Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of extracellular matrix components in facial nerve regeneration: an experimental study

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of extracellular matrix components in nerve regeneration. Matrigel, a complex of extracellular matrix components such as laminin (the most abundant) heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPG), type IV collagene and fibronectin, was used. Methods: Forty male rabbits, which had undergone section of the right facial nerve, were later treated by reinnervation through an artificial graft of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE). In 20 animals the tubes of ePTFE were filled with Matrigel; in 20 control animals the tubes were filled with saline solution. Results: The Matrigel group showed a better axonal organization and a significantly higher number of regenerated axons in the early phases (at days 15 and 30 respectively) than the control group, whereas the difference of the axons number at day 60 was less significant; besides, the axon diameter and the myelin thickness were not significantly improved by Matrigel. Discussion: Our data suggest that Matrigel is an important factor in promoting and enhancing the early phases of the regeneration after nerve injuries. Tree neurite promoting agents, such as laminin, fibronectin and collagen, allow a more systematic and agonized regeneration. Extracellular matrix components may represent a direction guidance for axonal pathway.
Impact of the BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism on Cognition

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a member of the neurotrophin growth factor family and is implicated as a modulator of neuronal survival and differentiation, synaptic plasticity, and higher order cognitive functions such as learning and memory. A common single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been identified in the human BDNF gene (BDNF Val66Met) that leads to decreased BDNF secretion and impairments in specific forms of learning in humans. To better understand the impact of this SNP on biological function, the authors generated a mouse model containing the BDNF Met allele, which they found to replicate the key phenotypes observed in humans and provided further insight into the functional impact of this SNP in vivo. They used a “bottom-up” approach to study the BDNF SNP, which provided external validation in biologically less complex, genetically uniform systems, which minimized the variability inherent in human studies. In this review, the authors discuss the impact of the BDNF SNP on learning and memory while providing arguments for the relevance of a vertically integrated approach to studying human genetic variants.
Mitigation and Solar Radiation Management in Climate Change Policies

We couple a spatially homogeneous energy balance climate model with an economic growth model which incorporates two potential policies against climate change: mitigation, which is the traditional policy, and geoengineering. We analyze the optimal policy mix of geoengineering and mitigation in both a cooperative and a noncooperative framework, in which we study open loop and feedback solutions. Our results suggests that greenhouse gas accumulation is relatively higher when geoengineering policies are undertaken, and that at noncooperative solutions incentives for geoengineering are relative stronger. A disruption of geoengineering efforts at a steady state will cause an upward jump in global temperature.
Unlearning how to teach

The twenty‐first century demands not only that we learn new forms of social engagement but also that we unlearn habits that have been useful in the past but may no longer be valuable to the future. Teachers have ‘un‐learned’ the role of Sage‐on‐the‐stage as the dominent model of teaching, and the shift to Guide‐on‐the‐side has served an important function in changing the focus of pedagogy from the teacher to the learner. However, Guide‐on‐the‐side is no longer sufficient for our times. This paper argues the importance of a further shift to Meddler‐in‐the‐middle. Meddler‐in‐the middle positions the teacher and student as mutually involved in assembling and dis‐assembling cultural products. It re‐positions teacher and student as co‐directors and co‐editors of their social world. Meddler‐in‐the‐middle challenges more long‐term notions of ‘good’ teaching in a number of ways. Specifically, it means: (1) less time giving instructions and more time spent being a usefully ignorant co‐worker in the thick of the action; (2) less time spent being a custodial risk minimiser and more time spent being an experimenter and risk‐taker; (3) less time spent being a forensic classroom auditor and more time spent being a designer, editor and assembler; (4) less time spent being a counsellor and ‘best buddy’ and more time spent being a collaborative critic and authentic evaluator.
Direct Quantitative Detection and Identification of Lactococcal Bacteriophages from Milk and Whey by Real-Time PCR: Application for the Detection of Lactococcal Bacteriophages in Goat's Raw Milk Whey in France

The presence of Lactococcus bacteriophages in milk can partly or completely inhibit milk fermentation. To prevent the problems associated with the bacteriophages, the real-time PCR was developed in this study for direct detection from whey and milk of three main groups of Lactococcus bacteriophages, c2, 936, and P335. The optimization of DNA extraction protocol from complex matrices such as whey and milk was optimized allowed the amplification of PCR without any matrix and nontarget contaminant interference. The real-time PCR program was specific and with the detection limit of 102 PFU/mL. The curve slopes were −3.49, −3.69, and −3.45 with the amplification efficiency estimated at 94%, 94%, and 98% and the correlation coefficient (R 2) of 0.999, 0.999, and 0.998 for c2, 936 and P335 group, respectively. This method was then used to detect the bacteriophages in whey and goat's raw milk coming from three farms located in the Rhône-Alpes region (France).
Toxicokinetics of Amphetamines: Metabolism and Toxicokinetic Data of Designer Drugs, Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, and Their N-Alkyl Derivatives

This paper reviews the toxicokinetics of amphetamines. The designer drugs MDA (methylenedioxy-amphetamine, R,S-1-(3´,4´-methylenedioxyphenyl)2-propanamine), MDMA (R,S-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), and MDE (R,S-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine), as well as BDB (benzodioxolylbutanamine;R,S-1-(1´,3´-benzodioxol-5´-yl)-2-butanamine or R,S- 1-(3´,4´-methylenedioxyphenyl)-2-butanamine) and MBDB (R,S-N-methyl-benzodioxolylbutanamine), were taken into consideration, as were the following N-alkylated amphetamine derivatives: amphetaminil, benzphetamine, clobenzorex, dimethylamphetamine, ethylamphetamine, famprofazone, fencamine, fenethylline, fenproporex, furfenorex, mefenorex, mesocarb, methamphetamine, prenylamine, and selegiline. English-language publications from 1995 to 2000 were reviewed. Papers describing identification of metabolites or cytochrome P450 isoenzyme-dependent metabolism and papers containing pharmacokinetic/toxicokinetic data were considered and summarized. The implications of toxicokinetics for toxicologic assessment or for interpretation in forensic cases are discussed.
Application of Fuzzy Lattice Neurocomputing (FLN) for Environmental Data Estimation

This paper addresses the problem of wind speed prediction at a particular location in the urban area of Thessaloniki, Greece, based on a data set containing wind parameter values at two other different locations. The problem is formulated and processed, and clusters in the data domain are identified by means of the Fuzzy Lattice Neurocomputing (FLN) methodology which can be used on any data set with the structure of a lattice. The results of the specific application are presented comparatively to past work, involving neural networks, on the same data set, demonstrating both the performance and the accuracy of the method.
Warstack: Improving LLC Replacement for NVM with a Writeback-Aware Reuse Stack

Emerging non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies are promising alternatives to DRAM. However, the write inefficiency associated with NVM brings significant challenges to the last-level cache (LLC) replacement design. LLC replacement policies in the context of DRAM hardly focus on writeback optimization. Based on the observation that writeback to NVM diminishes the performance gained from replacement optimization, we exploit to improve LLC replacement policy with a writeback-aware reuse stack (Warstack). Warstack enhances the default reuse priority in terms of writeback intensity. Incooperating with an accurate writeback intensity predictor (WBIP), Warstack dynamically ranks the reuse priority and retains high write-intensive blocks to mitigate the write traffic. Evaluations with memory-intensive multi-programmed programs from SPEC CPU2006 show that Warstack improves performance and energy efficiency by about 12% and 15% on average.
Why Do College Going Interventions Work?

We present evidence from a recent field experiment in college coaching/ mentoring. We find surprisingly large impacts on college attendance and persistence. We test several theories as to why a short lived intervention has large impacts on lifetime human capital investments. We do not find evidence that the treatment effect derives from simple behavioral mistakes or a lack of easily obtained information. Instead our mentoring program substitutes for the potentially expensive and often missing ingredient of skilled parental or teacher time and encouragement. Our positive effects are concentrated among students who do not rely on parental or teacher support for college applications and who are less extraverted. Our treatments that provide financial incentives or information alone do not appear to be effective. For women, assignment to our mentoring treatment yields a 15 percentage point increase in the college going rate while treatment on the treated estimates are 30 percentage points (against a control complier mean rate of 43 percent). We find much smaller treatment effects for men and the difference in treatment effects across genders is partially explained by the differential in self-reported labor market opportunities.
False crowding out

The motivation crowding out eect has become the standard ex- planation for a negative relationship between eort and monetary in- centives. By treating non-monetary motivation as a variable rather than as a …xed attribute, theorists have shown that higher monetary reward may crowd out non-monetary motivation to such an extent that eort is reduced. In this paper, we show that imperfect contract enforcement can create what we call a false crowding out eect. If enforcement is not …xed but can vary (due to e.g. variations in legal practice), then contractual monetary incentives and eort may be neg- atively related. Weaker enforcement may induce lower eort, which the principal can mitigate by oering higher-powered incentives.
Factors affecting Hg (II) adsorption in soils from the Rio Negro basin (Amazon)

Mercury (II) adsorption studies in top soils (top 10 cm) from the Rio Negro basin show this process depends strongly on some selected parameters of the aqueous phase in contact with the soils. Maximum adsorption occurred in the pH range 3.0-5.0 (>90%). Dissolved organic matter shows an inhibitory effect on the availability of Hg (II) to be adsorbed by the soils, whereas a higher chloride content of the solution resulted in a lower adsorption of Hg (II) at pH 5.0. Soils with higher organic matter content were less affected by changes in the salinity. An increase in the initial Hg (II) concentration increased the amount of Hg (II) adsorbed by the soil and decreased the time needed to reach equilibrium. A Freundlich isotherm provided a good model for Hg (II) adsorption in the two types of soil studied. The kinetics of Hg (II) adsorption on Amazonian soils showed to be very fast and followed pseudo-second order kinetics. An environmental implication of these results is discussed under the real scenario present in the Negro River basin, where acidic waters are in contact with a soil naturally rich in mercury.
DNA double-strand breaks induced by decay of 123I-labeled Hoechst 33342: Role of DNA topology

Purpose: To determine double-strand-break (DSB) yields produced by decay of minor-groove-bound 123I-labeled Hoechst 33342 (123IEH) in supercoiled (SC) and linear (L) forms of pUC19 DNA, to compare strand-break efficiency of 123IEH with that of 125IEH, and to examine the role of DNA topology in DSB induction by these Auger electron emitters. Materials and methods: Tritium-labeled SC and L pUC19 DNA were incubated with 123IEH (0–10.9 MBq) at 4°C. After 123I had completely decayed (10 days), samples were analyzed on agarose gel, and single-strand-break (SSB) and DSB yields were measured. Results: Each 123I decay in SC DNA produces a DSB yield of 0.18 ± 0.01. On the basis of DSB yields for 125IEH (0.52 ± 0.02 for SC and 1.62 ± 0.07 for L, reported previously) and dosimetric expectations, a DSB yield of ∼0.5 (3 × 0.18) per 123I decay is expected for L DNA. However, no DSB are observed for the L form, even after ∼2 × 1011 decays of 123I per μg DNA, whereas a similar number of 125I decays produces DSB in ∼40% of L DNA. Conclusion: 123IEH-induced DSB yield for SC but not L DNA is consistent with the dosimetric expectations for Auger electron emitters. These studies highlight the role of DNA topology in DSB production by Auger emitters and underscore the failure of current theoretical dosimetric methods per se to predict the magnitude of DSB.
Thyroid function tests in metabolic syndrome

Objective: We evaluated the thyroid function tests in individuals with metabolic syndrome to explore the possibility of thyroid receptor resistance. Materials and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study. It included 40 patients (group I) and 20 healthy individuals served as controls (group II). Patients in group I fulfilled the three or more of the NCEP ATP III (National Cholesterol Education Programme – Adult Treatment Panel III) criterion to define the metabolic syndrome. Blood sugar and serum insulin levels were measured in both the groups. All the patients (group I) had insulin resistance as per the HOMA IR (the homeostasis model for insulin resistance) model. The HOMA IR value obtained in group II individuals served as a reference mark to define insulin resistance. T3, T4, TSH levels were measured as indicators of thyroid functions. There was an increase in TSH levels with normal T3 and T4 in group I indicating that increased TSH probably due to thyroid receptor resistance may be a part of metabolic syndrome rather than a state of hypothyroidism. Results: T3 and T4 levels were comparable in patients and controls. There was a significant increase in TSH levels in patients as compared to the controls. Conclusion: Raised TSH in patients with metabolic syndrome independent of lowered T3 and T4 suggest it to be a part and parcel of this syndrome.
Exosome Release and Low pH Belong to a Framework of Resistance of Human Melanoma Cells to Cisplatin

Intrinsic resistance to cytotoxic drugs has been a main issue in cancer therapy for decades. Microenvironmental acidity is a simple while highly efficient mechanism of chemoresistance, exploited through impairment of drug delivery. The latter is achieved by extracellular protonation and/or sequestration into acidic vesicles. This study investigates the importance of extracellular acidosis and nanovesicle (exosome) release in the resistance of human tumour cell to cisplatin (CisPt); in parallel to proton pump inhibitors (PPI) ability of interfering with these tumour cell features. The results showed that CisPt uptake by human tumour cells was markedly impaired by low pH conditions. Moreover, exosomes purified from supernatants of these cell cultures contained various amounts of CisPt, which correlated to the pH conditions of the culture medium. HPLC-Q-ICP-MS analysis revealed that exosome purified from tumour cell culture supernatants contained CisPt in its native form. PPI pre-treatment increased cellular uptake of CisPt, as compared to untreated cells, in an acidic-depend manner. Furthermore, it induced a clear inhibition of exosome release by tumour cells. Human tumours obtained from xenografts pretreated with PPI contained more CisPt as compared to tumours from xenografts treated with CisPt alone. Further analysis showed that in vivo PPI treatment induced a clear reduction in the plasmatic levels of tumour-derived exosomes which also contained lower level of CisPt. Altogether, these findings point to the identification of a double mechanism that human malignant melanoma use in resisting to a dreadful cellular poison such as cisplatin. This framework of resistance includes both low pH-dependent extracellular sequestration and an exosome-mediated elimination. Both mechanisms are markedly impaired by proton pump inhibition, leading to an increased CisPt-dependent cytotoxicity.
With the Past in Front of the Character: Evidence for Spatial-Temporal Metaphors in Cinema

Cognitive research on Ego-Reference-Point models of time in English traditionally shows that “FUTURE IS IN FRONT OF EGO” and “PAST IS IN BACK OF EGO. ” Recently, however, this view has been challenged by other results, showing that there exists a major static model of time wherein “FUTURE IS IN BACK OF EGO” and “PAST IS IN FRONT OF EGO. ” However, evidence for both conceptual systems comes predominantly from linguistic and gestural forms of expression. For instance, convincing empirical evidence coming from the manifestation mode of cinema is still lacking. This article attempts to fill this gap by bringing the discussion of temporal metaphors to the foreground of character subjectivity in film. Using concise case-studies taken from various films, this study provides evidence that a majority of flashback scenes seem to base their conceptions of time on a static Ego-Reference-Point model in which the past appears to be in front of the character’s eyes on screen.
Bayesian piecewise linear regression usingmultivariate linear splinesC

We present a Bayesian analysis of a piecewise linear model constructed using a basis function approach with a multivariate generalization of the univariate linear spline. Prior distributions are adopted on both the number and locations of the splines. Conditioning on the data produces a Bayes local linear model with distributions on predictions and on local linear parameters that vary smoothly over the design space. The method is spatially adaptive and fairly automatic and the diicult problem of \bandwidth" selection does not arise. Furthermore, by using splines of lower dimension than the data the model automatically removes irrelevant covariates and determines the relative importance of those remaining.
Developmental Progression of the Coronary Vasculature in Human Embryos and Fetuses

Although considerable advances in our understanding of mammalian and avian embryonic coronary development have occurred during the last decade, our current knowledge of this topic in humans is limited. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to determine if the development of the human coronary vasculature in humans is like that of other mammals and avians. The data document a progression of events involving mesenchymal cell‐containing villi from the proepicardium, establishment of blood islands and a capillary network. The major finding of the study is direct evidence that the capillary plexus associated with spindle cells and erythroblasts invades the base of the aorta to form coronary ostia. A role for the dorsal mesocardium is also indicated by the finding that cells from this region are continuous with the aorta and pulmonary artery. The development of the tunica media of the coronary arteries follows the same base‐apex progression as in other species, with the development of branches occurring late in the embryonic period. The fetal period is characterized by 1) growth and a numerical increase in the smallest arterial branches, veins, and venules, 2) innervation of arteries, and 3) inclusion of elastic fibers in the tunica media of the coronary arteries and development of the tunica adventitia. In conclusion, the data demonstrate that the development of the coronary system in humans is similar to that of other mammalian and avian species, and for the first time documents that the formation of the ostia and coronary stems in humans occurs by ingrowth of a vascular plexus and associated cells from the epicardium. Anat Rec, 299:25–41, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Deterministic Temporal Logics and Interval Constraints

In temporal logics, a central question is about the choice of modalities and their relative expressive power, in comparison to the complexity of decision problems such as satisfiability. In this tutorial, we will illustrate the study of such questions over finite word models, first with logics for Unambiguous Starfree Regular Languages (UL), originally defined by Schutzenberger, and then for extensions with constraints, which appear in interval logics. We present Deterministic temporal logics, with diverse sets of modalities, which also characterize UL. The tools and techniques used go under the name of "Turtle Programs" or "Rankers". These are simple kinds of automata. We use properties such as Ranker Directionality and Ranker Convexity to show that all these logics have NP satisfiability. A recursive extension of some of these modalities gives us the full power of first-order logic over finite linear orders. We also discuss Interval Constraint modalities extending Deterministic temporal logics, with intermediate expressiveness. These allow counting or simple algebraic operations on paths. The complexity of these extended logics is PSpace, as of full temporal logic (and ExpSpace when using binary notation).
Business and Public Policy: Responses to Environmental and Social Protection Processes

This book advances neo-institutional work that has traditionally portrayed protective public policies as easily enforced-exogenous constraints followed by businesses. We propose that businesses show increasing resistance as the protective policy process moves from initiation to selection and growing cooperation thereafter. We also contribute to neo-institutional theory by positing that this inverted U-shaped policy process-business response relationship is moderated by a country's level of democracy, policy network style, regulatory approach, and national economic income.
Experimental Output Regulation for a Nonlinear Benchmark System

Research on the nonlinear output regulation problem is mainly focused on theoretical developments and studies on simulation level. In this brief, we present experimental results on the local output regulation problem for a nonlinear benchmark mechanical system, the so-called translational oscillator with a rotational actuator system. The presented results show the effectiveness of the nonlinear output regulation theory in practice. As follows from the conducted experiments, issues such as the convergence rate, stability, and performance robustness with respect to (non) parametric uncertainties, the size of the region of attraction, and actuator saturation should be accounted for in tuning the controller gains. This design problem has not been addressed in the existing literature on the nonlinear output regulation problem and it, therefore, raises a new direction for research crucial to the future application of output regulation theory in practice.