Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decreased Expression of the CD3ζ Chain in T Cells Infiltrating the Synovial Membrane of Patients with Osteoarthritis

ABSTRACT Osteoarthritis (OA) is a heterogeneous disease which rheumatologists consider to be noninflammatory. However, recent studies suggest that, at least in certain patients, OA is an inflammatory disease and that patients often exhibit inflammatory infiltrates in the synovial membranes (SMs) of macrophages and activated T cells expressing proinflammatory cytokines. We report here that the expression of CD3ζ is significantly decreased in T cells infiltrating the SMs of patients with OA. The CD3ζ chain is involved in the T-cell signal transduction cascade, which is initiated by the engagement of the T-cell antigen receptor and which culminates in T-cell activation. Double immunofluorescence of single-cell suspensions derived from the SMs from nine patients with OA revealed significantly increased proportions of CD3ε-positive (CD3ε+) cells compared with the proportions of CD3ζ-positive (CD3ζ+) T cells (means ± standard errors of the means, 80.48% ± 3.92% and 69.02% ± 6.51%, respectively; P = 0.0096), whereas there were no differences in the proportions of these cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy donors (94.73% ± 1.39% and 93.79% ± 1.08%, respectively; not significant). The CD3ζ+ cell/CD3ε+ cell ratio was also significantly decreased for T cells from the SMs of patients with OA compared with that for T cells from the PBMCs of healthy donors (0.84 ± 0.17 and 0.99 ± 0.01, respectively; P = 0.0302). The proportions of CD3ε+ CD3ζ+ cells were lower in the SMs of patients with OA than in the PBMCs of healthy donors (65.04% ± 6.7% and 90.81% ± 1.99%, respectively; P = 0.0047). Substantial proportions (about 15%) of CD3ε+ CD3ζ-negative (CD3ζ−) and CD3ε-negative (CD3ε−) CD3ζ− cells were found in the SMs of patients with OA. Amplification of the CD3ζ and CD3δ transcripts from the SMs of patients with OA by reverse transcriptase PCR consistently exhibited stronger bands for CD3δ cDNA than for CD3ζ cDNA The CD3ζ/CD3δ transcript ratio in the SMs of patients with OA was significantly lower than that in PBMCs from healthy controls (P < 0.0001). These results were confirmed by competitive MIMIC PCR. Immunoreactivities for the CD3ζ protein were detected in the SMs of 10 of 19 patients with OA, and they were of various intensities, whereas SMs from all patients were CD3ε+ (P = 0.0023). The decreased expression of the CD3ζ transcript and protein in T cells from the SMs of patients with OA relative to that of the CD3ε transcript is suggestive of chronic T-cell stimulation and supports the concept of T-cell involvement in OA.
Anion channels in astrocytes: Biophysics, pharmacology, and function

The chloride/anion channels that have been so far identified in cultured astrocytes and those that have been confirmed in situ by a combination of mRNA identification, immunocytochemistry, and biophysical studies are reviewed. It is emphasized that we are just beginning to describe such channels and analyze their functions in astrocytes. The best‐studied anion channels studied so far are those known as volume‐regulated anion channels (VRACs). These, as for most channels, have been mainly studied in cultured astrocytes, but some correlative studies have been done in situ, because these channels have been emphasized as release routes for transmitters; namely, excitatory amino acids and ATP. They are activated by cell shape changes and cell swelling, and the release of amino acids and ATP and chloride currents, measured by whole cell clamping, by these processes has been well described, as is also their activation by low concentrations of extracellular ATP. However, the identity of these channels in astrocytes, as in all other cells, remains elusive. The potential involvement of VRACs in pathological states such as stroke, metastasis, and spreading depression is also discussed. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Characterizing kernel malware behavior with kernel data access patterns

Characterizing malware behavior using its control flow faces several challenges, such as obfuscations in static analysis and the behavior variations in dynamic analysis. This paper introduces a new approach to characterizing kernel malware's behavior by using kernel data access patterns unique to the malware. The approach neither uses malware's control flow consisting of temporal ordering of malware code execution, nor the code-specific information about the malware. Thus, the malware signature based on such data access patterns is resilient in matching malware variants. To evaluate the effectiveness of this approach, we first generated the signatures of three classic rootkits using their data access patterns, and then matched them with a group of kernel execution instances which are benign or compromised by 16 kernel rootkits. The malware signatures did not trigger any false positives in benign kernel runs; however, kernel runs compromised by 16 rootkits were detected due to the data access patterns shared with the compared signature(s). We further observed similar data access patterns in the signatures of the tested rootkits and exposed popular rootkit attack operations by ranking common data behavior across rootkits. Our experiments show that our approach is effective not only to detect the malware whose signature is available, but also to determine its variants which share kernel data access patterns.
Displaced Aggression Is Alive and Well

Displaced aggression refers to retaliatory aggression that is misdirected from an initial source of provocation and turned instead upon an innocent other (Denson, Pedersen, & Miller, 2006). For example, a worker berated by his superior does not lash out at him (fearing losing his job) but instead, when arriving home, kicks his dog. Potential explanations for such displacement are unavailability of the provocateur, an intangible source of provocation, fear of retaliation, or inhibition elicited by others’ presence (Marcus-Newhall, Pedersen, Carlson, & Miller, 2000). Until recently, experimental examinations of displaced aggression have been relatively rare. Although Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, and Sears’s (1939) work on the frustration–aggression hypothesis produced a brief flurry of research on it, after 1950 interest sharply waned. Meta-analysis of the displaced aggression literature, however, shows a reliably robust mean effect size (+0.54; Marcus-Newhall et al., 2000). Although meta-analytic results are intrinsically correlational, because this meta-analysis solely examined experimental studies, its results confirm a causal relationship between provocation and displaced aggression. Additional variables moderated its magnitude: intensity of provocation, similarity between provocateur and target, and negativity of the displaced aggression setting (Marcus-Newhall et al., 2000). This last variable has elicited the greatest research interest, launching investigations of “triggered displaced aggression” (TDA).
Data Complexity in the EL family of DLs

In recent years, lightweight description logics (DLs) have experienced increased interest because they admit highly efficient reasoning on large-scale ontologies. Most prominently, this is witnessed by the ongoing research on the DL-Lite and EL families of DLs, but see also [11, 14] for other examples. The main application of EL and its relatives is as an ontology language [5, 1, 3]. In particular, the DL EL proposed in [1] admits tractable reasoning while still providing sufficient expressive power to represent, for example, life-science ontologies. In contrast, the DL-Lite family of DLs is specifically tailored towards data intensive applications [8, 6, 7]. In such applications, instance checking and conjunctive query answering are the most relevant reasoning tasks and should thus be computationally cheap, preferably tractable. When determining the computational complexity of these task for a given DL, it is often realistic to consider data complexity, where the size of the input is measured only in terms of the ABox (which represents the data and tends to be large), but not in terms of the TBox and the query concept (which tend to be comparatively small). This is in contrast to combined complexity, where also the size of the TBox and query concept are taken into account.
The coexistence of odd and even parity magnetic fields in disc galaxies

Aims. Naive dynamo models predict that large-scale magnetic fields generated in flattened disc-like structures will be steady and symmetric with respect to the equatorial plane, whereas fields generated in quasi-spherical volumes will be oscillatory and anti-symmetric. Spiral galaxies consist of a flattened disc and a quasi-spherical halo. We thus investigate to what extent this naive understanding of symmetry properties is realised in composite disc/halo models for galactic magnetic fields. Methods. We consider generation of galactic magnetic fields in the framework of galactic mean field dynamo theory, based on the effects of differential rotation and helical turbulent motions (the “α-effect”), using conventional profiles for both generators of magnetic field in the disc and halo. The halo and disc regions are mostly separated by a substantial contrast between their turbulent diffusivities, respectively ηd and halo ηh. We solve the corresponding equations of mean field electrodynamics numerically, using contrasts up to ηh/ηd = 5, while realizing that it might be realistic to consider significantly larger values. Results. In contrast to our naive expectations coexisting steady symmetric (quadrupole-like) magnetic structures in the disc and oscillating antisymmetric (dipole-like) structures in the halo were not found. Usually one component of the dynamo system enslaves the other: a more dynamo-active disc creates a symmetric field in the halo as well as in the disc or, conversely, a more dynamo-active halo generates antisymmetric magnetic fields that pervade both halo and disc. Our most interesting models are mixed parity solutions at the transition between the two regimes. Conclusions. We consider the results obtained as presenting a challenge for the contemporary theory of galactic magnetic fields. We note that there is some recent observational evidence for a difference in symmetry properties between disc and halo. We see three possible resolutions of the problem. The contrast ηh/ηd used may have been too low (values up to about 50 can be argued for but implementation of such values is rather demanding numerically). Another option is that galactic magnetic structures may be separated in two distinct classes, namely objects with disc-like and halo-like magnetic field structures. To settle this issue observationally seems to require much higher resolution than is possible with telescopes now available. Finally, of course, can not be excluded that something fundamental is lacking from our understanding of the origin of galactic magnetic fields.
Vacuolar processing enzyme in plant programmed cell death

Vacuolar processing enzyme (VPE) is a cysteine proteinase originally identified as the proteinase responsible for the maturation and activation of vacuolar proteins in plants, and it is known to be an ortholog of animal asparaginyl endopeptidase (AEP/VPE/legumain). VPE has been shown to exhibit enzymatic properties similar to that of caspase 1, which is a cysteine protease that mediates the programmed cell death (PCD) pathway in animals. Although there is limited sequence identity between VPE and caspase 1, their predicted three-dimensional structures revealed that the essential amino-acid residues for these enzymes form similar pockets for the substrate peptide YVAD. In contrast to the cytosolic localization of caspases, VPE is localized in vacuoles. VPE provokes vacuolar rupture, initiating the proteolytic cascade leading to PCD in the plant immune response. It has become apparent that the VPE-dependent PCD pathway is involved not only in the immune response, but also in the responses to a variety of stress inducers and in the development of various tissues. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the contribution of VPE to plant PCD and its role in vacuole-mediated cell death, and it also compares VPE with the animal cell death executor caspase 1.
A comparison of dual energy x-ray absorptiometry and two bioelectrical impedance analyzers to measure body fat percentage and fat-free mass index in a group of Mexican young women.

INTRODUCTION Studies of obesity require the estimation of fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM); therefore it is important to validate methods that evaluate these measurements. OBJECTIVE We sought to compare two different bioelectrical impedance analysis systems (BIAs) to estimate FM and FFM using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as reference. METHODS We used a cross-sectional design. We evaluated FM and FFM using DXA and two types of BIA equipment: a foot-foot system (FFS) and a hand-foot system (HFS). We conducted paired analysis (paired ttest). We used Bland-Altman plots to assess the relationships between FM and FFMI, limits of agreement were constructed (CL). RESULTS A total of 175 female students (22.9 ± 2.2 years old) participated in the study. The paired analysis showed significant differences between the mean value of body fat percentage (BF%) estimated by BIA equipment compared to DXA (FFS = 28.7%, HFS= 34.4% and DXA= 35.3%). The mean difference between the HFS and DXA of BF% was -0.96, ((CL -5.29, 7.20). For the FFS, the mean difference was -6.69, (CL -0.29, -13.09). The paired analysis revealed significant differences between the estimates of FFMI by BIA compared to DXA (FFS =16.29, HFS =14.95, DXA =14.18). The mean difference between HFS and DXA was 0.78, and (CL -2.27, 0.72) whereas the FFS mean difference was -2.11 (CL -3.73 -0.49). CONCLUSION A different magnitude of bias was observed between the BIA equipment arrays. The HFS appears to be more reliable than the FFS used, particularly in obtaining FFMI in young women.
Determination of Critical Parameters in Electrical Machine Thermal Models

In this paper the authors discuss the problem concerning the determination of some thermal parameters which are very complex to compute. These parameters play an important role in thermal networks usually adopted for electrical machine thermal analysis. While the information given in the paper are mainly related to induction motors, they are also of general use for the designers of other types of machine. The reported results have been validated using induction motors with power ranges from few kW up to 250 kW.
Senior Officers in the Kishon Diving Affair: Between Ethics and Acts

ABSTRACT For decades, soldiers in Israel’s elite naval commando unit trained in the highly polluted waters of the Kishon River without conducting any prior examination of its suitability as a training site. Following a high incidence of disease and even death among these soldiers, a national enquiry commission was set up. The thick descriptions in the commission protocols provided the factual infrastructure for this qualitative case study of an organizational phenomenon: how generations of senior officers enabled activities that directly contravened the declared code of ethics of the Israel Defense Forces regarding the risking of lives. The findings question the assumption that ethical decision-making is affected mainly by the traits and mindset of the individual. They show that the values, symbols and beliefs of a senior peer group mold a unique sub-culture and climate that can undermine the ethical ethos, even in a highly bureaucratic organization such as the military. The findings expand research knowledge about the impact of organizational contexts and group processes on ethical behavior, and extend applied knowledge regarding the instilment of ethics in organizations.
Secure and efficient handover protocols for WMNs

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) consist of a wireless infrastructure of mesh routers which are connected to the Internet via mesh gateways. Mesh clients on the other hand connect to these routers. To make full use of the connectivity and services offered by a WMN, users should be able to securely hand over from one router to the next. In particular, keying material has to be supplied to the new router. Handover protocols designed for infrastructure WLAN cannot be directly applied here as they have clearly been designed with a trusted backbone in mind. In this paper we propose three complementary secure, efficient, and practical proactive handover protocols, which are able to cope with the unique characteristics of WMNs such as the wireless infrastructure and untrusted intermediaries.We have also implemented and evaluated our protocols using our WMN testbed and thus show the feasibility of our solution in time critical contexts.
One world in schools: an evaluation of the human rights education programme in the Republic of Georgia

Abstract This paper describes the impact of the One World in Schools human rights education programme on the attitudes, self-efficacy and intention to act of a sample of Georgian secondary school students (n = 303). For the evaluation, a mixed approach was applied, combining pre/post experimental/control group design, post-programme teacher and student surveys, and focus groups (n = 48) with students. Data were collected from September 2014 to June 2015 in sampled Georgian schools. The analysis revealed that the programme had an impact in both the quantitative and qualitative parts of the research. In the qualitative part, the students reported a high level of empowerment thanks to the programme’s activities, while the changes reported in the pre/post testing were rather moderate. Moreover, the programme seems to have influenced girls more than boys. The cultural context of the evaluation and the implications for further implementation of the programme are discussed as well.
The Seasons They Are a Changin’

Purpose: To examine a component of crime pattern theory by exploring whether the spatial predictors of crime vary across seasons. Methods: The relationships among potentially criminogenic places and illicit markets and seasonal census block robbery counts in Philadelphia, PA, were explored using simultaneously estimated negative binomial regression models. The equality of predictors’ effects on street robbery across seasons was subsequently tested using Wald’s tests. Results: While many facilities and illicit markets were positively associated with street robbery, there were few seasonal differences in their effects. Only the effect of high schools during the fall was greater than during the winter and summer as hypothesized. Conclusions: The results suggest areas with facilities and illicit markets that are used consistently across the year experience the highest street robbery levels regardless of the season.
Bayesian Model Selection for Genome-Wide Epistatic Quantitative Trait Loci Analysis

The problem of identifying complex epistatic quantitative trait loci (QTL) across the entire genome continues to be a formidable challenge for geneticists. The complexity of genome-wide epistatic analysis results mainly from the number of QTL being unknown and the number of possible epistatic effects being huge. In this article, we use a composite model space approach to develop a Bayesian model selection framework for identifying epistatic QTL for complex traits in experimental crosses from two inbred lines. By placing a liberal constraint on the upper bound of the number of detectable QTL we restrict attention to models of fixed dimension, greatly simplifying calculations. Indicators specify which main and epistatic effects of putative QTL are included. We detail how to use prior knowledge to bound the number of detectable QTL and to specify prior distributions for indicators of genetic effects. We develop a computationally efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm using the Gibbs sampler and Metropolis-Hastings algorithm to explore the posterior distribution. We illustrate the proposed method by detecting new epistatic QTL for obesity in a backcross of CAST/Ei mice onto M16i.
Standard Stars: CCD Photometry, Transformations and Comparisons

Abstract We discuss variations of the atmospheric extinction coefficients and transformation equations to the standard UBVRI system based on observations of standard stars during 1996–1997 at Siding Spring Observatory using a thinned SITe CCD and coloured glass filters. In the transformation from the initial natural system to the Landolt version of the standard system, a large nonlinear term related to the Balmer discontinuity was required for the U transformation. We then modified the U filter, and the subsequent transformation to the SAAO version of the standard UBVRI system had only small nonlinear correction terms for U, B, and I. The correction terms relating to U and B are evidently due to the Balmer discontinuity, while that relating to I seems to be due to the Paschen discontinuity at λ ≈ 8200 Å. We also compared the results with Landolt's observations, and confirmed the difference between the two sets of standard stars (SAAO and Landolt).
The micro-politics of emotions in legal space: an autoethnography about sexual violence and displacement in Norway

Abstract This article is an autoethnography of fieldwork carried out as part of a research project about the legal processing of rape cases in Norway. The author observed 15 rape trials and interviewed ten defense lawyers. During this fieldwork, the author repeatedly experienced the shortcomings of conventional fieldwork methodology as she tried to build rapport with defense lawyers. By examining ‘out of place’ emotions like embarrassment, shame and isolation, the author seeks to map the social world that is ‘filtered’ through the relations between researcher and researched. Using a feminist interactionist approach to analyzing ‘educational moments’ in field encounters characterized by participant’s resistance or dominance, this article asks how reflection on the researcher’s feelings and experiences (emotional reflexivity) can contribute to an understanding of the micro-politics of gender and power in the field.
A 10 μm spectroscopic survey of Herbig Ae star disks: Grain growth and crystallization

We present spectroscopic observations of a large sample of Herbig Ae stars in the 10 µm spectral region. We perform compositional fits of the spectra based on properties of homogeneous as well as inhomogeneous spherical particles, and derive the mineralogy and typical grain sizes of the dust responsible for the 10 µm emission. Several trends are reported that can constrain theoretical models of dust processing in these systems: i) none of the sources consists of fully pristine dust comparable to that found in the interstellar medium; ii) all sources with a high fraction of crystalline silicates are dominated by large grains; iii) the disks around more massive stars (M > 2.5 M� , L > 60 L� ) have a higher fraction of crystalline silicates than those around lower mass stars, iv) in the subset of lower mass stars (M < 2.5 M� ) there is no correlation between stellar parameters and the derived crystallinity of the dust. The correlation between the shape and strength of the 10 micron silicate feature reported by van Boekel et al. (2003) is reconfirmed with this larger sample. The evidence presented in this paper is combined with that of other studies to present a likely scenario of dust processing in Herbig Ae systems. We conclude that the present data favour a scenario in which the crystalline silicates are produced in the innermost regions of the disk, close to the star, and transported outward to the regions where they can be detected by means of 10 micron spectroscopy. Additionally, we conclude that the final crystallinity of these disks is reached very soon after active accretion has stopped.