Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collagen type I and type V are present in the same fibril in the avian corneal stroma

The distribution, supramolecular form, and arrangement of collagen types I and V in the chicken embryo corneal stroma were studied using electron microscopy, collagen type-specific monoclonal antibodies, and a preembedding immunogold method. Double-label immunoelectron microscopy with colloidal gold-tagged monoclonal antibodies was used to simultaneously localize collagen type I and type V within the chick corneal stroma. The results definitively demonstrate, for the first time, that both collagens are codistributed within the same fibril. Type I collagen was localized to striated fibrils throughout the corneal stroma homogeneously. Type V collagen could be localized only after pretreatment of the tissue to partially disrupt collagen fibril structure. After such pretreatments the type V collagen was found in regions where fibrils were partially dissociated and not in regions where fibril structure was intact. When pretreated tissues were double labeled with antibodies against types I and V collagen coupled to different size gold particles, the two collagens colocalized in areas where fibril structure was partially disrupted. Antibodies against type IV collagen were used as a control and were nonreactive with fibrils. These results indicate that collagen types I and V are assembled together within single fibrils in the corneal stroma such that the interaction of these collagen types within heterotypic fibrils masks the epitopes on the type V collagen molecule. One consequence of the formation of such heterotypic fibrils may be the regulation of corneal fibril diameter, a condition essential for corneal transparency.
Variation in Protein Content and Amino Acids in the Leaves of Grain, Vegetable and Weedy Types of Amaranths

Malnutrition has affected almost 31% of pre-school children. This paper provides the information of nutritional values (leaf protein, 15 amino acids, biomass and leaf dry matter) of grain, vegetable and weedy types of amaranths (n = 76 accessions); particularly those novel materials originated from the highland areas of Sumatra-Takengon. The highest values of leaf protein and total amino acids were found in many weedy species (A. viridis, A. blitum L. and A. dubius). The ranges of leaf protein and total amino acids in most of weedy types were 12–29 g 100 g−1 DM and 84–93 g 100 g−1 DW protein, respectively. The leaves of amaranths were found to be a good source for lysine which is the limiting essential amino acids in most of cereal plants. Their values were in the range of 6 g 100 g−1 DW protein which are close to that of good protein quality according to FAO/WHO’s standard. The leaves of underutilized weedy species of A. dubius, A. blitum, A. viridis and the dual purpose types of A. caudatus L. , A. cruentus L. deserve to be further exploited as a low cost solution for solving malnutrition problems, especially in Indonesia.
A REVIEW OF NEW DEMAND ELASTICITIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SHORT AND LONG RUN EFFECTS OF PRICE CHANGES

this derives from a recognition that in many countries increased capacity cannot easily cater for the forecast rates of traffic growth, and the tools of demand management therefore have greater importance. Among these tools, use of the price mechanism is particularly important because of its contribution to generating funds for public or private expenditure, and helping markets to operate more efficiently by ensuring that the external costs of pollution and congestion are met by those who cause them. Therefore it is important for policy-making to be informed by the best available knowledge about the sensitivity of travel demand to the prices operating on it. During the 1980s, some important developments were taking place in the under standing of travel demand ? not, primarily, generated by policy interests, but in the context of empirical and theoretical studies that emphasised the broad range of behavioural responses that existed, and the complex dynamic processes of adaptation that were implied by these responses. The papers edited by Jones (1990) summarise these developments. At the same time, a very large number of elasticity studies were being carried out, with very little consistency in method or assumptions.
Towards an architecture for reasoning about complex event-based dynamic situations

In this paper we are concerned with event-based situation analysis. Application areas include the understanding and awareness of complex unfolding scenarios such as homeland security threats and future battlespace engagements. The paper (i) discusses the differences between the environments/requirements for event-based management and situation management, (ii) presents an argument for an integration of an event correlation system and a situation awareness system, and (iii) proposes an integrated architecture that combines rule-based spatio-temporal event correlation and casebased reasoning for understanding and managing situations. In addition, the paper discusses the hard problem of the mutual influence between event management and situation awareness.
The Effectiveness of Youth Financial Education: A Review of the Literature

In the current financial crisis, children and youth are uniquely impacted by household finance complexities. Moments of financial trouble are teachable opportunities for children and youth to learn about personal finance and to improve their own money management skills. However, comprehensive strategies for educating them about personal finance have not yet emerged. This review of the literature explores the state of youth financial education and policy, including definitions and measures of effectiveness. Delineating a range of approaches to the delivery and assessment of youth financial education, this paper reports on impact data and best practices and highlights some controversies. It concludes with a discussion of the gaps in knowledge and suggestions for further research.
GPR92/LPA5 lysophosphatidate receptor mediates megakaryocytic cell shape change induced by human atherosclerotic plaques

Aims Oxidative processes and vascular inflammation underlying atherosclerosis lead to an accumulation of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) molecules in the atheromatous intima. LPA, a platelet-activating component of human atherosclerotic plaques, possibly contributes to atherothrombus formation after plaque rupture. Human platelets express mRNA for the G protein-coupled receptors LPA1–7 that derive from megakaryocytes. The aim of our study was to identify the functional LPA receptor(s) in human platelets by silencing individual LPA receptors in megakaryocytic (MK) cells. Methods and results We studied shape change of two human MK cell lines (Meg-01, Dami) by turbidometry, phase-contrast and scanning electron microscopy. They showed upon LPA stimulation a rapid, Rho-kinase-mediated shape change similar to that of human platelets. By qRT–PCR analysis we found expression of LPA1–7 in both cell lines; LPA4 and LPA5 were the most abundant receptor transcripts. In both Meg-01 and Dami cells, the rank order of activation by LPA species was similar to that found in platelets: alkyl-LPA 18:1 > alkyl-LPA 16:0 > acyl-LPA 18:1 >> alkyl-LPA 18:0. Knock-down of individual LPA receptors by siRNA showed that LPA-mediated activation of MK cells was mediated by LPA5, but not by LPA1–4,6,7. Importantly, we found that human atherosclerotic plaque and lipid-rich core induced shape change of Dami cells, and that this effect was inhibited after LPA5 silencing. Conclusions Our findings indicate that LPA5 mediates LPA-induced shape change of MK cells and support its involvement in atherosclerotic plaque and lipid-rich core-mediated platelet activation. This receptor could be an attractive novel target for antithrombotic therapy.
Policy or privacy - what matters most for individual well-being? Determinants of life satisfaction in the enlarged Europe

Life satisfaction is quite heterogeneously distributed across countries of the enlarged European Union. Previous research has shown how living conditions within individual countries, such as access to material and emotional resources, are important for personal well-being, but it has neglected to explain differences between countries. This article investigates whether it also matters in which political, economic, and social circumstances people live, as well as whether their particular perception of the quality of their societal environment plays a role. People are well aware that the institutional and cultural settings in which their lives are embedded create opportunities and limitations: within individual countries, perceptions of society influence life satisfaction outcomes irrespective of access to resources. However, their importance for well-being differs across Europe: perceptions of society and material resources are highly decisive in countries which provide only a minimum of social security and in which the reliability of political institutions is poor. In rich and stable countries, the impact is weaker and private social support becomes more important. In addition to these country-specific weights of life satisfaction determinants, life satisfaction variations between countries can be explained to a large extent by taking into consideration the economic performance, the social security level, and the political culture in a country - all in all, general conditions that enable people to live a respectable life.
Extracellular vesicle sizing and enumeration by nanoparticle tracking analysis

Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) is a light-scattering technique that is useful for the rapid sizing and enumeration of extracellular vesicles (EVs). As a relatively new method, NTA has been criticised for a lack of standardisation. We propose the use of silica microspheres for the calibration of NTA measurements and describe in detail a protocol for the analysis of EVs by NTA which should minimise many of the sources of variability and imprecision associated with this technique. Access the supplementary material to this article: Refractive index estimation (see Supplementary files under Article Tools online).
The Housing Cost Disease

We use a simple two-sector, life-cycle economy with bequests to explain the increasing wealth to income ratio, housing wealth and wealth inequality that have been observed in several countries over the long-run as a consequence of a rising labor efficiency in manufacturing (housing cost disease). When consumption inequality across households is sufficiently large, the housing cost disease has adverse effects on a measure of social welfare based on an egalitarian principle: the higher the housing's value appreciation, the lower the welfare benefit of a rising labor efficiency in manufacturing.
IL-13 receptor α2 is a negative prognostic factor in human lung cancer and stimulates lung cancer growth in mice

IL-13 receptor subunit alpha-2 (IL13Rα2) is associated with poor prognosis in some cancers. However, the role of IL13Rα2 in lung cancer remains unknown. We showed that IL13Rα2 overexpression was associated with late stages of disease progression and shorter disease-free survival (DFS) as well as overall survival (OS) in resected lung cancer patients. IL13Rα2 promoted the migration, invasion and anoikis resistance of lung cancer cells in vitro. Silencing of IL13Rα2 in lung cancer cells decreased invasion in vitro and lung metastasis in vivo. IL13Rα2 activated phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K), Akt, and transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ). Inhibition of PI3K attenuated activation of TAZ and its downstream target genes by IL13Rα2. We suggest that inhibition of IL13Rα2 is a potential therapeutic approach in lung cancer.
The influence of low job control on ambulatory blood pressure and perceived stress over the working day in men and women from the Whitehall II cohort

Objective Work stress contributes to risk of coronary heart disease and hypertension. This study tested the influence of job control on ambulatory blood pressure, and ratings of perceived stress and happiness in men and women systematically sampled by socio-economic status from the Whitehall II epidemiological cohort. Participants A total of 227 men and women aged 47–59 years sampled from higher, intermediate and lower employment grades. Outcome measures Ambulatory blood pressure and ratings of stress, perceived control and happiness. Methods Participants completed standard measures of job demands and job control, and undertook ambulatory monitoring with measures of blood pressure and subjective state every 20 min from early in the working day until going to bed. Results Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were greater in participants reporting low rather than high job control (means 125.7/81.5 versus 122.4/78.6 mmHg, P < 0.05), independently of gender, employment grade, body mass index, age, smoking status, and physical activity. Differences persisted into the evening after work. Job demands and job strain (high demand/low control) were not associated with blood pressure. Participants reporting low job control experienced stress more frequently over the working day than did those with high job control. Higher socio-economic status participants and women were more stressed by low job control than were men and people of lower socio-economic status. Conclusions Job control plays an important role in modulating cardiovascular and affective responses over the working day, and these responses may contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk.
Volume and Comparative Advantage in East-West Trade

The volume and commodity structure of EU trade with the transition countries in central and eastern Europe (CEECs) is estimated on the assumption that it will follow the pattern of trade among market economies. A gravity-type approach at the level of product groups is used, combining geography and factor-proportions theory of international trade. It is shown that there is still considerable potential for a further rise in East-West trade if the CEECs' national product is valued at purchasing power parities, instead of market exchange rates. Considering divergent income levels and distance between East and West, the EU's comparative advantages are in specialised-supplier, scale-intensive and science-based goods, whereas the CEECs' comparative advantages are in labour-intensive and resource-intensive goods. The intersectoral specialisation pattern will become "flatter" and the share of intra-industry trade will grow when the income differentials decrease.
Self-Motivated Development Through Rewards for Predictor Errors / Improvements

Even in absence of external reward, babies and scientists and others explore their world. Using some sort of adaptive predictive world model, they improve their ability to answer questions such as: what happens if I do this or that? They lose interest in both the predictable things and those predicted to remain unpredictable despite some effort. We can design curious, self-motivated robots that do the same. The author’s old basic principles for doing so: a reinforcement learning (RL) controller is rewarded whenever its action sequences result in predictor errors (1990), or, more generally, predictor improvements (1991). We briefly review the history of these ideas.
Estrogen-Receptor, Progesterone-Receptor and HER2 Status Determination in Invasive Breast Cancer. Concordance between Immuno-Histochemistry and MapQuant™ Microarray Based Assay

Background Hormone receptor status and HER2 status are of critical interest in determining the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Their status is routinely assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). However, it is subject to intra-laboratory and inter-laboratory variability. The aim of our study was to compare the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER2 status as determined by the MapQuant™ test to the routine immuno-histochemical tests in early stage invasive breast cancer in a large comprehensive cancer center. Patients and Methods We retrospectively studied 163 invasive early-stage breast carcinoma with standard IHC status. The genomic status was determined using the MapQuant™ test providing the genomic grade index. Results We found only 4 tumours out of 161 (2.5%) with discrepant IHC and genomic results concerning ER status. The concordance rate between the two methods was 97.5% and the Cohen’s Kappa coefficient was 0.89. Comparison between the MapQuant™ PR status and the PR IHC status gave more discrepancies. The concordance rate between the two methods was 91.4% and the Cohen’s Kappa coefficient was 0.74. The HER2 MapQuant™ test was classified as « undetermined » in 2 out of 163 cases (1.2%). One HER2 IHC-negative tumour was found positive with a high HER2 MapQuant™ genomic score. The concordance rate between the two methods was 99.3% and the Cohen’s Kappa coefficient was 0.86. Conclusion Our results show that the MapQuant™ assay, based on mRNA expression assay, provides an objective and quantitative assessment of Estrogen receptor, Progesterone receptor and HER2 status in invasive breast cancer.
The Fear of Exclusion: Individual Effort When Group Formation is Endogenous

To secure their membership in a popular group, individuals may contribute more to the group’s local public good than they would if group formation were exogenous. Those in the most unpopular group do not have this incentive to contribute to their group. Substantial differences in individual efforts levels between groups may be the result. A principal may prefer either exogenous or endogenous group formation, depending on whether an increase in contributions to the local public good coincides with the principal’s interests. We analyze two examples: Social interaction in schools, and multiple-task teamwork.
Differential Detection of Echinococcus Spp. Copro-DNA by Nested-PCR in Domestic and Wild Definitive Hosts in Moghan Plain, Iran

Background Despite Echinococcus granulosus, there are merely two old reports of E. multilocularis infection among Iranian canids of Moghan Plain, the only area known endemic for the species. We detected specific DNA markers in fecal samples by PCR (Copro-PCR) for differential diagnosis of Echinococcus species in living canids. Methods Totally 144 fecal samples from domestic dogs, red foxes and a golden jackal were examined for genus-specific Echinococcus coproantigens using ELISA. Forty two positive or ambiguous samples were further examined for Echinococcus species-specific DNA markers by two different set of nested-PCR. Results Twenty five out of 144 (17.4%) animals were contaminated with E. granulosus including 14 (23.7%) domestic dogs, 10 (11.9%) red foxes and one (100%) golden jackal. But none of them harboured E. multilocularis species-specific Copro-DNA. The overall prevalence of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis infections in canids of the area was estimated to be 17.4% and 0.0%, respectively. There was a significant relation between the results of Copro-PCR and CA-ELISA. Conclusion The lack of E. multilocularis infection, compared to previous reports may be due to the differences in used diagnostic methods and/or recently limited territories of wild canids and altered their food resources in this particular area.
The interplay between web aesthetics and accessibility

Visual aesthetics enhances user experience in the context of the World Wide Web (Web). Accordingly, many studies report positive relationships between Web aesthetics and facets of user experience like usability and credibility, but does this hold for accessibility also? This paper describes an empirical investigation towards this end. The aesthetic judgements of 30 sighted Web users were elicited to understand what types of Web design come across as being visually pleasing. Participants judged 50 homepages based on Lavie and Tractinsky's classical and expressive Web aesthetics framework. A cross-section of the homepages were then manually audited for accessibility compliance by 11 Web accessibility experts who used a heuristic evaluation technique known as the Barrier Walkthrough (BW) method to check for accessibility barriers that could affect people with visual impairments. Web pages judged on the classical dimension as being visually clean showed significant correlations with accessibility, suggesting that visual cleanness may be a suitable proxy measure for accessibility as far as people with visual impairments are concerned. Expressive designs and other aesthetic dimensions showed no such correlation, however, demonstrating that an expressive or aesthetically pleasing Web design is not a barrier to accessibility.
ErythrocyteEnzymeDeficienciesAssessedwith a Miniature CentrifugalAnalyzer Saundra Flelek

Methods forassaying 16 erythrocyte enzymes have been adapted to the miniaturecentrifugal analyzer.Less than 15 L ofwhole bloodisrequiredforall16 assays.Variation attributable to temporal effects, rotoreffects,and random residual error is minor. Initial population studies of blood from adults and cord-blood samples suggest a CV of <12% for 12 of the 16 enzymes; thus it should be possible to identify the heterozygous deficient individual. Preliminary data suggest that three such individuals, with enzyme activity (adenylate kinase, pyruvate kinase, phosphoglycerate kinase) about half the expected, have been identified, as well as two individuals deficient in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.
Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs Assessment with Deaf People in Ghana

The purpose of this study was to identify the Sexual and Reproductive Health (S&RH) needs of the Deaf community in Ghana who communicate in the Ghanaian Sign Language (GLS). The study was a participatory needs assessment, utilizing the Concerns Report Method (CRM) as the framework. The study utilized a two-phase, sequential, mixed methods design, consisting of three focus groups to assist in the development of a survey followed by a needs assessment survey. Personal observations, review of documents, discussions with a S&RH professional were conducted to clarify data from the focus groups and survey. A total of 179 participants were involved in the study, of which 26 were focus group participants and152 were survey respondents. One S&RH professional served as a key informant. All participants, except for the key informant, were members of the Deaf community and were considered well informed about issues in the community. Study findings indicated that deaf people’s level of knowledge on many S&RH issues was marginal and many unmet S&RH needs were reported and associated with communication, institutional, and attitudinal barriers that limited their access to vital S&RH information and services. Lack of accessible information was compounded by the high illiteracy rate in the Deaf community. While the findings suggest that the S&RH needs of the Deaf community in Ghana were not different from the general population, the assessment revealed unique
Optimized analog network coding strategies for the white Gaussian multiple-access relay channel

We consider a Gaussian multiple-access relay channel with multiple sources, a relay and a destination. We assume that the received signals at the relay and the destination from different nodes are orthogonal. Additionally, we assume that the relay performs an instantaneous mapping to compress all received signals from different sources into one output symbol. We refer to this as analog network coding. We optimize the analog network coding mapping to maximize the achievable sum rate. We additionally introduce an algorithm to obtain an achievable rate region. The optimized mappings are in general non-linear and provide superior rates compared to those of linear mappings.