Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase/Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathway Induces the Inflammatory Factor Interleukin-8 following Chlamydia trachomatis Infection

ABSTRACT Diseases associated with Chlamydia infection, such as pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy, are due to inflammation-mediated tissue damage and scarring that occur after chronic or repeated infections. The inflammatory chemokine interleukin-8 (IL-8) is produced by Chlamydia-infected cells through an endogenous mechanism of activation, independent of soluble factors in the supernatant. The host signaling pathways necessary for this response are not understood, but the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) has been shown to be activated at similar times as IL-8 mRNA up-regulation. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the MAPK pathways necessary to induce the endogenous IL-8 response to Chlamydia trachomatis infection of epithelial cells. IL-8 induced by infection with C. trachomatis L2 was shown to be dependent on ERK and independent of p38 and Jun N-terminal MAPK by use of chemical inhibitors of the signaling pathways. Persistent ERK activation during IL-8 mRNA production at 24 h postinfection was necessary to maintain the response. C. trachomatis serovar D also induced IL-8 in an ERK-dependent manner. We concluded that IL-8 induced during infection of epithelial cells is dependent on continual activation of ERK by C. trachomatis.
Small Cell Cluster-Based Resource Allocation for Wireless Backhaul in Two-Tier Heterogeneous Networks With Massive MIMO

In this paper, we investigate the resource allocation problem in two-tier heterogenous networks (HetNets) with massive MIMO, where two frequency bands, cellular frequency band and millimeter wave frequency band, are used for wireless backhaul links. To coordinate the interference among small cells (SCs), SCs are grouped into multiple SC clusters (SCCs), where SC users are jointly served by SC base stations (BSs) (SBSs) belonging to the same SCC. To eliminate the multi-user and inter-tier interference, we propose a block diagonalization based precoding scheme at macro-BS and each SCC, where the transmit precoding matrix for users is projected onto the null space of interference channels. Following this, we formulate a power allocation optimization problem to maximize the downlink sum rate of the system subject to per-SCC power and users’ quality of service requirements. Since the formulated problem is nonconvex, we transform it into a convex one by appropriate approximation, and a constrained concave convex procedure based iterative algorithm is proposed to obtain the solution. Furthermore, we prove that the obtained solution converges to the local optimum. Meanwhile, according to the structure of the original formulated problem, we divide it into multiple subproblems and propose an optimal iterative water-filling algorithm. Next, we extend the original problem with per-SBS power constraint, which results in that the precoding of each SCC has to be redesigned. On this basis, we propose an iterative water-filling algorithm to obtain the optimal power allocation and precoding. Numerical results are presented to verify the performance of our proposed algorithms.
The Scope and Governance of International R&D Alliances

Participants in research and development alliances face a difficult challenge: how to maintain sufficiently open knowledge exchange to achieve alliance objectives while controlling knowledge flows to avoid unintended leakage of valuable technology. Prior research suggests that choosing an appropriate organizational form or governance structure is an important mechanism in achieving a balance between these potentially competing concerns. This does not exhaust the set of possible mechanisms available to alliance partners, however. In this paper we explore an alternative response to hazards of R&D cooperation: reduction of the ‘scope’ of the alliance. We argue that when partner firms are direct competitors in end product or strategic resource markets even ‘protective’ governance structures such as equity joint ventures may provide insufficient protection to induce extensive knowledge sharing among alliance participants. Rather than abandoning potential gains from cooperation altogether in these circumstances, partners choose to limit the scope of alliance activities to those that can be successfully completed with limited (and carefully regulated) knowledge sharing. Our arguments are supported by empirical analysis of a sample of international R&D alliances involving electronics and telecommunications equipment companies. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
if-THEORY AND THE HOPF INVARIANT

[Received 29 December 1964] Introduction THE non-existence of elements of Hopf invariant one in ir%n-^(S ), for n ^ 1, 2, 4, or 8, was established in (1) by the use of secondary cohomology operations. The main purpose of this paper is to show how the use of primary operations in . K"-theory provides an extremely simple alternative proof of this result. In fact ^-theory proofs have already been given in (8) and (4) but neither of these proofs is elementary: (8) uses results on complex cobordism, while (4) uses the connexion between the Chern character and the Steenrod squares established in (3) [see however (6) for a more elementary treatment of the results of (3)]. The simplicity and novelty of our present approach is that, unlike all previous attacks on the Hopf invariant problem, we consider not the stable but the unstable version of the problem: that is to say we shall prove directly
Group II muscle afferents probably contribute to the medium latency soleus stretch reflex during walking in humans

1 The objective of this study was to determine which afferents contribute to the medium latency response of the soleus stretch reflex resulting from an unexpected perturbation during human walking. 2 Fourteen healthy subjects walked on a treadmill at approximately 3.5 km h−1 with the left ankle attached to a portable stretching device. The soleus stretch reflex was elicited by applying small amplitude (∼8 deg) dorsiflexion perturbations 200 ms after heel contact. 3 Short and medium latency responses were observed with latencies of 55 ± 5 and 78 ± 6 ms, respectively. The short latency response was velocity sensitive (P < 0.001), while the medium latency response was not (P= 0.725). 4 Nerve cooling increased the delay of the medium latency component to a greater extent than that of the short latency component (P < 0.005). 5 Ischaemia strongly decreased the short latency component (P= 0.004), whereas the medium latency component was unchanged (P= 0.437). 6 Two hours after the ingestion of tizanidine, an α2‐adrenergic receptor agonist known to selectively depress the transmission in the group II afferent pathway, the medium latency reflex was strongly depressed (P= 0.007), whereas the short latency component was unchanged (P= 0.653). 7 An ankle block with lidocaine hydrochloride was performed to suppress the cutaneous afferents of the foot and ankle. Neither the short (P= 0.453) nor medium (P= 0.310) latency reflexes were changed. 8 Our results support the hypothesis that, during walking the medium latency component of the stretch reflex resulting from an unexpected perturbation is contributed to by group II muscle afferents.
Foundations of the Environmental Education

Always the human species has interactive with the means and it has modified it, the environmental problems are not new. However, that makes preocupate especially the current situation it is the acceleration of those modifications, their massive character and the universality of their con sequences. The environmental problems no longer appear as independent some of other but rather they constitute elements that are related configuring a reality different to the simple accumulation of all to each other them. For it, today in day we can speak of something more than of simple environmental problems, we face an authentic environmental crisis and the graveness of the crisis is manifested in its global character. However, we cannot limit ourselves to perceive this crisis like conflict in the one that certain positions on the world and envelope the life is inadequate. If we are aware that only in a crisis atmosphere they are considered and innovative solutions are developed, it seems clear that have before us the challenge of finding in the crisis an occasion for to reinvent in a creative way our way to understand and to be related with the world. But these solutions cannot be solely technological, the environmental challenge supposes a challenge since to the values of the contemporary society those values that sustain the human decisions, they are in the root of the environmental crisis. In this context, the environmental education has an important paper that to play when confronting this challenge, promoting a innovative learning characterized by the anticipation and the participation that he/she only allows not to understand, but also to be implied in that that we want to understand found of the environmental education
Effect of Erythropoietin on Healing of Corneal Epithelial Defects in Rabbits

Background/Aim: Corneal epithelial defects may heal slowly in patients with diabetes, limbal stem cell deficiency, extensive chemical burns or anesthetized corneas. Studies have shown that erythropoietin, a glycoprotein hormone that promotes red blood cell proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of erythroid progenitors, may also exert a cytoprotective, antiapoptotic effect on nonhematopoietic cells. The aim of the study was to examine the effect of erythropoietin on the healing process of corneal epithelial erosions in rabbit eyes. Methods: Fifteen New Zealand albino rabbits were divided into 3 groups following induction of unilateral uniform corneal epithelial erosions. The first group received local treatment with erythropoietin-containing cellulose-based gel 4 times daily; the second group received treatment with cellulose-based gel without erythropoietin 4 times daily, and the third group received no treatment. The healing process was monitored twice daily using cobalt-blue-filtered slit lamp photography and digital images of fluorescein-stained corneas until complete re-epithelization was achieved. Following re-epithelization, corneas were removed for histologic processing. One-way analysis of variance and Mann-Whitney tests were used for statistical analysis. Results: Mean ± SD time to complete re-epithelization was 55 ± 2.19 h in the group treated with erythropoietin-containing cellulose-based gel, 66.5 ± 14.25 h in the group treated with gel only and 62.2 ± 9.09 h in the untreated group (p = 0.16, not significant). There was no significant difference among the groups in the time to complete re-epithelization or the rate of epithelial healing. Histologic corneal evaluation revealed stromal vascularization in 2 of the 6 erythropoietin-treated rabbits and in neither of the control groups. Conclusion: Erythropoietin has no beneficial effect on the rate of healing of corneal epithelial erosions in rabbit eyes, and corneal stroma neovascularization seems to be a significant adverse effect.
Risk factors for rectal bleeding associated with I-125 brachytherapy for prostate cancer

The purpose of this study was to determine the risk factors for rectal bleeding after prostate brachytherapy. Between April 2005 and September 2009, 89 patients with T1c-2cN0M0 prostate cancer were treated with permanent I-125 seed implantation alone. The prostate prescription dose was 145 Gy, and the grade of rectal bleeding was scored according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0. Post-treatment planning was performed with fusion images of computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging 4–5 weeks after brachytherapy. Patient characteristics and dosimetric parameters were evaluated to determine risk factors for bleeding. The calculated parameters included the rectal volume in cubic centimeters that received >50–200% of the prescribed dose (RV50–200) and the minimal doses received by 1–30% of the rectal volume (RD1–30). The median follow-up time was 42 months (ranging 18–73 months). Grade 1 rectal bleeding occurred in 24 (27.0%) patients, but no Grade 2 or severe bleeding was observed. Usage of anticoagulants had a significant correlation with the occurrence of bleeding (P = 0.007). The RV100–150 and RD1–10 were significantly higher in patients with rectal bleeding than in those without bleeding. The RV100 was identified as a possible threshold value; the 3-year rectal bleeding rate in patients with an RV100 > 1.0 cm3 was 36%, whereas that with an RV100 ≤ 1.0 cm3 was 14% (P < 0.05). Although no Grade 2 morbidity developed in this study, the RV100 should be kept below 1.0 cm3, especially in additional dose-escalated brachytherapy.
Conversion disorder: a problematic diagnosis

The diagnosis of conversion disorder is problematic. Since doctors have conceptually and practically differentiated the symptoms from neurological (‘organic’) disease it has been presumed to be a psychological disorder, but the psychological mechanism, and how this differs from feigning (conscious simulation), has remained elusive. Although misdiagnosis of neurological disease as conversion disorder is uncommon, it remains a concern for clinicians, particularly for psychiatrists who may be unaware of the positive ways in which neurologists can exclude organic disease. The diagnosis is anomalous in psychiatry in that current diagnostic systems require that feigning is excluded and that the symptoms can be explained psychologically. In practice, feigning is very difficult to either disprove or prove, and a psychological explanation cannot always be found. Studies of childhood and adult psychological precipitants have tended to support the relevance of stressful life events prior to symptom onset at the group level but they are not found in a substantial proportion of cases. These problems highlight serious theoretical and practical issues not just for the current diagnostic systems but for the concept of the disorder itself. Psychology, physiology and functional imaging techniques have been used in attempts to elucidate the neurobiology of conversion disorder and to differentiate it from feigning, but while intriguing results are emerging they can only be considered preliminary. Such work looks to a future that could refine our understanding of the disorder. However, until that time, the formal diagnostic requirement for associated psychological stressors and the exclusion of feigning are of limited clinical value. Simplified criteria are suggested which will also encourage cooperation between neurology and psychiatry in the management of these patients.
Time, Leisure and Social Identity

This article is concerned with exploring some of the connections between time and leisure, arguing in particular that leisure patterns are especially significant for changing notions of time. It is further argued that the once hegemonic clock-time is being supplanted in `disorganized capitalism' by a mix of instantaneous and glacial times. A variety of empirical indices of these are developed. It is then shown that contemporary leisure patterns are transformed through processes of de-traditionalization and increased reflexivity, processes that presuppose these newer forms of time. In conclusion, some implications for place are briefly developed.
High-Dose Recombinant Apolipoprotein A-IMilano Mobilizes Tissue Cholesterol and Rapidly Reduces Plaque Lipid and Macrophage Content in Apolipoprotein E-Deficient Mice: Potential Implications for Acute Plaque Stabilization

Background—Repeated doses of recombinant apolipoprotein A-IMilano phospholipid complex (apoA-Im) reduce atherosclerosis and favorably change plaque composition in rabbits and mice. In this study, we tested whether a single high dose of recombinant apoA-Im could rapidly mobilize tissue cholesterol and reduce plaque lipid and macrophage content in apoE-deficient mice. Methods and Results—High cholesterol-fed, 26-week-old apoE-deficient mice received a single intravenous injection of saline (n=16), 1080 mg/kg dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC; n=14), or 400 mg/kg of recombinant apoA-Im complexed with DPPC (1:2.7 weight ratio; n=18). Blood was sampled before and 1 and 48 hours after injection, and aortic root plaques were evaluated for lipid content and macrophage content after oil-red O and immunostaining, respectively. One hour after injection, the plasma cholesterol efflux-promoting capacity was nearly 2-fold higher in recombinant apoA-Im-treated mice compared with saline and DPPC-treated mice (P <0.01). Compared with baseline values, serum free cholesterol, an index of tissue cholesterol mobilization, increased 1.6-fold by 1 hour after recombinant apoA-Im injection, and it remained significantly elevated at 48 hours (P <0.01). Mice receiving recombinant apoA-Im had 40% to 50% lower lipid content (P <0.01) and 29% to 36% lower macrophage content (P <0.05) in their plaques compared with the saline- and DPPC-treated mice, respectively. Conclusions—A single high dose of recombinant apoA-Im rapidly mobilizes tissue cholesterol and reduces plaque lipid and macrophage content in apoE-deficient mice. These findings suggest that this strategy could rapidly change plaque composition toward a more stable phenotype.
Burnout and job insecurity: the mediating role of job crafting

Job insecurity has been associated with burnout. However, the mechanism by which they influence each other has remained largely unexplored. Using a sample of 150 employees in the IT industry, we tested the mediating role of job crafting, the proactive change of job characteristics by the employees, in the relationship between burnout and job insecurity. Using structural equation models, we showed that only increasing challenging job demands, one of the four components of job crafting, mediates the relationship between burnout and job insecurity. A longitudinal study is recommended to test causality.
Phonological awareness and emerging reading skills of two- to five-year-old children

ABSTRACT This study, conducted in Finnish private and Montessori child care centres, aimed at investigating the development of the phonological awareness (PA) of two- to five-year-old preschool children within a six-month period in relation to emerging letter knowledge and reading skills. The children (N = 72) performed five phonological tasks and a vocabulary test, a letter knowledge test and a reading skills test twice; in the beginning, when knowing no letters, and at the end of the study. The results show that the children's performance in the different phonological tasks improved over a six-month period. Detecting word structure or blending phonemes were easier than producing rhymes or twisting. The children who had learned to recognize letters performed better in phonological tasks than the children who had not learned any letters, but children able to read precociously exceeded all. Our results appear to indicate that learning letters does not require previous PA ability but affects PA.
Field Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Geochemical Analysis – Its Contribution to Onsite Real-time Project Evaluation

The field portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometer (FPXRF) has evolved to become a unique highly productive geochemical tool over the past 30 years. As with most highly sophisticated technological tools, it is deceptively simple to use, can easily be carried and operated using only one hand and can provide an onsite, nondestructive chemical analysis of about 30 elements ranging in concentration from about 10 ppm to 100 percent in less than minute. Its use is commonly judged by comparing its purchase price against laboratory analyses. However, the real value of the FPXRF goes beyond cost savings resulting from reducing the number of samples sent to a laboratory for chemical analysis. Onsite use of the FPXRF allows an accurate appraisal of a property, rocks, soils, ore grade, drill cuttings, cores, concentrates etc. in real time when and where correct decisions are needed. The use of this onsite FPXRF method has been objectively demonstrated to be three times more cost-effective than conventional methods of collecting judgmental samples for subsequent laboratory analysis. Laboratory analysis is not eliminated but fewer samples are necessary to appropriately document mineralization identified by FPXRF. The FPXRF capability has not yet evolved to a low enough detection limit for effectively determining gold and PGM in the field so indicator elements are used. Near laboratory quality results can be obtained when people using the instrument understand the basic principles of x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, the physical characteristics that control quality and protocols that can be used to enhance the data quality. This knowledge base is quantitatively described in this paper and the relative importance of each is documented by case histories of the onsite FPXRF use.
Akt Induces Osteoclast Differentiation through Regulating the GSK3β/NFATc1 Signaling Cascade

SHIP is an SH2-containing inositol-5-phosphatase expressed in hematopoietic cells. It hydrolyzes the PI3K product PI(3,4,5)P3 and blunts the PI3K-initiated signaling pathway. Although the PI3K/Akt pathway has been shown to be important for osteoclastogenesis, the molecular events involved in osteoclast differentiation have not been revealed. We demonstrate that Akt induces osteoclast differentiation through regulating the GSK3β/NFATc1 signaling cascade. Inhibition of the PI3K by LY294002 reduces formation of osteoclasts and attenuates the expression of NFATc1, but not that of c-Fos. Conversely, overexpression of Akt in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) strongly induced NFATc1 expression without affecting c-Fos expression, suggesting that PI3K/Akt-mediated NFATc1 induction is independent of c-Fos during RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis. In addition, we found that overexpression of Akt enhances formation of an inactive form of GSK3β (phospho-GSK3β) and nuclear localization of NFATc1, and that overexpression of a constitutively active form of GSK3β attenuates osteoclast formation through downregulation of NFATc1. Furthermore, BMMs from SHIP knockout mice show the increased expression levels of phospho-Akt and phospho-GSK3β, as well as the enhanced osteoclastogenesis, compared with wild type. However, overexpression of a constitutively active form of GSK3β attenuates RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation from SHIP-deficient BMMs. Our data suggest that the PI3K/Akt/GSK3β/NFATc1 signaling axis plays an important role in RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis.