Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lactate Dehydrogenase B Is Associated with the Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) comprises a subset of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) with poor therapeutic outcomes and high glycolytic dependency. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens of docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (TPF) are currently accepted as standard regimens for HNSCC patients with a high risk of distant metastatic spread. However, the antitumor outcomes of TPF neoadjuvant chemotherapy in HNSCC remain controversial. This study investigated the role of lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB), a key glycolytic enzyme catalyzing the inter-conversion between pyruvate and lactate, in determining chemotherapy response and prognosis in OSCC patients. We discovered that a high protein level of LDHB in OSCC patients was associated with a poor response to TPF regimen chemotherapy as well as poor overall survival and disease-free survival. Our in-depth study revealed that high LDHB expression conferred resistance to taxol but not 5-fluorouracil or cisplatin. LDHB deletion sensitized OSCC cell lines to taxol, whereas the introduction of LDHB decreased sensitivity to taxol treatment. Taxol induced a pronounced impact on LDHB-down-regulated OSCC cells in terms of apoptosis, G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and energy metabolism. In conclusion, our study highlighted the critical role of LDHB in OSCC and proposed that LDHB could be used as a biomarker for the stratification of patients for TPF neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the determination of prognosis in OSCC patients.
The Learning Leader / The Extracurricular Advantage

Various researchers have noted a strong association between student involvement in extracurricular activities and improved attendance, behavior, and academic performance (Black, 2002; Fredricks & Eccles, 2006; Fujita, 2006; Holloway, 2002). But these findings don't address the chicken-and-egg question, Does involvement in extracurricular activities actually improve outcomes for individual students, or do better students simply tend to get involved in more extracurricular activities? One high school's experience suggests that a concerted effort to increase extracurricular offerings and participation can contribute to schoolwide academic improvement.
Software Engineering Challenges in Multi Platform Mobile Application Development

Mobile application development for smart phones has been increasing in last years as mobile phones have become an essential part of our contemporary life. As with any new phenomena, mobile application development has its own set of challenges, which attracted interested researchers in this new field. Nowadays, mobile applications become more complex, moving beyond inexpensive entertaining applications to more business critical uses, thus, it becomes essential to apply software engineering process to assure the development of secure, high-quality mobile applications. This paper highlights important issues in mobile application development using native development kits and cross-platform frameworks; it also discusses challenges in the software engineering activities for mobile applications development.
Screening and Evaluation of Polyhydroxybutyrate-Producing Strains from Indigenous Isolate Cupriavidus taiwanensis Strains

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a biodegradable material with many potential biomedical applications, including medical implants and drug delivery. This study developed a system for screening production strains in order to optimize PHA production in Cupriavidus taiwanensis 184, 185, 186, 187, 204, 208, 209 and Pseudomona oleovorans ATCC 29347. In this study, Sudan black B staining, Infrared (IR) and Gas Chromatography (GC) analysis indicated that the best strain for PHA synthesis is C. taiwanensis 184, which obtains polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). Cultivation of C. taiwanensis 184 under a pH of 7.0, at 30 °C, and at an agitation rate of 200 rpm, obtained a PHB content of 10% and PHB production of 0.14 g/L. The carbon and nitrogen types selected for analysis of PHB production by C. taiwanensis 184 were gluconic acid and NH4Cl, respectively. Optimal carbon/nitrogen ratio for PHB production was also determined. This study demonstrated a PHB content of 58.81% and a PHB production of 2.44 g/L when the carbon/nitrogen ratio of 8/1 was selected for C. taiwanensis 184. A two-stage fermentation strategy significantly enhanced PHB content and PHB production. Under a two-stage fermentation strategy with nutrient-limited conditions, C. taiwanensis 184 obtained a PHB content of 72% and a PHB concentration of 7 g/L. Finally, experimental results confirmed that optimizing the growth medium and fermentation conditions for cultivating the indigenous C. taiwanensis 184 strain substantially elevated PHB content from 10% to 72% and PHB production from 0.14 g/L to 7 g/L, respectively.
Synaptic Dysfunction in Prion Diseases: A Trafficking Problem?

Synaptic dysfunction is an important cause of neurological symptoms in prion diseases, a class of clinically heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorders caused by misfolding of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). Experimental data suggest that accumulation of misfolded PrPC in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) may be crucial in synaptic failure, possibly because of the activation of the translational repression pathway of the unfolded protein response. Here, we report that this pathway is not operative in mouse models of genetic prion disease, consistent with our previous observation that ER stress is not involved. Building on our recent finding that ER retention of mutant PrPC impairs the secretory trafficking of calcium channels essential for synaptic function, we propose a model of pathogenicity in which intracellular retention of misfolded PrPC results in loss of function or gain of toxicity of PrPC-interacting proteins. This neurotoxic modality may also explain the phenotypic heterogeneity of prion diseases.
DOES A MORE SOPHISTICATED STORM EROSION MODEL IMPROVE PROBABILISTIC EROSION ESTIMATES

The dependency between the accuracy/uncertainty of storm erosion exceedance estimates obtained via a probabilistic model and the level of sophistication of the structural function (storm erosion model) embedded in the probabilistic model is assessed via the application of Callaghan et al.'s (2008) Joint Probability Model (JPM) at Narrabeen beach, Australia with three different structural functions: (a) Kriebel and Dean (1993) (analytical); (b) SBEACH (semiempirical); and (c) XBeach (fully process based). Results indicate that the accuracy is greatest for JPM-SBEACH and lowest for JPM-XBeach. The most uncertain results are given by JPM-XBeach while the most robust results are given by JPM-SBEACH. Thus, it appears that increasing the level of sophistication of the structural function beyond the semi-empirical SBEACH model, may not always lead to better results and may even be counter-productive.
Computerized Breast Cancer Diagnosis with Genetic Algorithms and Neural Network

Breast cancer has become a common mortality factor in Malaysia. Despite the fact, not all general hospitals have the mammogram facilities. The long waiting for diagnosing a breast cancer may increase the possibility of fatality and the cancer spreading. Therefore a computerized breast cancer diagnosis prototype has been developed to reduce the time taken and indirectly reducing the probability of death. As Back Propagation Neural Network(BPNN) are commonly used in medical field[9], the prototype model will use this method as a classifier as well. However, BPNN has several issue and weakness to be address. Therefore, the architecture will be enhanced with Genetic Algorithm(GA) technology. By combining the GA and BPNN, a faster classifier model can be developed, without downgrading the classification performance. The development of this model, namely GAwNN; is aimed to reduce the diagnosis time as well as increasing the accuracy percentage in classifying mass in breast to either benign, or malignant.
Diet of feral goats and feral pigs on Auckland Island, New Zealand.

The diets of feral pigs and feral goats shot on the main Auckland Island in 1989 are described from analyses of stomach and rumen contents. Feral goats ate at least 50 species of plants, but only three, Metrosideros umbellata, Chionochloa antarctica, and Durvillea antarctica made up over 50% by dried weight of the food eaten. Feral pigs ate a mixed plant and animal diet, of which plants made up 61% of the diet, with the megaherb Anisotome antipoda being the largest dietary item at 38% by dried weight. The animals eaten by pigs were mostly annelids, at 26% by dry weight of their diet, and there was little evidence of predation or scavenging on birds. Goats have subsequently been eradicated from the island, but feral pigs remain arguably a potential threat to current conservation values and certainly an impediment to any restoration of the island’s natural values. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist and Interleukin-4 Genes Variable Number Tandem Repeats Are Associated with Adiposity in Malaysian Subjects

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1RA) intron 2 86 bp repeat and interleukin-4 (IL4) intron 3 70 bp repeat are variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) that have been associated with various diseases, but their role in obesity is elusive. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of IL1RA and IL4 VNTRs with obesity and adiposity in 315 Malaysian subjects (128 M/187 F; 23 Malays/251 ethnic Chinese/41 ethnic Indians). The allelic distributions of IL1RA and IL4 were significantly different among ethnicities, and the alleles were associated with total body fat (TBF) classes. Individuals with IL1RA I/II genotype or allele II had greater risk of having higher overall adiposity, relative to those having the I/I genotype or I allele, respectively, even after controlling for ethnicity [Odds Ratio (OR) of I/II genotype = 12.21 (CI = 2.54, 58.79; p = 0.002); II allele = 5.78 (CI = 1.73, 19.29; p = 0.004)]. However, IL4 VNTR B2 allele was only significantly associated with overall adiposity status before adjusting for ethnicity [OR = 1.53 (CI = 1.04, 2.23; p = 0.03)]. Individuals with IL1RA II allele had significantly higher TBF than those with I allele (31.79 ± 2.52 versus 23.51 ± 0.40; p = 0.005). Taken together, IL1RA intron 2 VNTR seems to be a genetic marker for overall adiposity status in Malaysian subjects.
Mcm1 Promotes Replication Initiation by Binding Specific Elements at Replication Origins

ABSTRACT Minichromosome maintenance protein 1 (Mcm1) is required for efficient replication of autonomously replicating sequence (ARS)-containing plasmids in yeast cells. Reduced DNA binding activity in the Mcm1-1 mutant protein (P97L) results in selective initiation of a subset of replication origins and causes instability of ARS-containing plasmids. This plasmid instability in the mcm1-1 mutant can be overcome for a subset of ARSs by the inclusion of flanking sequences. Previous work showed that Mcm1 binds sequences flanking the minimal functional domains of ARSs. Here, we dissected two conserved telomeric X ARSs, ARS120 (XARS6L) and ARS131a (XARS7R), that replicate with different efficiencies in the mcm1-1 mutant. We found that additional Mcm1 binding sites in the C domain of ARS120 that are missing in ARS131a are responsible for efficient replication of ARS120 in the mcm1-1 mutant. Mutating a conserved Mcm1 binding site in the C domain diminished replication efficiency in ARS120 in wild-type cells, and increasing the number of Mcm1 binding sites stimulated replication efficiency. Our results suggest that threshold occupancy of Mcm1 in the C domain of telomeric ARSs is required for efficient initiation. We propose that origin usage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae may be regulated by the occupancy of Mcm1 at replication origins.
Plural marking in French NA/AN combinations: What liaison can tell us

Abstract Our paper discusses different patterns of plural marking in N(oun)A(djective)/A(djective)N(oun)-combinations in phonic French. We first show, based on previous observations, that French has incomplete plural agreement in complex nominal phrases and that there is a striking asymmetry between AN-combinations (plural marking on the determiner and prenominal adjectives via liaison, where possible) and NA-combinations (usually, only plural marking on the determiner and infrequent liaison between N and postnominal A). In order to understand this discrepancy, we have analyzed all the occurrences of AN and NA in two French corpora and found a strong tendency for liaison in NA only to appear systematically and independently from register variation in “proper-name like” expressions such as Jeux Olympiques ‘Olympic Games’ ([ʒøzolɛ̃pik]). In a third step, we discuss this empirical finding and consider it synchronically as a case of morphophonological “proper name marking” (cf. Nübling 2005).
Self-employed migrants from EU Member States in Poland: differentiated professional trajectories and explanations of entrepreneurial success

ABSTRACT This article discusses the diversified self-employment trajectories of intra-EU migrant entrepreneurs in Poland in the context of the culture hierarchies persistent in Europe. The business ventures are established by intra-EU labour migrants, graduates of Polish universities, but also lifestyle migrants and individuals who migrate to Poland because of a partner or family residing here. Nationals of the post-2004 Member States are more inclined to register their own business entities than are nationals of the EU-15 countries: they are also more susceptible to the risk of failure (closing or suspending an enterprise). Qualitative research reveals that the career trajectories of EU-15 nationals are not necessarily dependent upon integration efforts. Immigrant entrepreneurs from countries like the UK or Spain may attract customer attention by profiting from their cultural background, but many of them exhibit a tendency to live in language and cultural enclaves. Migrant entrepreneurs from the EU-12 typically become successful in their business activities when they are well integrated with the host society - especially if they have a good knowledge of Polish.
THE REDMAPPER GALAXY CLUSTER CATALOG FROM DES SCIENCE VERIFICATION DATA

We describe updates to the redMaPPer algorithm, a photometric red-sequence cluster finder specifically designed for large photometric surveys. The updated algorithm is applied to of Science Verification (SV) data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), and to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR8 photometric data set. The DES SV catalog is locally volume limited and contains 786 clusters with richness (roughly equivalent to ) and . The DR8 catalog consists of 26,311 clusters with , with a sharply increasing richness threshold as a function of redshift for . The photometric redshift performance of both catalogs is shown to be excellent, with photometric redshift uncertainties controlled at the level for , rising to ∼0.02 at in DES SV. We make use of Chandra and XMM X-ray and South Pole Telescope Sunyaev–Zeldovich data to show that the centering performance and mass–richness scatter are consistent with expectations based on prior runs of redMaPPer on SDSS data. We also show how the redMaPPer photo-z and richness estimates are relatively insensitive to imperfect star/galaxy separation and small-scale star masks.
Projection Neurons with Shared Cotransmitters Elicit Different Motor Patterns from the Same Neural Circuit

Specificity in the actions of different modulatory neurons is often attributed to their having distinct cotransmitter complements. We are assessing the validity of this hypothesis with the stomatogastric nervous system of the crab Cancer borealis. In this nervous system, the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) contains a multifunctional network that generates the gastric mill and pyloric rhythms. Two identified projection neurons [modulatory proctolin neuron (MPN) and modulatory commissural neuron 1 (MCN1)] that innervate the STG and modulate these rhythms contain GABA and the pentapeptide proctolin, but only MCN1 contains Cancer borealis tachykinin-related peptide (CabTRP Ia). Selective activation of each projection neuron elicits different rhythms from the STG. MPN elicits only a pyloric rhythm, whereas MCN1 elicits a distinct pyloric rhythm as well as a gastric mill rhythm. We tested the degree to which CabTRP Ia distinguishes the actions of MCN1 and MPN. To this end, we used the tachykinin receptor antagonist Spantide I to eliminate the actions of CabTRP Ia. With Spantide I present, MCN1 no longer elicited the gastric mill rhythm and the resulting pyloric rhythm was changed. Although this rhythm was more similar to the MPN-elicited pyloric rhythm, these rhythms remained different. Thus, CabTRP Ia partially confers the differences in rhythm generation resulting from MPN versus MCN1 activation. This result suggests that different projection neurons may use the same cotransmitters differently to elicit distinct pyloric rhythms. It also supports the hypothesis that different projection neurons use a combination of strategies, including using distinct cotransmitter complements, to elicit different outputs from the same neuronal network.
Occupational Gender Composition and Wages in Sweden

We estimate the relationship between wages and occupational gender segregation in Sweden. Because of high wage equality in Sweden compared to the U.S., we expect a lower wage penalty of job femaleness in Sweden than in the U.S. Our results supports this hypothesis. We also investigate how the unexplained gender wage gap vary across occupations and find that this gap is smallest in male dominated jobs and largest in female dominated jobs. Finally, we investigate whether the female wage-experience profiles are different across occupations. Our results indicate that women have flatter wage-experience profiles in female dominated occupations than in male dominated occupations.
Bowel Perforation in Premature Infants with Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Risk Factors and Outcomes

We aim to determine risk factors and clinical outcomes for bowel perforation in premature infants with NEC. We analyzed clinical data of 57 cases of premature infants with NEC at our NICU between January 2010 and December 2012. Based on the presence of bowel perforation, we divided these infants into two groups: perforated NEC group (n = 10) and nonperforated NEC group (n = 47). We compared general information, clinical characteristics, and laboratory findings between groups. The perforated NEC group, compared to the nonperforated NEC group, had significantly lesser gestational age, lower birth weight, higher prevalence of apnea, mechanical ventilation, sepsis and shock, lower blood pH, higher levels of blood glucose, abnormal WBC count and thrombocytopenia, and elevated CRP (all P < 0.05). Moreover, the perforated NEC group had significantly longer durations of fasting and TPN usage, higher incidences of EUGR and cholestasis, longer duration of antibiotics, higher frequency of advanced antibiotics use, and poorer prognosis than the nonperforated NEC group (all P < 0.05). Bowel perforation in premature infants with NEC was associated with multiple risk factors. Early identification of some of these risk factors in premature infants with NEC may help implement early intervention to reduce the incidence of bowel perforation and thereby improve the prognosis.
Metabolic and miRNA Profiling of TMV Infected Plants Reveals Biphasic Temporal Changes

Plant viral infections induce changes including gene expression and metabolic components. Identification of metabolites and microRNAs (miRNAs) differing in abundance along infection may provide a broad view of the pathways involved in signaling and defense that orchestrate and execute the response in plant-pathogen interactions. We used a systemic approach by applying both liquid and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to determine the relative level of metabolites across the viral infection, together with a miRs profiling using a micro-array based procedure. Systemic changes in metabolites were characterized by a biphasic response after infection. The first phase, detected at one dpi, evidenced the action of a systemic signal since no virus was detected systemically. Several of the metabolites increased at this stage were hormone-related. miRs profiling after infection also revealed a biphasic alteration, showing miRs alteration at 5 dpi where no virus was detected systemically and a late phase correlating with virus accumulation. Correlation analyses revealed a massive increase in the density of correlation networks after infection indicating a complex reprogramming of the regulatory pathways, either in response to the plant defense mechanism or to the virus infection itself. Our data propose the involvement of a systemic signaling on early miRs alteration.
A Double-blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

\s=b\A controlled study in patients with bulimia demonstrated a significant benefit from desipramine hydrochloride treatment (91% decrease in binge frequency) in contrast to the results from a placebo (19% increase in frequency). When patients originally taking the placebo crossed over to desipramine therapy, their frequency of binges decreased 84%, so that the overall improvement was 87% fewer binges. Global clinical status improved 3.5 scales, Zung depression scores improved 8.0 points, and a bulimia symptom scale improved 14.7 points. Fifteen (68%) of 22 patients attained complete abstinence from binge eating and purging. The presence or absence of previous episodes of anorexia nervosa did not influence the treatment response. One-month follow-up data indicated persistence of the benefit attained. (Arch Gen Psychiatry 1986;43:182-186)
Protection in elastic optical networks

In this article, we analyze gains resulting from the use of EON architectures with special focus on transportation of cloud-ready and content-oriented traffic in the context of network resilience. EONs are a promising approach for future optical transport networks and, apart from improving the network spectral efficiency, bring such new capabilities as squeezed protection, which reduces resource requirements in failure scenarios. In the introductory part, we present a background on new network services based on cloud computing and content orientation paradigms, EON architectures, and their survivability mechanisms. Next, we show the impact of disasters on EON performance. To support the discussion, in the evaluation part we provide simulation results to compare survivable EONs and wavelength-switching optical networks, estimate the efficiency of different survivable EON schemes supporting cloud- and content-oriented traffic, and assess the robustness of EONs to disasters.
Dual Enrollment Programs: Litigation and Equity

Policymakers and practitioners are increasingly guiding K-12 students into dual enrollment programs. Dual enrollment programs have aided in improving the academic, occupational, and social trajectories of minoritized students although the gains of minoritized students in dual enrollment programs often trail the gains of White students in dual enrollment programs. The research on the legal risk of dual enrollment programs for primary/secondary and postsecondary institutions is scant. The article evaluates whether school districts and/or postsecondary institutions may experience increased risk of litigation arising from the negligent protection of minors on postsecondary campuses. This article uses legal research methods to provide scenarios when harm to minor visitors to college campuses has resulted in judgments against postsecondary institutions. The article provides guidance—based on current legal precedent—for the avoidance of legal liability for school districts and postsecondary institutions participating in dual enrollment programs.