Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interactions of Multiple Heparin Binding Growth Factors with Neuropilin-1 and Potentiation of the Activity of Fibroblast Growth Factor-2*

The hypothesis that neuropilin-1 (Npn-1) may interact with heparin-binding proteins other than vascular endothelial growth factor has been tested using an optical biosensor-based binding assay. The results show that fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 1, 2, 4, and 7, FGF receptor 1, hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF), FGF-binding protein, normal protease sensitive form of prion protein, antithrombin III, and Npn-1 itself are all able to interact with Npn-1 immobilized on the sensor surface. FGF-2, FGF-4, and HGF/SF are also shown to interact with Npn-1 in a solution assay. Moreover, these protein-protein interactions are dependent on the ionic strength of the medium and are inhibited by heparin, and the kinetics of binding of FGF-2, FGF-4 and HGF/SF to Npn-1 are characterized by fast association rate constants (270,000–1,600,000 m–1 s–1). These results suggest that Npn-1 possesses a “heparin” mimetic site that is able to interact at least in part through ionic bonding with the heparin binding site on many of the proteins studied. Npn-1 was also found to potentiate the growth stimulatory activity of FGF-2 on human umbilical vein endothelial cells, indicating that Npn-1 may not just bind but also regulate the activity of heparin-binding proteins.
Changes in Quantitative EEG and Low Resolution Tomography Following Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation.

The effects of cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) on human EEG and brain current density were evaluated by quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) and low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). A total of 72 research subjects were provided with a single session of CES, 38 were provided with 0.5 Hz CES while 34 were provided with 100 Hz CES. The qEEG paired t-tests revealed that in both frequencies of CES there was a significant (.05) increase in alpha relative power with concomitant decreases in delta and beta relative power. The 0.5 Hz CES decreased a wider frequency range of delta activity, while the 100 Hz CES decreased a wider frequency range of beta activity; suggesting some difference may exist in the EEG response to different frequencies of CES. The changes found in qEEG relative power were consistent with the affective and cognitive effects of CES reported in the literature, such as increased relaxation and decreased anxiety. Statistically significant changes for qEEG values other than relative power, such as coherence, amplitude asymmetry, phase lag and power ratios were also found. The LORETA paired t-tests found statistically significant (.05) increases in cortical and subcortical theta and alpha frequency current density with concomitant decreases in delta and beta current density. The effects of CES on current density varied by frequency, but did not show a differential in response based on proximity to the contacts, or structures within the brain. Statistically significant changes in current density were found in all 2394 gray matter voxels represented by LORETA, indicating a whole brain response to the CES stimulus. The qEEG and LORETA findings revealed that a single 20-minute session of CES does have a significant effect on the cortical and subcortical activity of the human brain resulting in activity consistent with decreased anxiety and increased relaxation.
Residential Mobilities and House Building in Rural Ireland: Evidence from Three Case Studies

This article focuses on rural mobility and rural housing using three case studies in Ireland. It is argued that while rural change and rural in-migration have been in the spotlight in academic literature, there has been a very limited interlinking between rural mobilities and population movements and spatial planning and housing research. This is surprising given the current policy framework in local and regional spatial planning, which in many cases adopts narratives of counter-urbanisation. This article investigates the extent and types of rural residential mobility, including counter-urbanisation, rural-to-rural migration and local movements. Then, it examines the reasons driving residential mobility and finally it explores the relationship between mobility and new house building in rural areas. The article concludes that an understanding of rural mobilities is necessary for planning and housing policy, in not only providing background information for an evidence-based approach in policy making, but also in exploring new policy interventions when dealing with rural housing demands.
Equality Is Bliss? Relationship Quality and the Gender Division of Household Labor

How does gender equality in the division of household labor correlate with relationship quality? Earlier research has pointed to the division of routine housework as a “zero-sum game”: Women gain in terms of relationship quality when housework is shared equally, while men lose. I find weak support for a “zero-sum game” logic in the case of Norway, possibly related to the strong influence of gender egalitarian norms in Norwegian society. For men, equality in the sharing of routine housework is associated with less dissatisfaction with the division of household labor than all other sharing arrangements. Compared with taking no or little part in such housework, men who do as much routine housework as their partner score equally well on an index for relationship quality. While women’s relationship quality deteriorates the larger their share of intermittent work (doing small repairs) is, there is no clear pattern among men.
Circulating MicroRNA‐188, ‐30a, and ‐30e as Early Biomarkers for Contrast‐Induced Acute Kidney Injury

Background Contrast‐induced acute kidney injury (CI‐AKI) is typically defined by an increase in serum creatinine after intravascular administration of contrast medium. Because creatinine is an unreliable indicator of acute changes in kidney function, we assessed whether circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) could serve as biomarkers for early detection of CI‐AKI. Methods and Results Using a rat model of CI‐AKI, we first evaluated the miRNA profile of rat plasma and kidney. Three miRNA species with >1.5‐fold increase in plasma samples of CI‐AKI rats, including miRNA‐188, miRNA‐30a, and miRNA‐30e, were selected as candidate miRNAs. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction showed that these candidate miRNAs peaked in concentration around 4 hours after contrast medium exposure and were relatively renal‐specific. We compared the plasma levels of these candidate miRNAs in 71 patients who underwent coronary angiography or percutaneous coronary intervention and developed CI‐AKI with those of 71 matched controls. The plasma levels of the 3 candidate miRNAs were significantly elevated in the CI‐AKI group as compared to the control group. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that these miRNAs significantly distinguished patients with CI‐AKI from those without CI‐AKI. MiRNA composites were highly accurate for CI‐AKI prediction, as shown in maximized specificity by treble‐positive miRNA composite or maximized Youden index by any‐positive miRNA composite. Moreover, the selected miRNAs changes were associated with Mehran Risk Scores. Conclusions Plasma levels of candidate miRNAs significantly distinguished patients with CI‐AKI from those without CI‐AKI. Thus, miRNAs are potential biomarkers for early detection of CI‐AKI.
Social, Emotional, Ethical, and Academic Education: Creating a Climate for Learning, Participation in Democracy, and Well-Being.

In this article, Jonathan Cohen argues that the goals of education need to be reframed to prioritize not only academic learning, but also social, emotional, and ethical competencies. Surveying the current state of research in the fields of socialemotional education, character education, and school-based mental health in the United States, Cohen suggests that social-emotional skills, knowledge, and dispositions provide the foundation for participation in a democracy and improved quality of life. Cohen discusses contemporary best practices and policy in relation to creating safe and caring school climates, home-school partnerships, and a pedagogy informed by social-emotional and ethical concerns. He also emphasizes the importance of scientifically sound measures of social-emotional and ethical learning, and advocates for action research partnerships between researchers and practioners to develop authentic methods of evaluation. Cohen notes the gulf that exists between the evidence- based guidelines for soci.
Why Does Constructed Action Seem Obligatory? An Analysis of Classifiers and the Lack of Articulator-Referent Correspondence

This article explores constructed action (a signer's use of various parts of their body—such as the head, torso, and eyegaze—to depict the actions of a character) and why it appears to be an obligatory accompaniment to some so-called "classifier" (or polycomponential) signs. It is posited that constructed action is used to depict aspects of animate entities because polycomponential signs cannot capture such information, in a simultaneous fashion, on their own. In particular, the conventionalization of entity polycomponential signs, the number and shape of articulators in polycomponential signs, and motoric constraints for polycomponential sign production appear to be factors that could influence the use of constructed action. As such, constructed action appears to be a complementary strategy to the use of polycomponential signs (and perhaps other types of signs and signed language grammar) for communication. Possible reasons for the robustness of constructed action are offered.
Screening clients in a decriminalised street-based sex industry: Insights into the experiences of New Zealand sex workers

This article explores the screening practices employed by sex workers to negotiate risks of violence from clients while working on the streets in New Zealand. Drawing from qualitative interviews with 28 street-working women, this article provides an insight into the strategies used to screen for danger when individuals approach as potential clients. In this article, I outline the nature of screening strategies described by the women interviewed, and discuss the broader meaning and purpose of these techniques in the context of mainstream representations of street-based sex work. The significance of the decriminalisation of street-based sex work on the screening strategies the women described is discussed and I argue that this legislative framework simplifies the process of screening and better supports the safety and wellbeing of sex workers.
ENHANCING PROGRAM COMPLETION RATES AMONG TWO-YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS OF COLOR

The growing proportion of students of color enrolled in postsecondary education makes the ongoing issue of their retention and program completion an increasingly important concern in higher education. Survey data from a national study of chief student affairs officers (CSAOs) on retention barriers and strategies were merged with 1995 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Survey Data. A regression analysis was conducted to identify the significant predictors of program completion rates for students of color at 573 two-year colleges. An institution's program completion rate for students of color was used as a proxy measure for its success in retaining students of color. Demographic and institutional characteristics that entered as predictors included having a CSAO of color and being a two-year college in a large city. Retention strategies that entered as predictors included having individuals of color serve on the board of trustees and having minority peer tutoring programs. The percentages of faculty and administrators of color, and the amount of contact that CSAOs have with students of color, entered as the strongest predictors. Two-year colleges reap the benefit of faculty-student and peer interactions in the form of greater institutional success in increasing their program completion rates for students of color. Two-year college policy makers, administrators, and faculty can use the results of this study to promote equity and maximize talent development by designing and implementing retention policies and practices that enhance program completion rates for students of color.
Endowment Structure, Industrial Dynamics, and Economic Growth

A growth model is developed to explain how the improvement in the endowment structure leads to industrial evolution in a closed developing economy. On the balanced growth path industries will endogenously upgrade toward the more capital-intensive ones in a continuous inverse-V-shaped pattern: As the capital-labor ratio reaches a certain threshold, a new industry appears, prospers, then declines and eventually replaced by a more capital-intensive industry, which also waxes and wanes in the same pattern, ad infinitum. Explicit solutions are obtained to fully characterize the whole dynamics of perpetual structural change and economic growth. Implications for industrial policies are discussed.
Social Anxiety and Holistic Cognition

Previous cultural psychological studies suggest that East Asians tend to think more holistically than Westerners and that these cultural differences in cognition are accounted for, in part, by psychological processes associated with a predominant social orientation of the self as independent in the West and as interdependent in the East. In addition to examining these self-construal variables as predictors of holistic cognition, the current study also examined the role that a self-focused manifestation of social anxiety (social phobia tendencies) common in the United States and the role that an other-focused manifestation of social anxiety (taijin kyofusho, or TKS tendencies) common in Japan play in holistic cognition. Samples of 142 Japanese and 125 Americans completed an instrument that measures degree of skill in holistic cognition and then completed measures of self-construal, social phobia, and TKS. The current study found that, in unpackaging cultural differences in holistic cognition, social phobia tendencies, given their self-focused nature, were associated with decreased levels of holistic cognition while TKS tendencies, given their other-focused nature, were associated with increased levels of holistic cognition. Thus, holistic cognition served as an important basic cognitive feature which distinguishes between the two culturally divergent versions of social anxiety. Furthermore, independent self-construal was found to be more strongly associated with the self-focused component of social anxiety while interdependent self-construal was only associated with the other-focused component of social anxiety.
Human Paraoxonase Gene Cluster Transgenic Overexpression Represses Atherogenesis and Promotes Atherosclerotic Plaque Stability in ApoE-Null Mice

The paraoxonase (PON) gene cluster consists of the PON1, PON2, and PON3 genes, each of which can individually inhibit atherogenesis. To analyze the functions of the PON gene cluster (PC) in atherogenesis and plaque stability, human PC transgenic (Tg) mice were generated using bacterial artificial chromosome. The high-density lipoprotein from Tg mice exhibited increased paraoxonase activity. When crossed to the ApoE-null background and challenged by high-fat diet, PC Tg/ApoE-null mice formed significantly fewer atherosclerotic lesions. However overexpression of the PC transgene had no additive effect on atherosclerosis compared to the overexpression of the single PON1 or PON3 transgene. Plaques from PC Tg/ApoE-null mice exhibited increased levels of collagen and smooth muscle cells, and reduced levels of macrophages and lipid, compared with those from ApoE-null mice, indicating lesions of PC Tg/ApoE-null mice had characteristics of more stable plaques than those of ApoE-null mice. PC transgene enhanced high-density lipoprotein ability to protect low-density lipoprotein against oxidation in vitro. Serum intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 were also repressed by PC transgene. Proatherogenic reactions of Tg mouse peritoneal macrophages induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein were inhibited by PC transgene, as indicated by reduced reactive oxygen species generation, inflammation, matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression, and foam cell formation. Our results demonstrate that the PC transgene not only represses atherogenesis but also promotes atherosclerotic plaque stability in vivo. PC may therefore be a useful target for atherosclerosis treatment.
Lactobacillus Reuteri for the prevention of necrotising enterocolitis in very low birthweight infants: a randomised controlled trial

Objective To evaluate the effect of oral Lactobacillus reuteri (L reuteri) first on the incidence and severity of Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) and second on sepsis. Design Prospective randomised controlled study. Setting Tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. Patients and interventions Preterm infants with a gestational age of ≤32 weeks and a birth weight of ≤1500 g were included (n=400). Infants in the first group were given 100 million CFU/day (5 drops) of lyophilised L reuteri (DSM 17938) mixed in breast milk or formula, starting from first feeding until discharge. Participants in the control group were given a placebo. Main outcome measures To determine and compare the frequency of NEC and/or death after 7 days, frequency of proven sepsis, rates of feeding intolerance and duration of hospital stay. Results There was no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of frequency of NEC stage ≥2 (4% vs 5%; p=0.63) or overall NEC or mortality rates (10% vs 13.5%; p=0.27). Frequency of proven sepsis was significantly lower in the probiotic group compared to the control group (6.5% vs 12.5%; p=0.041). A significant difference was also observed with regard to rates of feeding intolerance (28% vs 39.5%; p=0.015) and duration of hospital stay (38 (10–131) vs 46 (10–180) days; p=0.022). Conclusions Our results show that oral L reuteri does not seem to affect the overall rates of NEC and/or death in preterm infants followed up in the neonatal intensive care unit, and significant reductions were observed in the frequency of proven sepsis, rates of feeding intolerance and duration of hospital stay. Trial registration number NCT01531179.
The Effects of a Picture Activity Schedule for Students With Intellectual Disability to Complete a Sequence of Tasks Following Verbal Directions

We investigated instruction of independent creation of picture activity schedules (PASs) and how four middle school students with intellectual disability used them to complete tasks independently. A withdrawal design (A-BC-B-A-B) was used to evaluate whether the intervention had an effect on the dependent variable and to test for generalization to a community setting in a pre/post format. After instruction on the PAS, participants learned to self-manage a strategy that served as a reminder for the tasks they needed to complete. All participants exhibited increased abilities to complete a sequence of three or five tasks following verbal directions when using the PAS as compared with the conditions where no PAS was utilized. In addition, these results generalized to the community setting of a mall food court. Our findings have implications for enhancing the independent functioning of individuals with intellectual disability and reducing reliance on others, with the potential for greater levels of self-determination.
Bovine Ephemeral Fever Rhabdovirus α1 Protein Has Viroporin-Like Properties and Binds Importin β1 and Importin 7

ABSTRACT Bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) is an arthropod-borne rhabdovirus that is classified as the type species of the genus Ephemerovirus. In addition to the five canonical rhabdovirus structural proteins (N, P, M, G, and L), the large and complex BEFV genome contains several open reading frames (ORFs) between the G and L genes (α1, α2/α3, β, and γ) encoding proteins of unknown function. We show that the 10.5-kDa BEFV α1 protein is expressed in infected cells and, consistent with previous predictions based on its structure, has the properties of a viroporin. Expression of a BEFV α1-maltose binding protein (MBP) fusion protein in Escherichia coli was observed to inhibit cell growth and increase membrane permeability to hygromycin B. Increased membrane permeability was also observed in BEFV-infected mammalian cells (but not cells infected with an α1-deficient BEFV strain) and in cells expressing a BEFV α1-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein, which was shown by confocal microscopy to localize to the Golgi complex. Furthermore, the predicted C-terminal cytoplasmic domain of α1, which contains a strong nuclear localization signal (NLS), was translocated to the nucleus when expressed independently, and in an affinity chromatography assay employing a GFP trap, the full-length α1 was observed to interact specifically with importin β1 and importin 7 but not with importin α3. These data suggest that, in addition to its function as a viroporin, BEFV α1 may modulate components of nuclear trafficking pathways, but the specific role thereof remains unclear. IMPORTANCE Although rhabdovirus accessory genes occur commonly among arthropod-borne rhabdoviruses, little is known of their functions. Here, we demonstrate that the BEFV α1 ORF encodes a protein which has the structural and functional characteristics of a viroporin. We show that α1 localizes in the Golgi complex and increases cellular permeability. We also show that BEFV α1 binds importin β1 and importin 7, suggesting that it may have a yet unknown role in modulating nuclear trafficking. This is the first functional analysis of an ephemerovirus accessory protein and of a rhabdovirus viroporin.
Synergistic effect of aqueous extract of Telfaria occidentalis on the biological activities of artesunate in Plasmodium berghei infected mice.

BACKGROUND Resistance to most antimalarial drugs has encouraged the use of herbal preparations along with prescribed orthodox drugs. OBJECTIVE To investigate effect of co-administration of aqueous extract of T. occidentalis leaves; commonly used as antimalarial and haematinic agent in Nigeria and artesunate using P. berghei animal model. METHODS In vivo curative antiplasmodial effect of T. occidentalis (200mg/kg) alone and combination with artesunate (2mg/kg) were evaluated using albino mice infected with 10(6) parasitized erythrocytes of P. berghei intraperitoneally. The haematological parameters: haemoglobin level, red blood cells and white blood cells and packed cell volume were monitored using standard methods. RESULTS Aqueous extract of T. occidentalis, artesunate and the combination gave 72.17±4.07%, 70.43± 4.27% and 85.43±3.65% reduction in parasitaemia after 48hours respectively. A significant enhancement of the PCV was obtained with the coadministration of artesunate and aqueous extract (p< 0.01). Similar trends were also observed with heamatological parameters at 72hours of administration. CONCLUSION This study revealed a synergistic effect of the co-administration on parasite clearance rate of P. berghei infection in mice, with a significant enhancement of haematological parameters within 48 hours of administration. This indicates a rapid rate of recovery from plasmodial infections with the co-administration.
Hemispherectomy: Indications, Surgical Techniques, Complications, andOutcome

Surgical removal of a pathological, almost non-functional cerebral hemisphere is a relatively old concept in neurosurgery [1]. The evolution of hemispheric surgery from resection to disconnection techniques, along with a number of technological advances (light microscope, microneurosurgical tools, magnetic resonance imaging, neuro-navigation) resulted into significantly faster and less invasive procedures [2,3]. These improvements in association with prompt candidate selection resulted into further reduction of the procedureassociated mortality and morbidity [2-4]. Nowadays, hemispheric surgery techniques remain a viable treatment option for carefully selected, especially pediatric patients suffering from medically intractable, catastrophic epilepsy [5,6].