Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antibody-dependent, cell-mediated cytotoxicity by an anti-class II murine monoclonal antibody: effects of recombinant interleukin 2 on human effector cell lysis of human B-cell tumors.

Lym-1 is an IgG2a murine monoclonal antibody that reacts with variant Class II molecules expressed on B-cell malignancies. Lym-1 was shown to mediate antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) of human effector cells against a variety of malignant B-cell lines. Tumor cell lysis was Lym-1 specific because (a) the reaction was dose dependent with significant ADCC detectable at Lym-1 concentrations as low as 1 microgram/ml; (b) tumor targets not expressing the Lym-1 antigen were unaffected; (c) an isotype-matched irrelevant monoclonal antibody and an IgG1 anti-Class II monoclonal antibody failed to mediate ADCC; and (d) addition of Protein A (which binds avidly to Lym-1) blocked ADCC by 90 to 100%. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from normal donors as well as from cancer patients were able to interact with Lym-1 to elicit ADCC. Recombinant interleukin 2 (rIL-2) enhanced non-antibody-mediated tumor lysis and Lym-1 ADCC with an optimal concentration of 100 units/ml. Pulse treatment of normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells with rIL-2 was able to augment Lym-1 ADCC but was less effective than having the rIL-2 present through the assay. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from patients being treated with high doses of rIL-2 administered by continuous i.v. infusion demonstrated Lym-1 ADCC levels which were higher than normal individuals and which were further augmented by in vitro incubation with rIL-2.
Removal of PCR Inhibitors by Silica Membranes: Evaluating the Amplicor Mycobacterium tuberculosisKit

ABSTRACT The effectiveness of PCR inhibitor removal by silica membranes in combination with the Amplicor Mycobacterium tuberculosiskit was analyzed for 655 respiratory and nonrespiratory specimens. The overall inhibition rate was reduced from 12.5%, when applying the Amplicor kit alone, to 1.1% with the addition of silica membrane DNA purification.
Enhancing Parent- Child Interactions through Home Visiting: Promising Practice or Unfulfilled Promise?

Many intervention programs use home visiting to target enhanced parent-child interactions; however, few studies have examined specific intervention strategies, limiting the potential utility of evaluation results to guide practice, research, or policy effectively. In this paper, we recommend that researchers and program evaluators open the "black box" of home visiting intervention strategies. We initiate this effort by exploring the overall intervention processes in two home visiting programs and describing specific strategies (e.g., coaching and modeling) interventionists used during triadic interactions with the parent and child together. One study included 28 families parenting a child with a disability and receiving Part C services, and the second study included 92 families receiving Early Head Start services. Interventions were not homogeneous across programs or families. Minimal time was focused on facilitating parent-child interactions; when these strategies were used, however, mothers were more likely to be engaged in the intervention activities.
Evaluation of the Patterns of Care Provided to Patients With COPD Compared to Patients With Lung Cancer Who Died in Hospital

Introduction: There is limited information about the end-of-life care provided to patients with end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in comparison to patients with lung cancer. Aim and Methods: We compared the end-of-life care provided to patients with COPD versus patients with lung cancer who died in hospital over a 12-month period in our institution. Results: During the study period, 89 patients died due to COPD (n = 34) or lung cancer (n = 55). Compared to patients with lung cancer, patients with COPD received less palliative care services (50% vs 9%, P < .001) and underwent more diagnostic tests and received more life-prolonging measures. Conclusion: Toward the end of their life, patients with COPD received fewer symptom-alleviating treatments and palliative care services.
Failure of High-Ability High Schools to Deliver Academic Benefits Commensurate With Their Students’ Ability Levels

Emphasizing a psychological perspective of social comparison processes, the author (Marsh, 1987; Marsh & Parker, 1984) found school-average ability to be negatively associated with academic self-concepts. Emphasizing a sociological perspective of school context effects, Alwin and Otto (1977) reported school-average ability to be negatively associated with educational and occupational aspirations. The present investigation brings together these two related areas of research, extends the diversity of outcomes considered, and expands the theoretical frameworks considered. In a longitudinal analysis of the ‘ ‘High School and Beyond” data, the effect of school-average ability on a comprehensive set of academic outcomes (e.g., standardized test scores, self-concept, coursework selection, academic effort, school grades, educational and occupational aspirations, and college attendance) was measured in the sophomore and senior years of high school, and two years after high school graduation. The influence of school-average ability was not positive for any of the outcomes at any point in time and was modestly negative for some. The academic outcomes associated with attending higher-ability schools were not commensurate with the ability levels of students attending these schools, and no academic advantages of such schools were observed for any outcomes. The negative effects of school-average ability were primarily mediated by academic self-concept and educational aspirations.
A Multilocus Phylogeny of the World Sycoecinae Fig Wasps (Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae)

The Sycoecinae is one of five chalcid subfamilies of fig wasps that are mostly dependent on Ficus inflorescences for reproduction. Here, we analysed two mitochondrial (COI, Cytb) and four nuclear genes (ITS2, EF-1α, RpL27a, mago nashi) from a worldwide sample of 56 sycoecine species. Various alignment and partitioning strategies were used to test the stability of major clades. All topologies estimated using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods were similar and well resolved but did not support the existing classification. A high degree of morphological convergence was highlighted and several species appeared best described as species complexes. We therefore proposed a new classification for the subfamily. Our analyses revealed several cases of probable speciation on the same host trees (up to 8 closely related species on one single tree of F. sumatrana), which raises the question of how resource partitioning occurs to avoid competitive exclusion. Comparisons of our results with fig phylogenies showed that, despite sycoecines being internally ovipositing wasps host-switches are common incidents in their evolutionary history. Finally, by studying the evolutionary properties of the markers we used and profiling their phylogenetic informativeness, we predicted their utility for resolving phylogenetic relationships of Chalcidoidea at various taxonomic levels.
Failure of action potential propagation in sensory neurons: mechanisms and loss of afferent filtering in C‐type units after painful nerve injury

The peripheral terminals of sensory neurons encode physical and chemical signals into trains of action potentials (APs) and transmit these trains to the CNS. Although modulation of this process is thought to predominantly reside at synapses, there are also indications that AP trains are incompletely propagated past points at which axons branch. One such site is the T‐junction, where the single sensory neuron axon branches into peripheral and central processes. In recordings from sensory neurons of dorsal root ganglia excised from adult rats, we identified use‐dependent failure of AP propagation between the peripheral and central processes that results in filtering of rapid AP trains, especially in C‐type neurons. Propagation failure was regulated by membrane input resistance and Ca2+‐sensitive K+ and Cl− currents. Following peripheral nerve injury, T‐junction filtering is reduced in C‐type neurons, which may possibly contribute to pain generation.
The Consulting Role in a Response-to-Intervention Context: An Exploratory Study of Instructional Consultation

Response to intervention (RtI) is an influential system of service delivery in contemporary schools, but the specific role of school consultation in RtI implementation is not clearly defined. Instructional consultation provides a potential meeting point between consultation and RtI practices. Through a mixed-methods approach, this study explored school psychologists’ adherence to instructional consultation and perceived benefits and challenges in implementing instructional consultation in a RtI system. Results suggest that while contracting for relational accountability and instructional match were challenging constructs to implement in the RtI system, psychologists viewed them as valuable, potentially filling gaps in RtI problem solving. Data are discussed in consideration of the relation between consultation and RtI, implications for school consultation practice, and avenues for future research.
Fear Extinction Memory Consolidation Requires Potentiation of Pontine-Wave Activity during REM Sleep

Sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation within multiple memory systems including contextual fear extinction memory, but little is known about the mechanisms that underlie this process. Here, we show that fear extinction training in rats, which extinguished conditioned fear, increased both slow-wave sleep and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep. Surprisingly, 24 h later, during memory testing, only 57% of the fear-extinguished animals retained fear extinction memory. We found that these animals exhibited an increase in phasic pontine-wave (P-wave) activity during post-training REM sleep, which was absent in the 43% of animals that failed to retain fear extinction memory. The results of this study provide evidence that brainstem activation, specifically potentiation of phasic P-wave activity, during post-training REM sleep is critical for consolidation of fear extinction memory. The results of this study also suggest that, contrary to the popular hypothesis of sleep and memory, increased sleep after training alone does not guarantee consolidation and/or retention of fear extinction memory. Rather, the potentiation of specific sleep-dependent physiological events may be a more accurate predictor for successful consolidation of fear extinction memory. Identification of this unique mechanism will significantly improve our present understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the sleep-dependent regulation of emotional memory. Additionally, this discovery may also initiate development of a new, more targeted treatment method for clinical disorders of fear and anxiety in humans that is more efficacious than existing methods such as exposure therapy that incorporate only fear extinction.
Near Infrared Spectroscopy Facilitates Rapid Identification of Both Young and Mature Amazonian Tree Species

Precise identification of plant species requires a high level of knowledge by taxonomists and presence of reproductive material. This represents a major limitation for those working with seedlings and juveniles, which differ morphologically from adults and do not bear reproductive structures. Near-infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIR) has previously been shown to be effective in species discrimination of adult plants, so if young and adults have a similar spectral signature, discriminant functions based on FT-NIR spectra of adults can be used to identify leaves from young plants. We tested this with a sample of 419 plants in 13 Amazonian species from the genera Protium and Crepidospermum (Burseraceae). We obtained 12 spectral readings per plant, from adaxial and abaxial surfaces of dried leaves, and compared the rate of correct predictions of species with discriminant functions for different combinations of readings. We showed that the best models for predicting species in early developmental stages are those containing spectral data from both young and adult plants (98% correct predictions of external samples), but even using only adult spectra it is still possible to attain good levels of identification of young. We obtained an average of 75% correct identifications of young plants by discriminant equations based only on adults, when the most informative wavelengths were selected. Most species were accurately predicted (75–100% correct identifications), and only three had poor predictions (27–60%). These results were obtained despite the fact that spectra of young individuals were distinct from those of adults when species were analyzed individually. We concluded that FT-NIR has a high potential in the identification of species even at different ontogenetic stages, and that young plants can be identified based on spectra of adults with reasonable confidence.
From Merge and Move to Form Dependency *

In this article, I shall first briefly present the minimalist framework that emerges from the recent work of Chomsky (1995). As I shall show, a number of classical problems in movement theory, concerning in particular locality in the sense of Manzini (1992), remain open under minimalism. What is more, while the operation Merge can be argued to be necessary on conceptual grounds alone, there is no analogous motivation for the operation Move, but only considerations of language use. I shall then outline a theory which substitutes Chomsky's (1995) movement rule with a rule of Form Dependency. As I shall show, this rule is sufficient to subsume Merge, thus effectively eliminating the Merge-Move dualism. Finally, I shall indicate how the classical problems in locality theory can also be solved within the version of minimalism that I propose.
Signaling Quality by Delaying Sales

This paper studies the problem of a monopolist privately informed about its product quality, who can sell its product in advance, and faces forward-looking buyers who learn about the quality over time. We show that if the monopolist prefers to sell sooner than later, the unique equilibrium satisfying a standard refinement criterion will be such that high-quality monopolists will postpone sales so as to separate themselves from low-quality ones. An application of the analysis is the allocation of sales among season tickets for sport or musical events. Several testable implications are derived in the comparative static analysis. A somewhat unexpected result is that an increase in the precision of the monopolist's information has a negative effect on economic efficiency.
Working with families of adults with anorexia nervosa

The aim of this paper is to describe working with the carers (families) of adults with anorexia nervosa (AN), which is different from working with families of younger adolescents. The main difference is in the area of rights and responsibilities of both parties. Moreover, as AN in adults is often a chronic condition, the treatment goal may not focus on recovery, but instead on improvement in quality of life. Thus the spectrum of nature and degree of parental involvement in the treatment of adults with AN is much broader than in children and adolescents. Our framework for intervention is based on a clear model of carer distress, from which targets for intervention follow. The paper outlines some of the core components of this work.
Evaluating Firm-Level Expected-Return Proxies: Implications for Estimating Treatment Effects

We introduce a parsimonious framework for choosing among alternative expected-return proxies (ERPs) when estimating treatment effects. By comparing ERPs’ measurement error variances in the cross-section and in the time series, we provide new evidence on the relative performance of firm-level ERPs nominated by recent studies. Generally, “implied-costs-of-capital” metrics perform best in the time series, whereas “characteristic-based” proxies perform best in the cross-section. Factor-based ERPs, even the latest renditions, perform poorly. We revisit four prior studies that use ex ante ERPs and illustrate how this framework can potentially alter either the sign or the magnitude of prior inferences.
Electronic reporting to improve patient safety

Background: Limited data are available on the experiences of voluntary event reporting systems to improve patient safety. Objective: Development and implementation of educational initiatives to facilitate the use of an electronic reporting system (ERS) in an academic medical center to measure the impact on knowledge of the ERS on reporting behavior and safety attitudes and to evaluate the accuracy of the information being reported. Methods: A voluntary internal confidential electronic system for reporting safety events was implemented which involved patients and visitors. A multifaceted educational program was developed to promote safety awareness and use of the ERS system. The safety event detail reported for the calendar year 2002 was tracked and trended and central event analyses were performed for five high event clinical areas. A survey was administered to assess safety knowledge and attitudes of patient care personnel. Results: 2843 safety events were entered into the ERS during 2002 with an increase during the course of the year (p = 0.055, linear trend) for all events. Nurses entered 73% of the events and physicians only 2%. 453 events (16%) were unsafe conditions or near misses and 623 (22%) were associated with patient harm. System factors were considered by the reporter as contributing to the event in only a few cases (5%). Central event analysis revealed that 39% of events had coding errors either in event classification, level of impact, or location; significant underreporting was also present. Although survey response rates were low (10.3%), responders showed a high degree of knowledge on general questions of patient safety and an increase in knowledge on use of the ERS (p = 0.0015, linear trend). Conclusions: Knowledge on the use of the reporting system and the frequency of reported events increased over the first year of the study. More work is needed to involve physicians in reporting, to improve the accuracy of submitted information, and to better prioritize, organize, and streamline event analysis.
Concepts to automate the theoretical design of effective antisense oligonucleotides

Among the large number of possible antisense species against a given target RNA, only a small number shows effective suppression of the target gene in living cells. In the case of short-chain antisense oligonucleotides (asON) which usually comprise less than approximately 25 nucleotides, local structures of the target RNA seem to be of particular importance for the extent of gene suppression. Experimental approaches to identify promising local target sequences and, hence, complementary asON sequences, have provided tools to define asON that are biologically active at higher than statistical probability. However, experimental protocols are expensive, time consuming, and are associated with intrinsic basic and technical limitations. As insights into the structure-function relationship of asON as well as the role of sequence motifs increase, it becomes feasible to consider computer-based theoretical approaches for the design of effective asON. In the following we describe how individual steps of the theoretical design of asON may be automated by establishing and implementing suitable algorithms.
The impact of arc flash test conditions on the arc rating of PPE

Research on the convective and radiant arc flash heat transfer process through arc rated protective clothing and equipment and the impact of modified arc testing configurations on the arc rating of PPE is discussed. The effective arc rating of modified PPE designs in high convective heat exposures is also discussed. Recommendations for PPE selection for high convective energy arc flash exposures and the path forward to address the results of this arc testing research is provided.
Why voters prefer coalitions: Rationality or norms?

This article asks if voters might prefer coalitions or single-party governments for ideological or normative reasons. Of course, they might prefer coalition to single-party governments for many reasons, one set clustering around the rational preferences of partisans largely in terms of expectations of electoral success or failure, and the other around the influence of norms or ideology. In terms of ‘rationality’, small-party supporters should want their party to have a role in government. Large-party supporters should prefer single-party government, unless their loyalties are weak, or unless they expect the large party they dislike will have the best chance of forming a government, and therefore hope that its power might be diluted by having to form a coalition. Meanwhile less partisan voters might or might not be influenced by norms that favour broadly based, consensual governments that command majority as compared to plurality support, that minimize parliamentary conflict, and that make it possible for successive governments to follow more consistent policies over time. Regardless of partisanship, some people might prefer strong governments, particularly if their disposition is authoritarian. Ideology might have effects independent of partisanship. Norms and preferences for type of government might also interact as part of change in a political culture. Using data from five elections that have generated coalition and/or minority governments in New Zealand, a country previously accustomed to single-party rule, this article tests these hypotheses and explores the implications of the findings.
Audio Enhanced Map Animation Testing Perception of Spatial and Temporal Relations

Map animation is a popular way to represent time in geovisualization but studies of the effectiveness of map animations have produced mixed results. One potential way to improve map animations that has been discussed frequently but only sparsely studied in the literature is to add sound and make them multimodal. Therefore, this paper investigates whether sound can be used to enhance the usability of an animated map in an exploratory analysis context. Here, we focus on the perception of spatial and temporal relations between events. An internet-based user test was performed. The results show that adding sound does not impair the usability of map animations but fail to show that it improves it. The conclusion is that, rather than rejecting the hypothesis that sound can be used to improve map animations, the study was not appropriately designed to measure what it set out to measure. However, it produced some interesting results indicating that the benefit of sound in animated maps might be related to the number of events in the animation and be different when it comes to reasoning about temporal and spatial relations. This study works as a good starting point for future research.