Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of NF-κB by the p105-ABIN2-TPL2 complex and RelAp43 during rabies virus infection

At the crossroad between the NF-κB and the MAPK pathways, the ternary complex composed of p105, ABIN2 and TPL2 is essential for the host cell response to pathogens. The matrix protein (M) of field isolates of rabies virus was previously shown to disturb the signaling induced by RelAp43, a NF-κB protein close to RelA/p65. Here, we investigated how the M protein disturbs the NF-κB pathway in a RelAp43-dependant manner and the potential involvement of the ternary complex in this mechanism. Using a tandem affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry approach, we show that RelAp43 interacts with the p105-ABIN2-TPL2 complex and we observe a strong perturbation of this complex in presence of M protein. M protein interaction with RelAp43 is associated with a wide disturbance of NF-κB signaling, involving a modulation of IκBα-, IκBβ-, and IκBε-RelAp43 interaction and a favored interaction of RelAp43 with the non-canonical pathway (RelB and p100/p52). Monitoring the interactions between host and viral proteins using protein-fragment complementation assay and bioluminescent resonance energy transfer, we further show that RelAp43 is associated to the p105-ABIN2-TPL2 complex as RelAp43-p105 interaction stabilizes the formation of a complex with ABIN2 and TPL2. Interestingly, the M protein interacts not only with RelAp43 but also with TPL2 and ABIN2. Upon interaction with this complex, M protein promotes the release of ABIN2, which ultimately favors the production of RelAp43-p50 NF-κB dimers. The use of recombinant rabies viruses further indicates that this mechanism leads to the control of IFNβ, TNF and CXCL2 expression during the infection and a high pathogenicity profile in rabies virus infected mice. All together, our results demonstrate the important role of RelAp43 and M protein in the regulation of NF-κB signaling.
The effect of perceived adherence to the Bobath concept on physiotherapists' choice of intervention used to treat postural control after stroke

Purpose. The Bobath concept is the predominant stroke physiotherapy approach in the UK but there is little literature about its operationalization. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of perceived adherence to the Bobath concept on interventions used by physiotherapists to treat postural control problems after stroke. The physiotherapists' experience, clinical grade and the type of patients treated were also compared. Methods. The design was a cross sectional survey involving 11 NHS Trusts. The participants were 35 stroke physiotherapists who recorded the treatment of 132 patients in 644 sessions using the Stroke Physiotherapy Intervention Recording Tool. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests and Chi-squares were used in the analysis to describe the physiotherapists and patients, and compare the effects of perceived adherence to the Bobath concept on intervention choice, clinical grade, experience and the type of patient treated. Results. Most physiotherapists perceived their practice to be eclectic but the interventions used followed a traditional Bobath model. Perceived adherence to the Bobath concept had little effect on the choice of intervention. The only significant difference was that ‘preparation for treatment’ techniques were used more frequently by ‘strongly Bobath’ physiotherapists then ‘eclectic’ physiotherapists. There were no other significant differences, nor were there any differences in the physiotherapists' clinical grade, post-graduate training or the type of patient treated except that ‘eclectic’ physiotherapists' patients were older. Most of the ‘strongly Bobath’ physiotherapists were experienced and most of the ‘eclectic’ physiotherapists were novices (p<0.023). Conclusions. Although most physiotherapists perceived themselves to be eclectic, their actual practice followed a traditional Bobath model; recent developments of the Bobath concept were not incorporated into clinical practice. The reasons for the mismatch between physiotherapists' perception and their actual practice are discussed.
Anticancer Efficacy of Simvastatin on Prostate Cancer Cells and Tumor Xenografts Is Associated with Inhibition of Akt and Reduced Prostate-Specific Antigen Expression

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-associated death among men in the United States. There has been renewed interest in the potential therapeutic benefits of statins for cancer. Simvastatin, a widely used generic drug for preventing cardiovascular events, is well known for its effects on cellular proliferation and inflammation, two key processes that also determine the rate of tumor growth. Although a growing body of evidence suggests that statins have the potential to reduce the risk of many cancers, there are discrepancies over the pro- and anticancer effects of statins. In the current study, we sought to investigate the effects of simvastatin on the Akt pathway in prostate cancer cells with respect to the regulation of various cell functions in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Time- and dose-dependent effects of simvastatin on LNCaP (androgen-dependent) and PC3 (androgen-independent) cells indicate that treatment with simvastatin at concentrations as low as 25 μM was sufficient to inhibit serum-stimulated Akt activity. Akin to this, treatment with simvastatin significantly inhibited serum-induced cell migration, invasion, colony formation, and proliferation. Simvastatin-mediated effects on colony formation were rescued by adenovirus-mediated expression of constitutively active Akt (myristoylated Akt) in PC3 cell lines. A PC3 xenograft model performed in nude mice exhibited reduced tumor growth with simvastatin treatment associated with decreased Akt activity and reduced prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Our findings demonstrate the therapeutic benefits of simvastatin for prostate cancer and suggest a link between simvastatin, regulation of Akt activity, and PSA expression in prostate tumors.
Direct democracy: Politico-economic lessons from Swiss experience

Most scholars and lay people are biased against direct democracy and its use of pop­ ular initiatives and referenda. Americans normally think of New England town meet­ ings (at best a curiosity), of school bond votes (a very narrow issue), and of Califor­ nia (where the voters are hopelessly over­ burdened). While 26 states allow popular referenda, the United States is indeed one of the only democracies that does not per­ mit referenda at the national level. The negative view of direct democracy, however, is also prevalent in other major democracies. The French tend to associate referenda with plebiscites for the president (Charles de Gaulle was particularly skillful in this respect); the Germans emphasize the bad experiences made during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich (Adolf Hitler had, among other issues, ratified the annex­ ation of Austria by a later plebiscite). The Italians, on the other hand, think differently today: referenda have played a major role in putting an end to partitocrazia (the dicta­ torship of established parties); and there are the Swiss in whose country popular ini­ tiatives and referenda are a central part of democratic life, thus by far dominating all
An acoustic-phonetic-based speaker adaptation technique for improving speaker-independent continuous speech recognition

A new speaker adaptation technique is proposed for improving speaker-independent continuous speech recognition based on a decomposition of spectral variation sources. In this technique, the spectral variations are separated into two categories, one acoustic and the other phone-specific, where each variation source is modeled by a linear transformation system. The technique consists of two sequential steps: first, acoustic normalization is performed, and second, phone model parameters are adapted. Experiments of speaker adaptation on the TIMIT database using short calibration speech (5 s per speaker) have shown significant performance improvement over the baseline speaker-independent continuous speech recognition, where the recognition system uses Gaussian mixture density based hidden Markov models of phone units. For a vocabulary size of 853 and test set perplexity of 104, the recognition word accuracy has been improved from 86.9% for the baseline system to 90.5% after adaptation, corresponding to an error reduction of 27.5%. On a more difficult test set that contains an additional variation source due to recording channel mismatch, a more significant performance improvement has been obtained: for the same vocabulary and a test set perplexity of 101, the recognition word accuracy has been improved from 65.4% for the baseline to 86.0% after adaptation, corresponding to an error reduction of 59.5%. >
Lack of action potential-prolonging effect of terfenadine on rabbit myocardial tissue preparations.

The effects of terfenadine, an antiallergic drug also known for its QT-prolonging and arrhythmogenic activities, on the action potential of isolated myocardial tissue preparations from rabbits were examined with microelectrode techniques. In the Purkinje fibers and atrium, terfenadine concentration dependently decreased the maximum rate of rise (+.V(max)) without affecting other action potential parameters. In the ventricle, terfenadine had little effect on action potential configuration. In the sinoatrial node, terfenadine 20 microM prolonged cycle length mainly through inhibition of +. V(max). Terfenadine 1 microM completely inhibited the human ether a go-go-related gene (HERG) channel current expressed in HEK293 cells in the same experimental solution as in microelectrode experiments. The lack of terfenadine effect on the action potential duration suggests that there are drugs for which the HERG channel inhibitory action underlying in vivo QT prolongation cannot be evaluated based on their action potential-prolonging activity in isolated myocardial tissue preparations.
Analysis of behaviours in swarm systems

In nature animal species often exist in groups. We talk of insect swarms, flocks of birds, packs of lions, herds of wildebeest etc. These are characterised by individuals interacting by following their own rules, privy only to local information. Robotic swarms or simulations can be used explore such interactions. Mathematical formulations can be constructed that encode similar ideas and allow us to explore the emergent group behaviours. Some behaviours show characteristics reminiscent of the phenomena of criticality. A bird flock may show near instantaneous collective shifts in direction: velocity changes that appear to correlated over distances much larger individual separations. Here we examine swarm systems inspired by flocks of birds and the role played by criticality. The first system, Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO), is shown to behave optimally when operating close to criticality. The presence of a critical point in the algorithm’s operation is shown to derive from the swarm’s properties as a random dynamical system. Empirical results demonstrate that the optimality lies on or near this point. A modified PSO algorithm is presented which uses measures of the swarm’s diversity as a feedback signal to adjust the behaviour of the swarm. This achieves a statistically balanced mixture of exploration and exploitation behaviours in the resultant swarm. The problems of stagnation and parameter tuning often encountered in PSO are automatically avoided. The second system, Swarm Chemistry, consists of heterogeneous particles combined with kinetic update rules. It is known that, depending upon the parametric configuration, numerous structures visually reminiscent of biological forms are found in this system. The parameter set discovered here results in a cell-division-like behaviour (in the sense of prokaryotic fission). Extensions to the swarm system produces a swarm that shows repeated cell division. As such, this model demonstrates a behaviour of interest to theories regarding the origin of life.
The Effect of the Designated Hitter Rule on Hit Batsmen: Pitcher's Moral Hazard or the Team's Cost-Benefit Calculation? A Comment

Brian L. Goff, William F. Shughart, and Robert D. Tollison (1997) attribute the American League's higher hit-batsman rate since 1973 to moral hazard: pitchers who no longer bat no longer face retaliation. The authors argue that retaliation is more efficiently directed at sluggers than at weak-hitting pitchers, and show that American League designated hitters are plunked more frequently than are National League pitchers. They also offer a new estimating equation and update Goff, Shughart, and Tollison's sample. The authors show that the desiginated hitters' effect on hit batsmen is no longer statistically significant. However, the point estimates are close to their prediction, which does not rely on moral hazard. Copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press.
Correlation of Radiographic Parameters and Clinical Symptoms in Adult Scoliosis

Study Design. This study is a retrospective review of the initial enrollment data from a prospective multicentered study of adult spinal deformity. Objectives. The purpose of this study is to correlate radiographic measures of deformity with patient-based outcome measures in adult scoliosis. Summary of Background Data. Prior studies of adult scoliosis have attempted to correlate radiographic appearance and clinical symptoms, but it has proven difficult to predict health status based on radiographic measures of deformity alone. The ability to correlate radiographic measures of deformity with symptoms would be useful for decision-making and surgical planning. Methods. The study correlates radiographic measures of deformity with scores on the Short Form-12, Scoliosis Research Society-29, and Oswestry profiles. Radiographic evaluation was performed according to an established positioning protocol for anteroposterior and lateral 36-inch standing radiographs. Radiographic parameters studied were curve type, curve location, curve magnitude, coronal balance, sagittal balance, apical rotation, and rotatory subluxation. Results. The 298 patients studied include 172 with no prior surgery and 126 who had undergone prior spine fusion. Positive sagittal balance was the most reliable predictor of clinical symptoms in both patient groups. Thoracolumbar and lumbar curves generated less favorable scores than thoracic curves in both patient groups. Significant coronal imbalance of greater than 4 cm was associated with deterioration in pain and function scores for unoperated patients but not in patients with previous surgery. Conclusions. This study suggests that restoration of a more normal sagittal balance is the critical goal for any reconstructive spine surgery. The study suggests that magnitude of coronal deformity and extent of coronal correction are less critical parameters.
Cre expression in primary spermatocytes: A tool for genetic engineering of the germ line

Transgenic mice were generated expressing a testicular Cre recombinase driven by promoter sequences derived from the gene encoding Synaptonemal Complex Protein 1 (Sycp1), expressed at an early stage of the male meiosis (leptotene to zygotene). Recombination at target LoxP sites was examined during germinal differentiation in mice harboring Sycp1‐Cre and a second transgene where LoxP sites flank either the βgeo coding region, the Pgk1 promoter, or a tk‐neo cassette inserted into the Rxrα locus. The LoxP‐flanked transgenes were stably maintained in the somatic tissues of the double transgenic animals, as well as in the progeny of the females. Mice born after mating the double‐transgenic males with normal females showed extensive deletions of the LoxP‐flanked sequences. When the males were hemizygous for the Sycp1‐Cre transgene, the deletions were observed even in the fraction of the offspring which had not inherited the Cre gene, thus demonstrating that expression occurred in the male parent during spermatogenesis. The high efficiency of excision at the LoxP sites makes the Sycp1‐Cre transgenic males suitable for evaluating the role of defined gene functions in the germinal differentiation process. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 51:274–280, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Organisational Culture as Organisational Identity — Between the Public and the Private

Organisational Culture as Organisational Identity — Between the Public and the Private The author discusses the notion of organisational culture and relates it to the notion of organisational identity. Culture as a group identity involves elements of stability, homogeneity and integrity but this can be very much altered through post-modern understanding of relationships between localities and their contexts. The research that was conducted in two primary schools in Slovenia is based on the symbolic notion of organisational culture. We explored what meanings are assigned to schools in public documents, during rituals and in teachers' and headteachers'narratives. The findings indicate the co-existence of two cultures and hence of two identities, ‘the public’ and ‘the private’, the former being closer to the corporate identity and the latter to multiple identities. The managers should be aware of both and should use the in-between space for on-going discussions and negotiations.
Online PMSM Magnet Flux-Linkage Estimation for Rotor Magnet Condition Monitoring Using Measured Speed Harmonics

Rotor magnet flux linkage is critical to monitor the state of the permanent magnet in a permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM). This paper proposes a novel online magnet flux-linkage estimation approach by using measured speed harmonics. The proposed approach is based on the PMSM's mechanical equation, so it is not influenced by magnetic saturation, inverter nonlinearity, and changes in machine parameters. The interaction of magnet flux linkage and harmonic current can produce torque harmonic, and thus speed harmonic. Therefore, we explore the use of speed harmonic for magnet flux-linkage estimation. At first, the torque and speed harmonic models are proposed. Then, the mathematical relationship between magnet flux linkage and speed harmonic is developed. Based on this model, a novel magnet flux-linkage estimation approach is proposed, which can eliminate the influence of the cogging torque and spatial harmonics in magnet flux-linkage estimation. The proposed approach is validated on a PMSM drive system under different loads and speeds.
Dosimetry and First Clinical Evaluation of the New 18F-Radiolabeled Bombesin Analogue BAY 864367 in Patients with Prostate Cancer

The aim of this first-in-man study was to demonstrate the feasibility, safety, and tolerability, as well as provide dosimetric data and evaluate the imaging properties, of the bombesin analogue BAY 864367 for PET/CT in a small group of patients with primary and recurrent prostate cancer (PCa). Methods: Ten patients with biopsy-proven PCa (5 with primary PCa and 5 with prostate-specific antigen recurrence after radical prostatectomy) were prospectively selected for this exploratory clinical trial with BAY 864367, a new 18F-labeled bombesin analogue. PET scans were assessed at 6 time points, up to 110 min after intravenous administration of 302 ± 11 MBq of BAY 864367. Imaging results were compared with 18F-fluorocholine PET/CT scans. Dosimetry was calculated using the OLINDA/EXM software. Results: Three of 5 patients with primary disease showed positive tumor delineation in the prostate, and 2 of 5 patients with biochemical relapse showed a lesion suggestive of recurrence on the BAY 864367 scan. Tumor-to-background ratio averaged 12.9 ± 7.0. The ratio of malignant prostate tissue to normal prostate tissue was 4.4 ± 0.6 in 3 patients with tracer uptake in the primary PCa. Mean effective dose was 4.3 ± 0.3 mSv/patient (range, 3.7–4.9 mSv). Conclusion: BAY 864367, a novel 18F-labeled bombesin tracer, was successfully investigated in a first-in-man clinical trial of PCa and showed favorable dosimetric values. Additionally, the application was safe and well tolerated. The tracer delineated tumors in a subset of patients, demonstrating the potential of gastrin-releasing-peptide receptor imaging.
The school experience of the child with cancer.

OBJECTIVE To review literature investigating school absence, behaviour problems and social relationships of children with cancer on return to school. Additionally, we reviewed interventions aimed at promoting successful school re-entry for children with cancer, and increasing classmates and teachers understanding of childhood cancer. METHODS Electronic searches were used to identify studies examining the effects of school re-entry on children with cancer. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS School absences are higher for children with cancer than healthy children and those with other chronic conditions. Although there is mixed evidence about whether children have significant behavioural problems, studies involving social relationships generally conclude that children with cancer are more sensitive and isolated than peers, according to both peer and teacher report.
Translating family satisfaction data into quality improvement*

Background:Improvement of clinical care requires measurement of key dimensions of health care quality and action based on these measurements. Families, data analysts, clinicians, and administrators all have important roles to play. Objective:To outline an approach to the measurement and utilization of family satisfaction data so that these data can be translated into health care quality improvement initiatives. Design:Using a synthesis of existing knowledge about translation of satisfaction data into improvement strategies, this approach starts with selecting and implementing a satisfaction survey that reflects the key processes, providers, and places for the delivery of critical care. The survey results can be expressed in a way that prioritizes the opportunities for improvement. A comparison of results across sites, or use of a performance-importance grid, can assist in this prioritization process. High-priority items can then be addressed by the multidisciplinary intensive care unit team using a systematic, evidence-based approach to improvement that includes implementation strategies that have been proven to effectively change clinician behavior.
Analyzing BSC and IC's usefulness in nonprofit organizations

Purpose – The balanced scorecard (BSC) and intellectual capital (IC) concepts are two strategic management methods that help to identify and elevate organizations' intellectual resources in the knowledge economy. However, very little research has examined the usefulness of the BSC and IC concept in nonprofit organizations. This paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a critical analysis of current literature in relation to BSC and IC concepts within the social service nonprofit context.Findings – The findings suggest that BSC is less effective in social service nonprofit organizations (SSNPOs) because the model's strategy, cause‐and‐effect relationships and its four linked perspectives are incompatible to the unique social service nonprofit environment. IC, however, can be harnessed to co‐ordinate with the values and core character of SSNPOs.Research limitations/implications – The paper contributes a new dimension to the body of literature; raising critical questio.