone of ultrahigh-pressure rocks, a north dipping suture, and an apparent Moho offset that marks a likely active strike-slip fault.
Racial and Ethnic Differences in Reported Criminal Justice Referral at Treatment Admission

Abstract In the U.S. and elsewhere, the criminal justice system is a frequent referral source for substance abuse treatment admission. To expand and improve pathways to treatment, outreach efforts need additional information about different demographic groups. Locally, clinicians observed racial and ethnic differences between minority groups in self-identifying criminal justice as the referral sources for admission. To test this clinical observation, reported criminal justice referral was examined by race/ethnicity and gender in multiple years of both national and local treatment admissions. Confirming the clinical observations, racial/ethnic referral source by gender systematically differed across years nationally (p < .001) and in an examination of verbatim recorded presenting problems locally (p < .001). African Americans and Puerto Ricans were less likely to have criminal justice referral sources than the White reference group, whereas American Indians, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, and other Hispanic ethnicities were more likely to have criminal justice referral sources. Racial/ethnic groups systematically differed in reported criminal justice involvement, suggesting hypotheses potentially impacting clinical treatment and outreach. Published primary referral sources may underestimate criminal justice involvement in treatment admissions.
Behavioral and Electrophysiological Experiments Suggest That the Antennular Outer Flagellum Is the Site of Pheromone Reception in the Male Helmet Crab Telmessus cheiragonus

Sexually competent females of Telmessus cheiragonus (helmet crab) release two pheromones that elicit grasping and copulation behaviors in males (Kamio et al., 2000, 2002, 2003). Our study aimed to use behavioral and electrophysiological techniques to identify the site of reception of these sex pheromones. In behavioral experiments, either the inner or the outer flagella of the antennules were ablated bilaterally from male crabs, and responses of male crabs to female odor were examined. When the inner flagella were surgically ablated, the sexual response (i.e., grasping and copulation behavior) of male crabs was not significantly changed relative to control animals that had their second antennae ablated. In contrast, the sexual response was significantly reduced when the outer flagella of the antennules were ablated, suggesting that the outer flagellum is the receptor organ that detects the sex pheromones. In electrophysiological experiments, urine, which in females contains the pheromone that elicits grasping behavior by males but does not contain the pheromone eliciting copulation, whose release site is not known, was tested. Female and male urine as well as shrimp extract evoked phasic responses of chemosensory afferents innervating aesthetasc sensilla on the outer flagellum of male crabs. The response of the afferents had significantly higher magnitude and lower threshold when female urine was applied. Thus, behavioral and electrophysiological observations suggest that in male helmet crabs, the outer flagellum of the antennule is the chemosensory organ that detects female sex pheromone.
Adhesion of perfume-filled microcapsules to model fabric surfaces

Abstract The retention and adhesion of melamine formaldehyde (MF) microcapsules on a model fabric surface in aqueous solution were investigated using a customised flow chamber technique and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A cellulose film was employed as a model fabric surface. Modification of the cellulose with chitosan was found to increase the retention and adhesion of microcapsules on the model fabric surface. The AFM force–displacement data reveal that bridging forces resulting from the extension of cellulose chains dominate the adhesion between the microcapsule and the unmodified cellulose film, whereas electrostatic attraction helps the microcapsules adhere to the chitosan-modified cellulose film. The correlation between results obtained using these two complementary techniques suggests that the flow chamber device can be potentially used for rapid screening of the effect of chemical modification on the adhesion of microparticles to surfaces, reducing the time required to achieve an optimal formulation.
Synapsin I (protein I), a nerve terminal-specific phosphoprotein. I. Its general distribution in synapses of the central and peripheral nervous system demonstrated by immunofluorescence in frozen and plastic sections

Synapsin I (formerly referred to as protein I) is the collective name for two almost identical phosphoproteins, synapsin Ia and synapsin Ib (protein Ia and protein Ib), present in the nervous system. Synapsin I has previously been shown by immunoperoxidase studies (De Camilli, P., T. Ueda, F. E. Bloom, E. Battenberg, and P. Greengard, 1979, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 76:5977-5981; Bloom, F. E., T. Ueda, E. Battenberg, and P. Greengard, 1979, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76:5982- 5986) to be a neuron-specific protein, present in both the central and peripheral nervous systems and concentrated in the synaptic region of nerve cells. In those preliminary studies, the occurrence of synapsin I could be demonstrated in only a portion of synapses. We have now carried out a detailed examination of the distribution of synapsin I immunoreactivity in the central and peripheral nervous systems. In this study we have attempted to maximize the level of resolution of immunohistochemical light microscopy images in order to estimate the proportion of immunoreactive synapses and to establish their precise distribution. Optimal results were obtained by the use of immunofluorescence in semithin sections (approximately 1 micron) prepared from Epon-embedded nonosmicated tissues after the Epon had been removed. Our results confirm the previous observations on the specific localization of synapsin I in nerve cells and synapses. In addition, the results strongly suggest that, with a few possible exceptions involving highly specialized neurons, all synapses contain synapsin I. Finally, immunocytochemical experiments indicate that synapsin I appearance in the various regions of the developing nervous system correlates topographically and temporally with the appearance of synapses. In two accompanying papers (De Camilli, P., S. M. Harris, Jr., W. B. Huttner, and P. Greengard, and Huttner, W. B., W. Schiebler, P. Greengard, and P. De Camilli, 1983, J. Cell Biol. 96:1355-1373 and 1374-1388, respectively), evidence is presented that synapsin I is specifically associated with synaptic vesicles in nerve endings.
SEAL: A Domain-Specific Language for Novice Wireless Sensor Network Programmers

A lot of the prospective wireless sensor network users are novice programmers. Their experience in general-purpose programming languages is either limited or completely nonexistent. There are both financial and scientific incentives to empower these users and allow them to write sensor network applications on their own, rather than having to rely on a qualified computer science professional. We present SEAL, a sensor network programming language designed for novice programmers. SEAL manages to avoid computer science concepts that are hard to grasp for novices, while remaining suitable for typical sensor network application scenarios. The language is extensible in application-specific way, has easy-to-learn syntax and allows to implement common sensor network tasks by writing compact, readable code. It is also shown to have high run-time efficiency.
Hypoglycemic Activity and Antioxidative Stress of Extracts and Corymbiferin from Swertia bimaculata In Vitro and In Vivo

The present study was to investigate the anti-diabetic activities of Swertia bimaculata. Based on the glucose consumption of S. bimaculata extractsand different fractions (petroleum, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water extracts) in 3T3-L1 adipocyte assay, ethanol (ETH) and dichloromethane (DTH) extracts had the most effective potency. Furthermore, ETH, DTH and corymbiferin (the most abundant component of DTH) were evaluated for anti-diabetic effects in high fat and sucrose fed combined with low dose streptozocin induced diabetic rats. DTH and corymbiferin displayed remarkable anti-diabetic activities. The fasting blood glucose levels were significantly decreased, while the serum insulin levels were obviously increased. The oral glucose tolerance was also improved. The lowed serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglyceride levels and increased ratio of HDL (high density lipoprotein)/LDL were observed. The insulin sensitivity was improved on the basis of increased expressions of insulin-receptor substrate-2, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and Ser/Thr kinase AKT2. And also DTH and corymbiferin improved antioxidant capacity and carbohydrate metabolism in diabetic rats, along with the improvement of histopathology of livers and pancreatic β cells. Corymbiferin was one of active constituents, responsible for anti-diabetic properties. Therefore, S. bimaculata could be considered as an alternative agent against diabetes mellitus.
Correlation between circulating endothelial cell counts and plasma thrombomodulin levels as markers for endothelial damage

Summary Increased numbers of circulating endothelial cells (CEC) in peripheral blood have been observed in diseases with vascular involvement, and are considered a promising surrogate marker for vascular damage. It was the objective of this study to evaluate the correlation between putative soluble markers of endothelial injury, activation, and endothelial proliferation, and absolute numbers of CEC. CEC were evaluated in 125 healthy donors and 40 patients with metastatic carcinoma by automated CD146 driven immunomagnetic isolation. Plasma concentrations of E-selectin, endoglin, and thrombomodulin were assessed by ELISA in plasma obtained from 40 healthy donors and 40 patients. CEC numbers in blood were positively correlated with plasma thrombomodulin levels, but not with levels of E-se-lectin and endoglin. Multivariate analysis demonstrated a significant increase in CEC numbers with age. The levels of plasma biomarkers were not influenced by age. Higher levels of thrombomodulin and E-selectin were observed in males when compared to females. In conclusion, CEC numbers correlate positively with plasma levels of thrombomodulin.
Hematological values and their assessment as risk factor in Saudi patients with stroke

The retrospective analysis of hematological data on 500 consecutive Saudi patients (342; 158F) (mean age 63 + 17 yrs) with stroke whose composition was: large infarctions 260 (52%); lacunar infarctions 121 (24.2%), intracerebral hemorrhage 107 (21.2%) and subarachnoid hemorrhage 12 (2.4%), showed that RBC (5.2 + 1.9 × 1012/L), Hb (143 + 21 g/l) and Hct (0.43 + 0.07 1/1) values were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in patients with large, infarctions as compared to other types of strokes. In both male and female groups of patients, the most likely stroke prone age was 61 to 70 years and interestingly the levels of above three parameters increased or dropped after a certain age. The highest values were in the 61‐70 yr age group with men being higher than women (P<0.001). The overall mortality rate was about 20 %, but it was higher in the group of patients with large infarction (63/260; 24.3%). Of these 13 were below the age of 60 years and the remaining 50 aged > 60 included 28 patients (20M;8F) who had Hb > 140 g/l suggesting that Hb > 150 g/L or Hct > 0.44 in men and > 140 g/l or Hct> 0.42 in women is probably a risk factor for having cerebral infarctions and increased mortality. Since this study is neither a cohort nor prospective and was not performed in the acute phase, it was difficult to ascertain if relative polycythemia was a primary event for stroke or was secondary to dehydration in which Saudi hot weather may be a contributory factor.
Social inclusion and altruism: empirical evidence from juvenile rehabilitation in Italy

Social inclusion is a multidimensional phenomenon that involves social, political, and economic aspects of individuals' life. While social inclusion is a priority of the European Agenda 2020, little is known about individuals' preferences for social inclusion and its relationship with altruism. We exploit the marked cultural and socio-economic differences between North and South of Italy to investigate the relationship between people's preferences for the social inclusion of juvenile offenders and parental and non-parental altruism using a unique and large household survey. Between North and South of Italy, we do not find policy relevant differences in terms of social inclusion but, interestingly, we find that the altruistic motives are significantly different.