Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short and Long-Term Impact of Lipectomy on Expression Profile of Hepatic Anabolic Genes in Rats: A High Fat and High Cholesterol Diet-Induced Obese Model

Objective To understand the molecular basis of the short and long-term effects of an immediate shortage of energy storage caused by lipectomy on expression profile of genes involved in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in high fat and high cholesterol diet-induced obese rats. Methods The hepatic mRNA levels of enzymes, regulator and transcription factors involved in glucose and lipid metabolism were analyzed by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) ten days and eight weeks after lipectomy in obese rats. Body and liver weights and serum biochemical parameters, adiponectin, leptin and insulin were determined. Results No significant difference was observed on the food intake between the lipectomized and sham-operated groups during the experimental period. Ten days after the operation, the lipectomized animals showed significant higher triacylglycerol, glucose and insulin levels, a lower adiponectin concentration than the sham-operated rats, along with significant higher hepatic mRNA levels of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) and the enzymes involved in lipogenesis, sterol biosynthesis and gluconeogenesis. The results of immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis also confirmed increased levels of lipogenic enzymes in the liver of lipectomized versus sham-operated animals. The lipectomized group had a significantly lower adiponectin/leptin ratio that was positively correlated to the level of LDL (r = 0.823, P<0.05) and negatively to glucose and insulin (r = −0.821 and −0.892 respectively, P<0.05). Eight weeks after the operation, the lipectomized animals revealed significant higher body and liver weights, weight gain, liver to body weight ratio, hepatic triacylglycerol and serum insulin level. Conclusions In response to lipectomy a short term enhancement of the expression of hepatic anabolic genes involved in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism was triggered that might eventually lead to the final extra weight gain. These metabolic changes could be the results of reduced circulating adiponectin that further influences the functions of insulin and hepatic HNF4α.
Continuous-speech segmentation at the beginning of language acquisition: electrophysiological evidence

Word segmentation, or detecting word boundaries in continuous speech, is not an easy task. Spoken language does not contain silences to indicate word boundaries and words partly overlap due to coarticalution. Still, adults listening to their native language perceive speech as individual words. They are able to combine different distributional cues in the language, such as the statistical distribution of sounds and metrical cues, with lexical information, to efficiently detect word boundaries. Infants in the first year of life do not command these cues. However, already between seven and ten months of age, before they know word meaning, infants learn to segment words from speech. This important step in language acquisition is the topic of this dissertation. In chapter 2, the first Event Related Brain Potential (ERP) study on word segmentation in Dutch ten-month-olds is discussed. The results show that ten-month-olds can already segment words with a strong-weak stress pattern from speech and they need roughly the first half of a word to do so. Chapter 3 deals with segmentation of words beginning with a weak syllable, as a considerable number of words in Dutch do not follow the predominant strong-weak stress pattern. The results show that ten-month-olds still largely rely on the strong syllable in the language, and do not show an ERP response to the initial weak syllable. In chapter 4, seven-month-old infants' segmentation of strong-weak words was studied. An ERP response was found to strong-weak words presented in sentences. However, a behavioral response was not found in an additional Headturn Preference Procedure study. There results suggest that the ERP response is a precursor to the behavioral response that infants show at a later age.
Quantification of Clostridium difficile in Antibiotic-Associated-Diarrhea Patients

ABSTRACT Comparing culture- and non-culture-based methods for quantifying Clostridium difficile in antibiotic-associated-diarrhea patients, we found that the real-time PCR method correlated well with quantitative culture and was more sensitive. A positive association between the population levels of C. difficile and the presence of its toxins was found.
Identifying the barriers to affirmative action training : perceptions of affirmative action appointees in Mpumalanga public hospitals : original research

Orientation : Since the advent of democracy in 1994 numerous policies and programmes were put in place to address the imbalances of race and gender in the South African labour force. Research purpose : The aim of this study is to gauge the perceptions about existing barriers in the implementation of affirmative action (AA) training interventions at public hospitals in the Mpumalanga Province. Motivations for the study : The research conducted in this study provides valuable information which would enable the Mpumalanga health department and public hospital management to develop improved interventions associated with AA training interventions. Research design, approach and method : The population of the study consists of two groups of participants which are AA appointees and AA mentors. The study mixed qualitative and quantitative research methodological processes. Main findings : Results of this study show that there are differences in perceptions between Black respondents who believe that mentors should be held liable for the failure of the mentees and White respondents who disagreed. The findings suggest that employees are of the opinion that internal policy guidelines on the implementation of AA are not communicated to all employees. Practical implications : Public hospital management should articulate the purpose of AA interventions and its targets to both mentors and mentees and continuously review the implementation thereof. Contribution : The study contributes towards explaining the importance of training interventions that are useful for the success of AA appointees in their respective duties and also give account of barriers that are experienced by these appointees.
Phase 2 study of concurrent radiotherapy and temozolomide followed by temozolomide and lomustine in the treatment of children with high-grade glioma: a report of the Children's Oncology Group ACNS0423 study.

BACKGROUND The prognosis for children with malignant glioma is poor. This study was designed to determine whether lomustine and temozolomide following radiotherapy and concurrent temozolomide improves event-free survival (EFS) compared with historical controls with anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) or glioblastoma (GBM) and whether survival is influenced by the expression of O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT). METHODS Following maximal surgical resection, newly diagnosed children with nonmetastatic high-grade glioma underwent involved field radiotherapy with concurrent temozolomide. Adjuvant chemotherapy consisted of up to 6 cycles of lomustine 90 mg/m(2) on day 1 and temozolomide 160 mg/m(2)/day ×5 every 6 weeks. RESULTS Among the 108 eligible patients with AA or GBM, 1-year EFS was 0.49 (95% CI, 0.39-0.58), similar to the original CCG-945-based design model. However, EFS and OS were significantly improved in ACNS0423 compared with the 86 AA or GBM participants treated with adjuvant temozolomide alone in the recent ACNS0126 study (1-sided log-rank P = .019 and .019, respectively). For example, 3-year EFS was 0.22 (95% CI, 0.14-0.30) in ACNS0423 compared with 0.11 (95% CI, 0.05-0.18) in ACNS0126. Stratifying the comparison by resection extent, the addition of lomustine resulted in significantly better EFS and OS in participants without gross-total resection (P = .019 and .00085 respectively). The difference in EFS and OS was most pronounced for participants with GBM (P = .059 and 0.051, respectively), and those with MGMT overexpression (P = .00036 and .00038, respectively). CONCLUSION The addition of lomustine to temozolomide as adjuvant therapy in ACNS0423 was associated with significantly improved outcome compared with the preceding COG ACNS0126 HGG study in which participants received temozolomide alone.
Towards Evidence of Visual Literacy: Assessing Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Instructional Visuals

Abstract This research describes how eight pre-service teachers interpreted and analyzed instructional visuals, defined visual literacy, and assessed the effectiveness of four instructional images. A phenomenological procedure was used to collect, organize, and analyze the data. Findings suggest that pre-service teachers in this study were able to define visual literacy conceptually and could extract the intended meaning of instructional visuals. In addition to demonstrating these skills, participants were able to provide principal-based recommendations for the redesign of instructional visuals. Implications for future research and assessment of visual literacy competencies conclude the paper.
Inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase fails to suppress adenoma formation in ApcMin mice but induces duodenal injury.

A highly selective, p.o. bioavailable irreversible inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase, N-[4-(3-chloro4-fluorophenylamino)-quinazolin-6-yl]-ac rylamide (CFPQA), was evaluated for its ability to prevent intestinal adenoma formation in ApcMin mice. Ten-week continuous dietary exposure to CFPQA at doses sufficient to abolish intestinal EGFR tyrosine phosphorylation failed to affect intestinal tumor multiplicity or distribution but induced flat mucosal lesions in the duodenum characteristic of chronic injury. Intestinal trefoil factor, an intestinal peptide that mediates antiapoptotic effects through an EGFR-dependent mechanism, was notably absent in adenomas but was highly expressed in flat duodenal lesions. We conclude that chronic inhibition of EGFR tyrosine kinase by CFPQA does not prevent adenomas in ApcMin mice but may induce duodenal injury.
A critical analysis of serum and urine interleukin 2 receptor assays in renal allograft recipients.

A component of the interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2R) is released in soluble form during T cell activation and can be detected in the blood during acute renal allograft rejection. This study evaluates the diagnostic utility of a sandwich enzyme immunoassay test for serum and urine IL-2R in renal allograft recipients. A rise in serum IL-2R during the week prior to the clinical diagnosis of rejection correlated better with rejection than did isolated serum IL-2R levels or urine values. For the diagnosis of acute rejection, a rise in serum IL-2R (sensitivity 73%, specificity 87%) was comparable in overall test performance to a rise in serum creatinine (sensitivity 70%, specificity 84%). Overall, the two tests had equivalent receiver operating characteristic curves. Because the etiology of false positives in creatinine and IL-2R assays differed (primarily cyclosporine toxicity and infection, respectively), the predictive value of the combined tests was superior to either alone.
Feminist Approaches To Theory And Methodology: An Interdisciplinary Reader

I. FEMINIST CRITIQUES WITHIN THE DISCIPLINES "The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Women's Rules" "Feminist Skepticism and the 'Maleness' of Philosophy" "Feminist History after the Linguistic Turn: Historicizing Discourse and Experience" II. THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY AND EXPERIENCE "The Evidence of Experience" "Situating Locations: The Politics of Self, Identity, and 'Other' in Living and Writing the Text" "The Construction of Marginal Identites: Working-Class Girls of Algerian Descent in a French School" III. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF DIFFERENCE "Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought" "Eating the Other, 'Black Looks: Race and Representation'" "Feminist Criticism, 'The Yellow Wallpaper,' and the Politics in Color America" IV. POWER AND RESISTANCE "Feminism and Empowerment: A Critical Reading of Foucault" "Islam and Patriarchy: A Comparitive Perspective" V. DISCOURSES OF THE BODY "Embodies Geographies: Subjectivity and Materiality in the Work of Ana Mendieta" "The Power of 'Positive' Diagnosis: Medical and Maternal Discourses on Amniocentisis" VI. SOCIAL POLICY AND FEMALE AGENCY "Small Happiness: The Feminist Struggle to Integrate Social Research with Social Activism" "Women Workers and Capitalist Scripts: Ideologies of Domination, Common Interests, and Politics of Solidarity"
Antidepressants in the treatment of fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a chronic disease of widespread and debilitating pain whose cause is unknown and whose risk factors are poorly understood. It is often comorbid with rheumatoid and other pain disorders as well as psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Although they are not officially approved for this indication, antiepileptics and antidepressants are often used to treat fibromyalgia. The tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), particularly amitriptyline, are among the most common treatment strategies. Because of the poor tolerability of the tricyclics, the newer antidepressants have been widely tested in fibromyalgia. The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the reversible monoamine oxidase inhibitors do not seem to be particularly helpful. The serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), duloxetine and milnacipran, on the other hand, have been shown in placebo-controlled trials to offer significant relief to patients suffering from fibromyalgia. Although no direct comparative studies have been performed, these compounds appear to be as effective as the TCAs but much better tolerated. The effectiveness of the SNRIs as well as other dual acting antidepressants, such as mirtazapine, but not the SSRIs, implies that a dysfunction of both serotonin and norepinephrine neurotransmission probably exists in fibromyalgia. The effectiveness of antidepressants appears to be independent of their effect on comorbid depression.
‘A real woman has to do it all – with the kids and in the office’: Doing femininity in the transcultural context of Russian-German migration

The au pair stay allows young women to experience the doing gender of family work and waged work in another cultural context than their own. This article investigates how Russian university graduates, who had been working as an au pair in Germany, developed transcultural strategies to balance work and family for their prospective future referring to these different experiences. It will be shown that interviewees rejected the Soviet family model of the fulltime ‘working mother’. Some women positively evaluated that in Germany the equality of gender has been better established than in Russia and aimed at sharing housework with their partner. Criticizing the outsourcing of childcare to an employee, in this family model femininity is not based on housework but on women's dedication to motherhood. Other women negatively evaluated that in Germany the family model of the ‘business woman’ characterized by women's role as the main breadwinner of the family and the primary provider of family work has developed. These women preferred to work part-time to be able to care for their families. In this family model the responsibility of breadwinning is ascribed solely to men, while women's waged work is constructed as time devoted to women's individual needs by offering an intellectual challenge and an individual income.
Structural Inertia and Organizational Change

Considers structural inertia in organizational populations as an outcome of an ecological-evolutionary process. Structural inertia is considered to be a consequence of selection as opposed to a precondition. The focus of this analysis is on the timing of organizational change. Structural inertia is defined to be a correspondence between a class of organizations and their environments. Reliably producing collective action and accounting rationally for their activities are identified as important organizational competencies. This reliability and accountability are achieved when the organization has the capacity to reproduce structure with high fidelity. Organizations are composed of various hierarchical layers that vary in their ability to respond and change. Organizational goals, forms of authority, core technology, and marketing strategy are the four organizational properties used to classify organizations in the proposed theory. Older organizations are found to have more inertia than younger ones. The effect of size on inertia is more difficult to determine. The variance in inertia with respect to the complexity of organizational arrangements is also explored. (SRD)
Intermittent Proterozoic plutonic magmatism and Neoproterozoic cooling history in the Caballo Mountains, Sierra County, New Mexico: Preliminary results

A bstrAct —New mapping, geochemistry, and biotite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar thermochronology of granitic and metamorphic rocks in the Caballo Mountains indicate a period of ~1480 Ma plutonism followed by cooling to ~300°C by 1411±3 Ma. Isotope and geochemistry data allow correlation with other Proterozoic terrains in southern New Mexico. At least five Proterozoic granitic plutons are found in the Caballo Mountains; the Caballo granite, Longbottom Canyon granite/granodiorite pluton, Northern Caballo granite, Palomas Gap granite, and granite dikes that intruded ~1680 Ma supracrustal amphibolite and felsic gneiss and granite gneiss. The Longbottom Canyon pluton and Caballo granite yield indistinguishable U/Pb zircon derived intrusion ages of 1486±16 and 1487±24 Ma (Amato and Becker, 2012, this guidebook). Nd isotope data support ~1480 Ma magmatism in the region and suggest that the Palomas Gap granite also may be a ~1480 Ma intrusion. No direct dating is available for the granite dikes, however a complex 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite age spectrum is permissive of one dike being part of the ~1480 Ma intru- sive suite. Small, alkaline igneous dikes and near-vertical pipes intruded the Proterozoic granitic rocks in several areas of the Caballo Mountains and are unconfomrably overlain by the Cambrian-Ordovician Bliss Formation (north and south of Palomas Gap, Longbottom Canyon, Apache Gap area, and the Red hills area of the southern Caballo Mountains). Alkaline magmatism occurs in the Caballo Mountains and may be associated with regional Cambrian-Ordovician magmatic episodes, but no direct radiometric dating has yet identified intrusions of this age in the Caballo Mountains. These alkaline intrusives, which have been interpreted to be Cambrian-Ordovician in age based upon field relationships and regional correlations may indeed be older as suggested. Additional 40 Ar/ 39 Ar thermochronology on k-feldspar was conducted. k-feldspar age spectra are variable with 3 samples yielding age gradients between about 1100 to 800 Ma that support cooling from ~275°C to 175°C related to Grenville contraction and associated exhumation. Ages as young as ~70 Ma in the k-feldspar age spectra are consistent with Phanero-zoic burial followed by late Tertiary rift-related exhumation. A variety of mineral deposits are found in the igneous rocks in the Caballo Mountains, and most are small, low grade, and uneconomic. Only the gold veins in Proterozoic rocks, placer gold deposits, and REE-U-Th veins in possible Cambrian-Ordovician alkaline igneous rocks and associated metasomatic episy- enites have future mineral resource potential.
The effect of proportion overlap and repeated testing on primed work fragment completion.

Subjects studied a list of words (e.g., cheetah) and received an implicit word fragment completion test (complete -h-t-h). On the test, the ratio of studied to nonstudied items (proportion overlap) was 0, 25, 50, 75, or 100%. Subjects were administered the identical test twice. Proportion overlap did not affect priming in word fragment completion, on either the first or second test. Also, the completion of studied and nonstudied fragments increased over repeated tests, but priming (the studied-nonstudied rate) remained unchanged. The proportion overlap of items between study and test does not affect performance on primed word fragment completion.
Exact Outage Performance of Cognitive Relay Networks with Maximum Transmit Power Limits

In this letter, considering a cognitive relay network with the maximum transmit power limit in a spectrum sharing scenario, the exact outage probability of secondary system is derived over Rayleigh fading channels, and the theoretical analysis is validated by simulations. The results show that both the maximum transmit power limit and the interference power constraint cause the outage saturation phenomenon, and more relays for secondary system can provide better outage performance.
The Relationship between Personality Types and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies of Language Learners

This study investigates the relationship between personality traits, as measured by the NEO Five Factor Inventory, and different learning strategies, measured by the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), that foreign language student may employ to help them learn the language. A sample of 231 undergraduate students of English in Iran was administered the Inventory and the MSLQ. This study is the first to connect learners’ personality traits with general learning strategies, which can be specifically applied to foreign language learning. Analyzing the data using multiple regressions, the authors found that personality type was able to predict the tendency to use different learning strategies. Specifically, students who scored high on “conscientiousness” were more likely to use all strategies, particularly managing time and study environment. Students high on extraversion were more likely to use peer learning and help seeking strategies. The authors conclude that language teachers could benefit from assessing their students’ personalities and matching strategies to their students’ tendencies.
Parallel Processor Scheduling with Limited Number of Preemptions

In this paper, we compare the makespan of preemptive and i-preemptive schedules where only a limited number i of preemptions is allowed. The problem is to schedule n independent jobs on m identical processors that operate in parallel. The objective is to minimize the makespan, i.e., the completion time of the last job that finishes. We show that the ratio of the optimal i-preemptive schedule length ${C_{max}^{ip^*}}$ versus the optimal preemptive schedule length ${C_{max}^{p^*}}$ is bounded from above by ${C_{max}^{ip^*}} \le {( 2 - 2 / (m/(i+1) + 1) )} {C_{max}^{p^*}}$. Furthermore, we show that the ratio of the length ${C_{max}^{LPT}}$ of a nonpreemptive schedule following the {\it longest processing time (LPT)} rule versus the optimal preemptive schedule length ${C_{max}^{p^*}}$ is bounded from above by exactly the same bound when i=0.
The long and the short of it: Archaeological approaches to determining when humans first colonised Australia and New Guinea

Abstract Despite significant advances in radiometric dating technologies over the last 15 years, and concerted efforts in that time to locate and date new sites and redate known sites in Australia and New Guinea, there is yet little consensus on when humans first arrived in the Pleistocene continent. A majority of scientists now agree people were present at least by 45,000 years ago, but many still argue for dates up to and beyond 60,000 years ago. The long chronology continues to be driven by the five well-known sites of Nauwalabila, Malakunanja, Huon Peninsula, Lake Mungo and Devil’s Lair. This paper reviews the data which have appeared for these sites over the last decade. It argues that uncertainty over much of the earliest data stems from questions of artefact context and site taphonomy rather than dating technologies. The problem is an archaeological one which has received insufficient attention.