Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reduced Prevalence of the C825T Polymorphism of the G-Protein Beta Subunit Gene in Women with Breast Cancer

Objective To evaluate the prevalence of the C825T polymorphism in the GNB3 gene in women with and without breast cancer and its possible association with clinical or pathological features of breast disease. Subjects and methods We included 134 women with breast cancer and a control group of 129 healthy women. The case group responded to a questionnaire on lifestyle, reproductive factors and family history. Clinical data were also evaluated. The risk for cancer was calculated and PCR was carried out for the detection of the polymorphism. Statistical analysis was performed using the package R Environment, with confidence intervals of 95% and a significance level of 5% (P<0.05). Results The frequency of the TT genotype was significantly greater in women of the control group (30.2%) than women with breast cancer (14.9%) (p=0.02). The polymorphism was not associated with clinical features, age at diagnosis (p=0.07), age at menarche (p=0.17), and age at menopause (p=0.60). The TT genotype did not have a higher frequency in patients with high BMI (p=0.98). The risk for cancer showed no correlation with the presence of the polymorphism. Conclusions Our data indicate that the C825T polymorphism in the GNB3 gene has no relationship to the risk for breast cancer or the characteristics of the disease.
Migratory bats respond to artificial green light with positive phototaxis

Artificial light at night is spreading worldwide at unprecedented rates, exposing strictly nocturnal animals such as bats to a novel anthropogenic stressor. Previous studies about the effect of artificial light on bats focused almost exclusively on non-migratory species, yet migratory animals such as birds are known to be largely affected by light pollution. Thus, we conducted a field experiment to evaluate if bat migration is affected by artificial light at night. In late summer, we presented artificial green light of 520 nm wavelength to bats that were migrating south along the shoreline of the Baltic Sea. Using a light on-off treatment, we observed that the activity of Pipistrellus nathusii and P. pygmaeus, the two most abundant migratory species at our site, increased by more than 50% in the light-on compared to the light-off treatment. We observed an increased number of feeding buzzes during the light-on compared to the light-off treatment for P. nathusii. However, feeding activity was low in general and did not increase disproportionately during the light-on treatment in relation to the overall echolocation call activity of bats. Further, P. nathusii were attracted towards the green light at a distance of about 23 m, which is way beyond the echolocation detection range for insects of Nathusius’ bats. We therefore infer that migratory bats were not attracted to artificial green light because of high insect densities, but instead by positive phototaxis. We conclude that artificial light at night may potentially impact bat migration in a yet unrecognized way.
Matrix metalloproteinase-9 and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1: a possible role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

BACKGROUND Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of endopeptidases which play a role in the degradation and turnover of extracellular matrix proteins. Their action is regulated by specific tissue inhibitors called tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). METHODS We measured the concentrations of total and active MMP-9 in peritoneal fluid of infertile women with mild or moderate endometriosis (n = 22) and compared them with those in a control group of infertile patients (n = 21). RESULTS We found that the mean (+/-SD) total concentrations of MMP-9 in the peritoneal fluid of patients with endometriosis was 6.2 +/- 1.8 ng/ml, in comparison with 2.9 +/- 2.6 ng/ml in the control group (P = 0.001). Concentrations of active MMP-9 did not differ significantly between the groups. The concentrations of TIMP-1, after logarithmic transformation, were significantly lower (P = 0.017) in endometriotic peritoneal fluids than in peritoneal fluid of control women, 1.02 +/- 0.21 ng/ml and 1.16 +/- 0.18 ng/ml respectively. No correlation between stage of disease, steroid hormone concentration, MMP-9 (total and active) and TIMP-1 was found. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that a disturbed equilibrium exists between MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis. This may play an important role in the pathogenesis of the disease.
The duration and durability of cabinet ministers

This article surveys the growing research programme on the duration of cabinet ministers. It examines some of the conceptual and methodological issues confronting research, including the nature and measurement of durability, ministerial terms and techniques. It considers some of the theories and hypotheses that have been generated by researchers. Using evidence from studies from around the world, it argues that institutional factors, including regime type, constitutional and parliamentary rules, and party systems, affect ministerial durability. Personal ministerial characteristics, such as gender, education and age, also affect durability. It examines future avenues of research in this field.
Groupware and social dynamics: eight challenges for developers

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses challenges for developers while using groupware applications. To understand the problems encountered by groupware applications, it is essential to realize that most interest in groupware development is found among the developers and users of commercial off-the-shelf products who previously focused exclusively on single-user applications. In addition to technical challenges, groupware poses a fundamental problem for product developers: Because individuals interact with a groupware application, it has all the interface design challenges of single-user applications, supplemented by a host of new challenges arising from its direct involvement in group processes. A groupware application never provides precisely the same benefit to every group member. Costs and benefits depend on preferences, prior experience, roles, and assignments. Although a groupware application is expected to provide a collective benefit, some people must adjust more than others. Ideally, each individual benefits, even if they do not benefit equally. Most groupware requires some people to do additional work to enter or process information required or produced by the application.
Cooperative games and multiagent systems

Abstract Forming coalitions is a generic means for cooperation: people, robots, web services, resources, firms; they can all improve their performance by joining forces. The use of coalitions has been successful in domains such as task allocations, sensor networks, and electronic marketplaces. Forming efficient coalitions requires the identification of matching synergies between different entities (finding complementary partners, or similar partners, or partners who add diversity). In addition, the different parties must negotiate a fair repartition of the worth created by the coalition. The first part of this paper is a tutorial on cooperative game theory (also called coalitional games). We then survey the different scenarios and the key issues addressed by the multiagent systems community.
What's in It for Me?

Abstract Social service workers' values and religious beliefs often differ greatly from those of their clients. This paper will assist helping professionals to develop a deeper understanding of the motivations behind clients' religious behaviors by describing religious participation through the lens of rational choice theory. A working definition of rational choice is provided. A graphic construct explaining the interaction of demand and supply on religious participation is presented. This model shows how a feedback loop develops to increase religious involvement. A discussion follows regarding religious participation as viewed from a demand side and supply side perspective. The paper concludes with ideas of how the information applies to social service workers and researchers.
Differential response of the plant Medicago truncatula to its symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti or an exopolysaccharide-deficient mutant

Sinorhizobium meliloti forms symbiotic, nitrogen-fixing nodules on the roots of Medicago truncatula. The bacteria invade and colonize the roots through structures called infection threads. S. meliloti unable to produce the exopolysaccharide succinoglycan are unable to establish a symbiosis because they are defective in initiating the production of infection threads and in invading the plant. Here, we use microarrays representing 16,000 M. truncatula genes to compare the differential transcriptional responses of this host plant to wild-type and succinoglycan-deficient S. meliloti at the early time point of 3 days postinoculation. This report describes an early divergence in global plant gene expression responses caused by a rhizobial defect in succinoglycan production, rather than in Nod factor production. The microarray data show that M. truncatula inoculated with wild-type, succinoglycan-producing S. meliloti more strongly express genes encoding translation components, protein degradation machinery, and some nodulins than plants inoculated with succinoglycan-deficient bacteria. This finding is consistent with wild-type-inoculated plants having received a signal, distinct from the well characterized Nod factor, to alter their metabolic activity and prepare for invasion. In contrast, M. truncatula inoculated with succinoglycan-deficient S. meliloti more strongly express an unexpectedly large number of genes in two categories: plant defense responses and unknown functions. One model consistent with our results is that appropriate symbiotically active exopolysaccharides act as signals to plant hosts to initiate infection thread formation and that, in the absence of this signal, plants terminate the infection process, perhaps via a defense response.
Nitric Oxide Voltammetric Measurements in the Rat Brain after Gamma Irradiation

Abstract Lestaevel, P., Clarençon, D. , Gharib, A. , Peinnequin, A. , Cespuglio, R. , Gourmelon, P., Alonso, A. , Laval, J. D. and Multon, E. Nitric Oxide Voltammetric Measurements in the Rat Brain after Gamma Irradiation. Radiat. Res. 160, 631–636 (2003). The effects of a lethal γ irradiation were investigated on cerebral NO-ergic system by using a voltammetric method in freely moving rats. It is reported that the cortical NO concentration increases right from the end of the radiation exposure (15 Gy) and reaches a maximal magnitude (+120%) 24 h later. A dose–effect relationship from 2 to 15 Gy for γ-ray exposure has also been observed. The effects, obtained with either an NO synthase inhibitor nonselective for the different NO synthase isoforms or an NO synthase inhibitor selective for the constitutive isoform, suggest that the radiation-induced increase in NO is likely to be dependent on the inducible NO synthase isoform. Moreover, experiments performed under ex vivo conditions showed that the cortical mRNA level for Ca++-independent NO synthase, the brain NOS activity, and urinary nitrites/nitrates increased significantly 24 h after γ-ray exposure. These results demonstrate that a supralethal whole-body irradiation alters the NO-ergic pathways. The increase in NO obtained under such conditions might constitute a good index of central nervous system radiosensitivity during the acute phase of the radiation syndrome.
Attentive Recurrent Comparators

Rapid learning requires flexible representations to quickly adopt to new evidence. We develop a novel class of models called Attentive Recurrent Comparators (ARCs) that form representations of objects by cycling through them and making observations. Using the representations extracted by ARCs, we develop a way of approximating a \textit{dynamic representation space} and use it for one-shot learning. In the task of one-shot classification on the Omniglot dataset, we achieve the state of the art performance with an error rate of 1.5\%. This represents the first super-human result achieved for this task with a generic model that uses only pixel information.
The Neuroscience of Inspirational Leadership: The Importance of Collective-Oriented Language and Shared Group Membership

Effective leaders are believed to inspire followers by providing inclusive visions of the future that followers can identify with. In the present study, we examined the neural mechanisms underlying this process, testing key hypotheses derived from transformational and social identity approaches to leadership. While undergoing functional MRI, supporters from the two major Australian political parties (Liberal vs. Labor) were presented with inspirational collective-oriented and noninspirational personal-oriented statements made by in-group and out-group leaders. Imaging data revealed that inspirational (rather than noninspirational) statements from in-group leaders were associated with increased activation in the bilateral rostral inferior parietal lobule, pars opercularis, and posterior midcingulate cortex: brain areas that are typically implicated in controlling semantic information processing. In contrast, for out-group leaders, greater activation in these areas was associated with noninspirational statements. In addition, noninspirational statements by in-group (but not out-group) leaders resulted in increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area typically associated with reasoning about a person’s mental state. These results show that followers processed identical statements qualitatively differently as a function of leaders’ group membership, thus demonstrating that shared identity acts as an amplifier for inspirational leadership communication.
Numerical Comparison of IP Formulations as ML Decoders

For binary linear codes with short and medium block length ML decoding can be achieved by solving the associated integer programming (IP) problem with a general purpose solver. IP also offers algorithms for computing the minimum distance. In this article, we present several IP formulations and computationally compare them on various LDPC and BCH codes. Most of these formulations are obtained by forcing integrality on linear programming (LP) decoding formulations proposed in the literature.
Cutaneous meningioma: a potential diagnostic pitfall in p63 positive cutaneous neoplasms

Cutaneous meningiomas are divided into three groups. Type I lesions present at birth and are derived from ectopic arachnoid cells. Type II lesions usually present in adults and are derived from arachnoid cells surrounding nerve bundles. Type III lesions are due to direct extension or metastasis from dural‐based neoplasms. Dural‐based meningiomas are known to express p63. The aim of our study is to examine the expression of p63 in type II and type III meningioma. Two cases of cutaneous meningioma (type II and type III) were evaluated for the expression of p63, EMA, CK 5/6, S100 and CD31. The cells of interest were spindled to epithelioid and arranged in a whorling pattern. Immunohistochemical staining showed expression of EMA and p63 in both cases, while stains for CK 5/6, S100 and CD31 were negative. Among cutaneous tumors, p63 is considered a marker of epithelial derivation, as it is positive in epidermal and adnexal neoplasms. It is important to be aware of p63 expression in the context of cutaneous meningioma to avoid misinterpretation as an epithelial tumor. On the basis of our small study, it is unlikely that p63 expression would be helpful in distinguishing between type II and type III meningioma, as both may be p63‐positive.
Modeling Migration Effects on Agricultural Lands: A Growth Equilibrium Model

We estimate a system-of-equations model designed to measure the interaction between intertemporal patterns of changes in population, employment, and agricultural land densities. The model is applied to West Virginia for the 1990–1999 period. Consistent with recent findings on migration patterns, the results show that jobs followed people. New jobs were captured by commuters, while agricultural land losses were occurring in the commuters’ counties of origin or bedroom communities. However, counties with relatively more profitable and concentrated agricultural enterprises were less susceptible to alternative land use pressure than counties with less productive or fragmented agricultural land. Elasticities indicate population change is elastic, whereas employment and agricultural land density changes are inelastic to factors affecting them. Growth management, when combined with agricultural land retention programs, may be most effective at preserving agricultural land in high growth or potential growth areas.
The Role of the University Head of Department

This article presents the findings of questionnaire surveys of departmental heads in one chartered and one statutory university. Comparisons are made between the role in the two types of university and with the findings of a study that was carried out by the author in 1995–6. The main findings of the present study were that, although the role has become more similar in the two types of university, there remain significant differences, most notably relating to the perceived importance of personal research. The most difficult issue identified by heads in both universities was dealing with under-performing staff.
An Investigation into the Relationship between Academic Risk Taking and Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety in Turkey.

This study evaluates the relationship between academic risk taking and chemistry laboratory anxiety using a relational scanning model. The research sample consisted of 127 undergraduate students (sophomores, juniors and seniors) in the Chemistry Teaching Department at Dicle University. This research was done in the spring semester of the 2012 to 2013 academic year. The Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety Scale, developed by Bowen (1999) and adapted into Turkish by Azizoglu and Uzuntiryaki (2006), was used to measure students’ levels of chemistry laboratory anxiety. The Scale of Academic Risk Taking, developed by Clifford (1991) and adapted into Turkish by Korkmaz (2002), was used to measure students’ levels of academic risk taking. The relationship between chemistry laboratory anxiety and academic risk taking was examined using a structural regression model. It was found that academic risk taking explained 39% of the total variance in the chemistry laboratory anxiety scores. This study aims to contribute to the chemistry education literature and to guide chemistry teachers. Key words: Chemistry laboratory anxiety, academic risk taking.
Family and neighbourhood relations in the mental lexicon: A cross-language perspective

The present bilingual study considered cross-language morphological family size effects in English lexical decision and Dutch-English language decision. The English lexical decision data showed a facilitatory effect of Dutch family size on the processing of English-Dutch cognates relative to English control words. No interaction of Dutch family size with cognate type was observed, showing that the degree of form overlap between cognate representations does not influence the direction and size of the family size effect in a language-specific context. However, in Dutch-English language decision, in which a bilingual context is created, Dutch and English family size effects were inhibitory and interacted with cognate type. This sensitivity of the family size effect to the degree of formal overlap between cognate representations led us to perform a re-analysis of available English progressive demasking data of Dijkstra, Miwa, Brummelhuis, Sapelli, and Baayen (2010). Interestingly, Dutch family size was found to inhibit cognate processing, while there was no effect of English family size on either cognates or English control words. We conclude that cross-language family size effects are sensitive to the bilingual or monolingual task context in which lexical items occur and depend on both semantic and formal aspects of word processing. We discuss various mechanisms that can explain the observed family size effects in a spreading activation framework. Chapter 2___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Practice and Coaching on IQ Tests: Quite a Lot of g

In the present research two studies are used to investigate the relation between g loading of tests and practice (test-retest) and coaching (active teaching) effects. The data on practice do not support the hypothesis that the higher a test’s g loading, the less susceptible it is to preparation, but the data on coaching support the hypothesis. There is evidence that practice and coaching reduce the g-loadedness of a collection of tests. The implications of these results for predictive validity, practical usability of the tests, the relevance of traditional intelligence taxonomies, and for future research are discussed.
Consumption of policosanol enhances HDL functionality via CETP inhibition and reduces blood pressure and visceral fat in young and middle-aged subjects

It is well-known that policosanol can improve serum lipid profiles, although the physiological mechanism is still unknown. Here, we investigated functional and structural changes in lipoproteins after consumption of policosanol. To investigate the physiological effect of policosanol, we analyzed serum parameters in young non-smoker (YN; n=7, 24.0±2.4 years), young smoker (YS; n=7, 26.3±1.5 years), and middle-aged subjects (MN; n=11, 52.5±9.8 years) who consumed policosanol daily (10 mg/day) for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, systolic blood pressure was significantly lowered to 4% (7 mmHg, p=0.022) from initial levels in the YS and MN groups. Moisture content of facial skin increased up to 38 and 18% from initial levels in the YS and MN groups, respectively. Serum triglyceride (TG) levels decreased to 28 and 26% from initial levels in the YN and MN groups, respectively. The percentage of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) in total cholesterol was elevated in all subjects (YN, 36%; YS, 35%; MN, 8%) after 8 weeks of policosanol consumption. All groups showed a reduction in serum glucose and uric acid levels. Serum cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity was significantly diminished up to 21 and 32% from initial levels in the YN and MN groups, respectively. After 8 weeks, oxidation of the low-density lipoprotein fraction was markedly reduced accompanied by decreased apolipoprotein B (apoB) fragmentation. In the HDL fraction, paraoxonase activity was elevated by 17% along with elevation of apoA-I and cholesterol contents. Electron microscopy revealed that the size and number of HDL particles increased after 8 weeks, and the YS group showed a 2-fold increase in particle size. Daily consumption of policosanol for 8 weeks resulted in lowered blood pressure, reduced serum TG level and CETP activity, and elevated HDL-C contents. These functional enhancements of HDL can prevent and/or attenuate aging-related diseases, hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease.
Conflict will Harden your Heart: Exposure to Violence, Psychological Distress, and Peace Barriers in Israel and Palestine

Does exposure to political violence prompt civilians to support peace? We investigate the determinants of civilian attitudes toward peace during ongoing conflict using two original panel datasets representing Israelis (n=996) and Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza (n=631) (149 communities in total). A multi-group estimation analysis shows that individual-level exposure to terrorism and political violence makes the subject populations less likely to support peace efforts. The findings also confirm psychological distress and threat perceptions as the mechanism that bridges exposure to violence and greater militancy over time. The study breaks ground in showing that individual-level exposure â€“ necessarily accompanied by psychological distress and threat perceptions â€“ is key to understanding civiliansâ€™ refusal to compromise in prolonged conflict.