Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An analogue of lipid A and LPS from Rhodobacter sphaeroides inhibits neutrophil responses to LPS by blocking receptor recognition of LPS and by depleting LPS‐binding protein in plasma

When incubated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the presence of plasma, neutrophils become primed for enhanced release of superoxide in response to triggering by formyl‐Met‐Leu‐Phe (fMLP). The effect of LPS on phagocytes is inhibited by a synthetic lipid A precursor, LA‐14‐PP (lipid IVa) or by LPS from Rhodobacter sphaeroides (Rs). We studied the mechanisms by which LA‐14‐PP or Rs‐LPS inhibited LPS‐induced responses. When neutrophils were exposed to LA‐14‐PP or Rs‐LPS for 3 min and then to Escherichia coli‐LPS, the antagonists inhibited priming for superoxide release, and also blocked up‐regulation of CD11b and adherence. This inhibition was dependent on plasma, was not overcome by higher amounts of E. coli‐LPS or plasma, and was not observed at 0°C, suggesting that E. coli‐LPS was not able to interact with its receptor or other cellular recognition molecule in neutrophils that had been exposed to the antagonists. The alternative possibility that LA‐14‐PP or Rs‐LPS depleted a plasma cofactor, resulting in inhibition of priming, was investigated by using LPS from Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) and Bordetella pertussis (Bp). These LPS primed neutrophils in a plasma‐dependent and CD14‐dependent manner, but were not blocked by LA‐14‐PP or Rs‐LPS. When sub‐optimal concentrations of plasma were exposed to LA‐14‐PP or Rs‐LPS, and then mixed with Pg‐IPS or Bp‐LPS, followed by incubation with neutrophils, priming and up‐regulation of GD11b were inhibited, and this inhibition was overcome by increasing the concentration of plasma. Binding of LPS‐binding protein (LBP) in plasma to immobilized E. coli‐LPS was inhibited by pre‐incubation of plasma with LA‐14‐PP or Rs‐LPS. Together with the result that treatment of plasma with anti‐LBP antibody abolished the cofactor activity of plasma, these results indicated that LA‐14‐PP and Rs‐LPS depleted LBP from plasma, resulting in inability of LPS to act on neutrophils. Thus LA‐14‐PP and Rs‐LPS inhibited the action of LPS on neutrophils by at least two mechanisms, blocking of LPS receptor recognition and depletion of the cofactor LBP.
Effect of a Positive Reminiscing Intervention on Affect, Expectancy, and Performance

The effects of a positive reminiscing intervention were examined in 60 females who ranged in age from 60 to 98 yr. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. The subjects in the first group received a positive reminiscing intervention and were then tested for changes in affect, expectancy, and performance. The subjects in the second group were encouraged to discuss pleasant present experiences and then given the same dependent measures. The control group subjects were given the dependent measures and then asked to talk about either past or present experiences. In this sample no significant differences among the groups were found on any measure, which indicates that reminiscing may not always be an effective intervention.
The role of self-efficacy in the health-related quality of life of family carers of individuals with dementia

Background The Self-Efficacy Theory has been widely applied to research exploring chronic stress and in recent decades has proved promising in explaining the experiences of family carers of individuals with dementia. Aim To investigate the role of self-efficacy in the health-related quality of life of family carers of individuals with dementia, with particular consideration of the positive and negative impact related to caring, coping strategies and social support. Methods The sample comprised 289 family carers and individuals with dementia. The data collected were the baseline data for the SHIELD (Support at Home: Interventions to Enhance Life in Dementia) Carer Supporter Programme and included caring domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs, coping strategies, social support, positive and negative impact related to caring, and carer health-related quality of life. Analytic methods included correlations, t-tests, ANOVA, multiple regression and path analysis. Results Carers reported experiencing positive and negative emotions related to the caring experience and self-efficacy beliefs were found to have a “dual action” in both increasing positive impact related to caring, whilst buffering against negative impact. Carer characteristics and psychosocial resources were found to be determinants of self-efficacy beliefs, although caring stressors were not. In addition, it was found that self-efficacy, particularly for obtaining respite and controlling upsetting thoughts exerts a direct effect on carer quality of life, however only self-efficacy for responding to disruptive behaviours moderates the association between behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and carer quality of life. Finally, mediating effects of psychosocial resources including self-efficacy, coping strategies and social support were found in the association between stressors and carer quality of life. Conclusions Theoretically, findings have implications for informing conceptual models of carer coping and support the application of Self-Efficacy Theory to the caring experience. Clinically, findings assist in the design of effective carer interventions, specifically those directed towards enhancing self-efficacy.
Long bone growth velocity in the Libben population

Growth‐attained curves have shown only limited effectiveness in studies of long bone growth in archaeological populations. As an alternative, the length of long bone diaphyses in children aged 0 to 12 years from the Libben skeletal collection were first normalized by average adult long bone length, and derivatives of fitted curves were then used to determine age‐specific growth velocity. The sample was compared to healthy Euroamerican children from Denver, Colorado (Maresh: American Journal of Diseases of Children 89:725–742, 1955). Results indicate almost identical patterns of growth in the two populations with one exception: the Libben sample shows significantly diminished velocity during the first three years of life. This period of depressed growth coincides with high levels of infectious disease.
Social Interventions for Head Start Children with Behavioral Risks

Conduct disorder is the most prevalent emotional and behavioral disorder of children and youth. Variables associated with the development of conduct disorder include family and school. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a school-based prevention program in countering antisocial behaviors that could lead to the onset of conduct disorder. All students who participated in the program were (a) ages 4 to 5 years, (b) from families with low socioeconomic status (SES) levels, and (c) enrolled in Head Start classrooms. Many lived in inner city settings. The target group (n = 34) and their role models (comparison peers; n = 15) were in the standard Head Start program and participated in the prevention program. The control group (n = 11) participated in the standard Head Start program. The prevention program consisted of (a) affection activities designed to promote positive interactions, and (b) systematic instruction of social skills. After the program was delivered for 10 weeks, a monitoring and generalization phase was incorporated for 3 weeks. Students in the target group showed patterns of interaction and social behavior that began to mirror their comparison peers, whereas the control group remained significantly different in terms of their behaviors. The results of the study are discussed in relation to the need for systematic instruction of social interactions and behaviors. Further research needs also are identified.
Simplification and aggregation strategies applied for factory analysis in conceptual phase using simulation

Despite that simulation possesses an establish background and offers tremendous promise for designing and analyzing complex production systems, manufacturing industry has been less successful in using it as a decision support tool, especially in the conceptual phase of factory design. This paper presents how simplification and aggregation strategies are incorporated in a modeling, simulation and analysis tool, with the aim of supporting decision making in conceptual phase. Conceptual modeling is guided by a framework using an object library with generic drag and drop system components and system control objects. Data inputs are simplified by the use of Effective Process Time distributions and a novel aggregation method for product mix cycle time differences. The out coming specification is through a Web Service interface handle by modeling system architecture, automatically generating a simulation model and analysis. Case studies confirm a breakthrough in project time reduction without appreciable effects on the model¿s fidelity.
License plate detection using Haar-like features and histogram of oriented gradients

The Haar-like cascaded classifier has been used in license plate detection and yields a high detection rate, but it often has high false positives. We introduced a classifier which was trained through histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) features to judge the likelihood of candidate plates detected by Haar classifier, and selected the candidate with highest likelihood as the final plate, in order to reduce the false positives. This method was tested on 3000 images to obtain a recall rate of 95.2%, and accuracy of 94.0% as opposed to 66.4% without using HOG features. It was shown that the proposed method is able to eliminate most of the false candidate plates, such as barriers and incomplete plates.
Estimates of Breast Cancer Growth Rate and Sojourn Time from Screening Database Information

A new method has been developed that can be used to estimate tumor growth rate from information on the numbers and sizes of breast cancers found at screening. With use of this method and information available for the tumors seen over the last decade at the Breast Imaging Division at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), it appears that the median doubling time for invasive breast cancer is approximately 130 days. From this doubling time value, together with information on the sizes at which breast cancers become detectable on clinical grounds and by screening, it appears that the mean and median sojourn times for invasive breast cancers in the MGH population are approximately 1.7 and 1.3 years, respectively.
Introduction to cochlear implants.

Cochlear implants have been very successful in restoring partial hearing to profoundly deaf people. Many individuals with implants are now able to communicate and understand speech without lip-reading, and some are able to talk over the phone. Children with implants can develop spoken-language skills and attend normal schools (i.e., schools with normal-hearing children). The greatest benefits with cochlear implantation have occurred in patients who (1) acquired speech and language before their hearing loss, and (2) have shorter duration of deafness. Gradual, but steady, improvements in speech production and speech perception have also occurred in prelingually deafened adults or children.
Arabidopsis Seedlings Deficient in a Plastidic Pyruvate Kinase Are Unable to Utilize Seed Storage Compounds for Germination and Establishment1[OA]

Catabolism of storage reserves and biosynthesis of metabolites necessary for growth are essential for seed germination and establishment. An Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant (pkp1) deficient in plastidic pyruvate kinase (PKp) and unable to accumulate storage oil to the same extent as the wild type shows delayed germination and seedling establishment dependent on an exogenous sugar supply. It appears, however, as though these phenotypes are not entirely caused specifically by lack of seed oil and may be related to reduced PKp activity in germinating seeds. Increasing the sucrose concentration in the medium further inhibits germination of pkp1, possibly due to the accumulation of soluble sugars in seeds. Germinating seeds of pkp1 are unable to metabolize storage oil and cannot utilize applied sucrose for hypocotyl elongation in the dark. Moreover, pkp1 contains less tocopherol and chlorophyll than the wild type. Taken together, the results are consistent with a model in which PKp is required for the efficient conversion of sugar into precursors for different anabolic pathways.
Investigation of small-scale air-sea interaction processes by active thermography

Active thermography is a non-contact instrumentation that can be used to investigate small-scale air-sea interaction processes at a footprint of a square meter and with time constants of minutes. It can be used also in large wind/wave facilities. Therefore it is a very useful instrument to investigate the mechanisms of air-sea gas transfer. The principles of the measurement technique are explained. Measurements from the Baltic Sea and the large annular Heidelberg Air-Sea Interaction Facility (Aeolotron) show the large variability of the gas exchange with the wave field and surface films.
Reed warbler orientation: initiation of nocturnal migratory flights in relation to visibility of celestial cues at dusk

We used radiotelemetry to investigate the time of migratory flight initiation relative to available celestial orientation cues and departure direction of a nocturnal passerine migrant, the reed warbler, Acrocephalus scirpaceus, during autumn migration. The study was carried out at Falsterbo, a coastal site in southwest Sweden. The warblers initiated migration from times well after local sunset and well into the night, corresponding to sun elevations between -4 degrees and -35 degrees, coinciding with the occurrence of stars at night. They departed in the expected migratory direction towards south of southwest with a few initiating migration in reverse directions towards northeast to east. Flight directions under overcast conditions (7-8/8) were more scattered than under clear sky conditions (0-4/8). There were fewer clouds on departure nights than on nights when the birds did not initiate migration. For birds staying longer than one night at stopover the horizontal visibility was higher and precipitation was less likely on departure nights than on the previous night. The results show that the visibility of celestial cues, and stars in particular, are important for the decision to initiate migration in reed warblers. However, cloud cover, horizontal visibility and precipitation might be correlated with other weather variables (i.e. wind or air pressure) that are also likely to be important for the decision to migrate. Copyright 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Average consensus on networks with quantized communication

This work presents a contribution to the solution of the average agreement problem on a network with quantized links. Starting from the well‐known linear diffusion algorithm, we propose a simple and effective adaptation that is able to preserve the average of states and to drive the system near to the consensus value, when a uniform quantization is applied to communication between agents. The properties of this algorithm are investigated both by a worst‐case analysis and by a probabilistic analysis, and are shown to depend on the spectral properties of the evolution matrix. A special attention is devoted to the issue of the dependence of the performance on the number of agents, and several examples are given. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Commute variability and strain

The commute impedance model (e.g. Stokols, Novaco, Stokols and Campbell, 1978) is evaluated through a literature review and survey of commuters who drive to work (N=418). A new construct for the study of commuting - commute variability - is introduced and tested in the framework of the survey. Findings from the literature review indicated (a) partial support for the first proposition of the impedance model, namely, that impedance - measured as commute distance or time - causes strain (e.g. employee health deficits), but (b) no support for the second proposition of the model, namely that the impedance strain is moderated by control or the availability of choice. Similarly, the survey showed that (a) commute length (impedance) is consistently correlated with strain, (b) choice is weakly and negatively related to strain, but (c) there is no interactive relationship of choice and length with strain. Furthermore, the results suggest that (a) commute variability is the strongest correlate of commute strain, and that (b) once commute variability is partialled out, most of the partial correlations between impedance and strain are not significant. The paper concludes with an alternative commuting strain model which includes the new commute-variability construct.
Bone Marrow Micrometastases and Adjuvant Treatment of Breast Cancer

Abstract: The immunohistochemical detection of epithelially derived cells in the bone marrow of patients with primary breast cancer has been shown to be associated with increased risk of distant relapse as well as higher rates of cancer‐related death. Despite the correlation between bone marrow micrometastases and poor outcome in breast cancer patients, bone marrow status does not yet have an established role in patient management. In this prospective study, adjuvant therapy recommendations for 43 patients with stage I, II, or III breast cancer treated with lumpectomy or mastectomy, sentinel lymph node biopsy and/or axillary dissection, and intraoperative bone marrow aspiration were recorded. Recommendations were made by a multidisciplinary tumor board both blinded and unblinded to the results of the bone marrow aspiration. In our study, 10 of the 43 breast cancer patients were found to have bone marrow micrometastases. Four of these patients (40%) had axillary lymph node metastases. When blinded to the results of the bone marrow aspiration, the tumor board recommended adjuvant chemotherapy for these four node‐positive patients, as well as two node‐negative patients. When unblinded to the results of the bone marrow aspiration, the tumor board did not change its recommendations for any of these six patients. The remaining four node‐negative, bone marrow‐positive patients were not advised to have adjuvant chemotherapy by the tumor board when blinded to bone marrow status. However, once the tumor board was informed of the presence of bone marrow micrometastases, adjuvant chemotherapy was recommended for all of these patients. The results of this pilot study indicate that the presence of bone marrow micrometastases in breast cancer patients with stage I, II, or III disease does influence recommendations for adjuvant chemotherapy, particularly in patients with node‐negative disease.
DIRECT ASSESSMENT, DIRECT VALIDATION? AN EXAMPLE FROM THE ASSESSMENT OF WRITING

Complex performance assessments are becoming increasingly popular, at least in part because of the directness with which these assessments are accomplished. As Messick (1992) has argued, however, the apparent directness of such measures does not exempt them from the need to marshal validity evidence in support of their use. An example is given of one kind of evidence – assessment users' satisfaction with the performances generated by examinees – that may contribute to the validation of performance assessments. The example is from the realm of the direct assessment of writing in the context of graduate school admissions.
At-Risk Children's Metacognitive Growth During Reading Recovery Experience: A Vygotskian Interpretation

Metacognition (i.e., self-appraisal and self-management) implies the process of active control over one’s own cognition (Brown, 1980; Jacobs & Paris, 1987). This study described 17 at-risk first graders’metacognitive growth in an early literacy intervention program—Reading Recovery. Each child was encouraged to relate an oral tale based in experience and then asked to dictate that oral monologue as a writ ten-for-others text. Per Vygotsky’s (1962) developmental theory which relates speaking and thinking through the regulatory function of language and the internal ization of others’discourses, metacognition was observed in the children’s spontaneous speech as they engaged in a challenging literacy task such as adapting an oral tale to a literate register text. Data were collected at the entry and exit of the Reading Recovery experience. Linguistic, statistical, and qualitative analyses were performed using Cox’s (1994) guidelines. Results revealed that the children exhibited statistically significant and qualitatively distinct growth during the enrichment experience, not only in their knowledge about self, literacy task, and task related strategies, but also in their regulatory capacities to gain control over text content and to accommodate audience needs. Limitations and implications of the study are also discussed.
Human herpesvirus 6 and multiple sclerosis: the continuing conundrum.

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is one of the latest in a long list of infectious agents postulated to play a role in the etiopatho-genesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). It is essential in critically evaluating the still exceedingly controversial association between MS and HHV-6 to understand the basic biology of the virus. HHV-6 was first isolated in 1986 from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with lymphoproliferative disorders [1]. Two " variants, " HHV-6A and HHV-6B, that differ enough in their epidemiology , pathogenesis, and genomic sequence to essentially be considered separate viral species have been identified, although not yet taxonomically recognized as such. In 1988, HHV-6B was etiologi-cally associated with a human disease, ex-anthema subitum (ES) [2]. HHV-6A is still essentially an orphan virus, although it is likely to induce disease similar to HHV-6B [3]. HHV-6A and HHV-6B, along with HHV-7, are members of the Roseolovirus genus of the b-herpesvirus subfamily. These viruses share the common properties of ubiquitous prevalence in human populations, a propensity to cause illnesses characterized by fever and rash, and the capacity to grow in lymphoid cells. The basic structure of HHV-6 is similar to that of other herpesviruses and includes a double-stranded DNA genome enclosed in an icosahedral protein capsid surrounded by a tegument. This entire structure is in turn contained within a host-cell–derived lipid envelope into which viral proteins are inserted. Infection is initiated when virus binds to CD46 [4], a 57–67-kDa type I transmembrane glyco-protein expressed on the surface of all nu-cleated human cells. CD46 is 1 of at least 6 glycoproteins belonging to the regulator of complement activation (RCA) protein family, several of which can serve as viral receptors. Interestingly, both HHV-6 and measles can use CD46 as a receptor, although they bind to distinct domains [5]. Increased levels of soluble CD46 can be detected in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with MS and other in-flammatory diseases, compared with that in control subjects, although the patho-genetic significance of this remains uncertain [6]. The cell attachment protein of HHV-6 has not been definitely identified, although mapping of neutralization epitopes by monoclonal antibodies indicate that multiple envelope glycoproteins, including gp82-gp105 and the gH-gL complex, are likely candidates. Entry occurs through receptor mediated endocytosis after which the virus envelope is removed, and the nucleocapsid is transported to the nucleus. The subsequent stages of viral replication are likely to be substantially similar …