Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ameliorative Effects of Grape Seed Proanthocyanidin Extract on Growth Performance, Immune Function, Antioxidant Capacity, Biochemical Constituents, Liver Histopathology and Aflatoxin Residues in Broilers Exposed to Aflatoxin B1

Aflatoxicosis is a grave threat to the poultry industry. Dietary supplementation with antioxidants showed a great potential in enhancing the immune system; hence, protecting animals against aflatoxin B1-induced toxicity. Grape seed proanthocyanidin extract (GSPE) one of the most well-known and powerful antioxidants. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of GSPE in the detoxification of AFB1 in broilers. A total of 300 one-day-old Cobb chicks were randomly allocated into five treatments of six replicates (10 birds per replicate), fed ad libitum for four weeks with the following dietary treatments: 1. Basal diet (control); 2. Basal diet + 1 mg/kg AFB1 contaminated corn (AFB1); 3. Basal diet + GSPE 250 mg/kg; (GSPE 250 mg/kg) 4. Basal diet + AFB1 (1 mg/kg) + GSPE 250 mg/kg; (AFB1 + GSPE 250 mg/kg) 5. Basal diet + AFB1 (1mg/kg) + GSPE 500 mg/kg, (AFB1 + GSPE 500 mg/kg). When compared with the control group, feeding broilers with AFB1 alone significantly reduced growth performance, serum immunoglobulin contents, negatively altered serum biochemical contents, and enzyme activities, and induced histopathological lesion in the liver. In addition, AFB1 significantly increased malondialdehyde content and decreased total superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxide, glutathione-S transferase, glutathione reductase activities, and glutathione concentration within the liver and serum. The supplementation of GSPE (250 and 500 mg/kg) to AFB1 contaminated diet reduced AFB1 residue in the liver and significantly mitigated AFB1 negative effects. From these results, it can be concluded that dietary supplementation of GSPE has protective effects against aflatoxicosis caused by AFB1 in broiler chickens.
The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Marine Protected Area: valuing local perspectives in environmental protection

ABSTRACT The Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Queensland, Australia, is one of the most recognisable coral reefs in the world. In 1981 the reef was listed on the World Heritage List, to be preserved as an environmental asset of global significance for all people in perpetuity. The GBR is also a landmark Marine Protected Area (MPA) under the World Heritage Marine Programme. Yet management of this iconic property is not without controversy and in recent years a number of impacts, including coastal developments, increased shipping traffic and global warming, have all threatened the reef. Any breach of Australia's World Heritage obligation to protect and conserve the property may yet result in the GBR being placed on the World Heritage List in Danger. In light of the persistent controversy surrounding GBR management, this paper gives voice to the perspectives and values of stakeholders located in and around one site of controversy, Gladstone Harbour, in the southern section of the GBR World Heritage Area. We present the views of users directly exposed to the controversial port expansion development at Gladstone Harbour in the southern GBR to shed light on the importance of community perspectives in marine park management. Our findings show that local views act to reinforce the global environmental protection narrative which underpins the World Heritage (WH) system. In this study local and global values collide and, we argue, that overlooking the perspectives of users has potential deleterious consequences for WH marine site management.
T cell response to Epstein-Barr virus transactivators in chronic rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a multistep disorder associated with autoimmune features of yet unknown etiology. Implication of viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis has been suspected on the basis of several indirect observations, but thus far, a direct link between EBV and rheumatoid arthritis has not been provided. Here we show that a large fraction of T cells infiltrating affected joints from a patient with chronic rheumatoid arthritis recognizes two EBV transactivators (BZLF1 and BMLF1) in a major histocompatibility complex-restricted fashion. Responses to these EBV antigens by synovial lymphocytes from several other chronic rheumatoid arthritis patients were readily detectable. Thus these results suggest a direct contribution of EBV to chronic rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis. They also demonstrate for the first time the occurrence of T cell responses against EBV transactivating factors, which might be central in the control of virus reactivation.
Sleep: An Unrecognized Actor in Child Development – Volume 5, fascicle 2, sept. 2010

This fascicle is based on data from the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD 1998-2010) which is being conducted by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (Québec Institute of Statistics) in collaboration with various partners (listed on the back cover). The goal of this study is to gain a better understanding of the trajectories which, during early childhood, lead to children’s success or failure in the education system.
Cumulative Meta-Analysis: A Consideration of Indicators of Sufficiency and Stability

This article considers the application of cumulative meta-analysis, defined as the procedure of performing a (new) meta-analysis at every point during the history of a research domain. Two distinct facets of cumulative knowledge are identified: sufficiency (“Are additional studies needed to establish the existence of the phenomenon? ”) and stability (“Will additional studies change the aggregate picture of the phenomenon? ”). These two facets of cumulative knowledge define the purpose of the present effort: How can we determine whether a cumulative meta-analytic database has achieved sufficiency and stability? The authors delineate indicators of sufficiency and stability that might be derived from cumulative meta-analyses and explore the use of these indicators in a set of previously published meta-analytic databases. Discussion explores both retrospective and prospective implications of this approach to cumulative knowledge and compares the implications of this approach to cumulative knowledge with alternative views of social psychology as history.
Elite connectivity and concerted action in French organization

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore some of the distinctive features of organizing and organization in France which set it apart from organization in other nations, and which are fundamental to its modus operandi. In particular, this article is concerned with elite connectivity and concerted action by elite “connectors”. Design/methodology/approach – The research underpinning this article stems from a cross-national comparative project on business elites and corporate governance in France and the UK. This has three dimensions, being quantitative, qualitative and case study-based. Concerted action by the ruling elite is explored through two illustrative vignettes: the ousting from office of Jean-Marie Messier and State-sponsored expansion as pursued by EDF. Both examples shed light on the French business elite’s response to globalization and the development of international business. Findings – The paper finds elite cohesion to be achieved quite differently in the two countries. In addition, .
Assessing the factorial validity of the computer attitude scale (CAS) using a Singaporean sample: A confirmatory factor analysis

This study assesses the factorial validity of the Computer Attitude Scale (CAS) using a sample (N=438) of students from Singapore. Developed by Selwyn (1997), the CAS is a four-factor scale that measures the perceived usefulness, and the affective, behavioral, and perceived control components that have been proposed to constitute the multidimensional construct known as computer attitude. The results of this study show an overall positive computer attitude among the students. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed on a proposed 15-item model of the CAS and it was found to have a good fit. Implications for education in the Asian contexts are discussed. Suggestions for future research are offered.
Overconfidence and the Performance of Business Students on Examinations

In this study, the authors investigated the role of overconfidence on students' performance on multiple-choice examinations. The authors examined the difference between students' self-assessed probability of selecting each correct answer and the proportion of correct answers that they actually selected. Results show that high-performing students discriminated better between difficult and easy multiple-choice questions than did low-performing students. Poorer students exhibited significant overconfidence with difficult questions. Generally, students displayed underconfidence with easy questions and performed better on multiple-choice questions when they were asked to provide reasons contradicting their choices. These results suggest that students can be trained to perform better on standard multiple-choice exams through preparation involving their providing reasons contradicting their choice of answers.
Natural resources and civil strife: a two-stage process

This article explains why resource-rich countries tend to spawn predatory political states that distort the economy and create four of Collier's conditions for civil strife, namely a growth collapse, low educational attainment, a large cohort of unemployed young males and high resource dependence. Yet, the article also shows that these conditions characterize the resource-rich countries as a group, and most have avoided civil strife. The second part of the study therefore identifies the specific properties of natural resources associated with conflict, namely socio-economic linkages, the ratio of commodity value to weight and relative location. However, this manifestation of the resource curse, like others, is not a deterministic phenomenon so that domestic and global policies can limit resource-driven conflict.
SINGLE AND MULTICHANNEL SIGNAL COMPOSITION: FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND VOCALIZATIONS OF RHESUS MACAQUES (MACACA MULATTA)

A method for simultaneously examining visual and vocal components of expressive behavior is described, compiled from video recordings of social behavior of a free-ranging group of rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. I developed a catalog of expressive movements, and chronicled detailed information on visual and vocal components of 1215 individual behaviors. Two thirds of the events recorded were silent, supporting the idea that visual behaviors are primary for short distance communication in these macaques. Clusters of expressive components detected by Principal Component Analysis and Multiple Correspondence Analyses corresponded to threatening, submissive, and affiliative behaviors described previously, providing quantitative support both for these previous descriptions and for the suggestion that these three poles of behavior are important in daily social interaction. Silent expressions involved a greater variety of mouth positions than did vocalizations, which were produced with stereotyped mouth shapes. Other components of the face, not involved with articulation, were nonetheless associated with particular vocalizations: specific associations were found among barks, ears retracted, and head lowered on the one hand, and pant-threats, ears forward, and head raised on the other. Screams and squeaks were highly stereotyped, combined with prototypical grimace mouth positions, crouching and retreating. Girney vocalizations were accompanied by lipsmacking. Grunts were unaccompanied by other expressive components, evoking the suggestion that they may be predominantly neutral in valence.
Channel Estimation Assisted by Postfixed Pseudo-Noise Sequences Padded with Null Samples for Mobile OFDM Communications

A channel estimation (CE) technique that uses a postfixed pseudo-random sequence padded with zeros is investigated in this paper to extend pseudo-random-postfix orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (PRP-OFDM) communications onto mobile applications. The proposed technique takes advantage of pseudonoise (PN) sequences periodically inserted after each OFDM block within the original guard interval (GI) in conventional zero-padded OFDM (ZP-OFDM) or within the original cyclic prefix (CP) in conventional CP-OFDM. This allows accurate estimation of the channel impulse response (CIR). In addition, the proposed technique takes advantage of the null samples padded after the PN sequences for reducing inter-symbol interference (ISI) occurring with the CEs and the information detection in the conventional PRP-OFDM. The proposed technique successfully applies either (1) a least-squares (LS) CE with assistance from decision-directed (DD) data or (2) approximate LS (ALS) CE method onto PRP-OFDM-like communications for the purpose of improving CE performance on rapid time-varying channels. Computer simulations show that the proposed technique can achieve lower error probabilities in mobile environments.
Design of a low-noise preamplifier for nerve cuff electrode recording

This paper discusses certain important issues involved in the design of a nerve signal preamplifier for implantable neuroprostheses. Since the electroneurogram signal measured from cuff electrodes is typically on the order of 1 /spl mu/V, a very low-noise interface is essential. We present the argument for the use of BiCMOS technology in this application and then describe the design and evaluation of a complete preamplifier fabricated in a 0.8-/spl mu/m double-metal double-poly process. The preamplifier has a nominal voltage gain of 100, a bandwidth of 15 kHz, and a measured equivalent input-referred noise voltage spectral density of 3.3 nV//spl radic/Hz at 1 kHz. The total input-referred rms noise voltage in a bandwidth 1 Hz-10 kHz is 290 nV, the power consumption is 1.3 mW from /spl plusmn/2.5-V power supplies, and the active area is 0.3 mm/sup 2/.
Resistance vs. tolerance to Potato virus Y in tobacco—comparing effectiveness using virus isolates from Central Europe

Growing resistant cultivars is the best method of protecting the crops against Potato virus Y (PVY). There are a few sources of PVY resistance/tolerance in tobacco acquired through mass selection, X-ray induced mutagenesis and introgressions from wild Nicotiana species. Here, we compare major sources of PVY resistance/tolerance in inoculation tests using ten PVY isolates collected in Central Europe (Poland and Germany) and differing with their virulence. The diversity of collected isolates was confirmed by DAS-ELISA tests and two PCR assays targeting the most common recombination sites in the PVY genome. We used these isolates in inoculation tests on five resistant cultivars ‘V.SCR’, ‘PBD6’, ‘TN86’, ‘VAM’, ‘Wiślica’, a tolerant breeding line ‘BPA’ and four susceptible cultivars ‘BP-210’, ‘K326’, ‘NC95’, ‘Samsun H’. None of the tested cultivars/breeding lines showed universal resistance against all ten isolates. However, ‘VAM’ and ‘Wiślica’ appeared to be the most effective sources, as they showed no symptoms and gave negative DAS-ELISA tests for four out of ten tested PVY isolates. In contrast, tolerance of the breeding line ‘BPA’ was effective against all tested isolates, because inoculation did not lead to development of full disease symptoms in that breeding line.
Construct validity of eight tests of attention : comparison of normal and closed head injured samples

Abstract Attentional problems are common symptoms of brain impairment and are generally assessed by a number of psychological tests. However, clinicians do not always agree on the processes measured by these tests and validation of the tests is often inadequate. The present study used factor-analytic techniques to examine the construct validity of eight attention tests (Letter Cancellation, Serial Subtraction, Digit Span, Digit Symbol, Stroop Colour-Word, Trail Making, Symbol Digit Modality, and Knox Cube). These tests were administered to 125 university controls, 45 normal controls from the community, and 37 closed-head-injured patients. Each of the 13 measures from the eight tests were found to load on one of three components/factors (identified as visuo-motor scanning, sustained selective processing, and visual/auditory spanning) for the normal as well as the patient group. Comparison of the mean performances of the patients and their matched controls suggested that: (a) severe short-term patients were.
DAF-16-Dependent Suppression of Immunity During Reproduction in Caenorhabditis elegans

To further understand how the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans defends itself against pathogen attack, we analyzed enhanced pathogen resistance (epr) mutants obtained from a forward genetic screen. We also examined several well-characterized sterile mutants that exhibit an Epr phenotype. We found that sterility and pathogen resistance are highly correlated and that resistance in both epr and sterile mutants is dependent on DAF-16 activity. Our data indicate that a DAF-16-dependent signaling pathway distinct from previously described pathways is involved in the activation of genes that confer resistance to bacterial pathogens. The timing of DAF-16-dependent gene activation in sterile mutants coincides with the onset of embryonic development in wild-type animals, suggesting that signals from developing embryos normally downregulate the immune response.
The Predictive Effects of Self-Esteem, Moral Self, and Moral Reasoning on Delinquent Behaviors of Hong Kong Young People

While external factors such as family and peers were widely known to be predictive of juvenile delinquency, mixed results were reported regarding the effects of internal (personal) variables such as self-concept and moral reasoning maturity. The present study was to delineate the effects of two variables relating to the self (self-esteem, moral self) and the moral reasoning maturity in predicting delinquency. A sample of 266 young people aged between 17 and 21 were invited to complete a questionnaire composed of global self-concept (self-esteem) scale, moral self scale, moral reasoning test, and a daily behavior checklist. Regression and correlation analyses indicated that moral self and moral reasoning were in general negatively associated with delinquency, but global self-esteem did not have significant linear relation with delinquency. Polynomial contrast tests revealed that moral reasoning and moral self to certain extent had a linear trend with delinquency negatively, but global self-esteem exhibited a curvilinear (U-shape) trend with some but not all delinquent behaviors such as sexual misconduct, drug offenses, gambling. The results were then discussed in the light of self-derogation theory and other relevant theories such as the “threatened ego” and the multidimensional model of self-concept, and hopefully could throw lights to explain the phenomenon for further research.
Emotional status after right vs. left temporal lobectomy

Nineteen temporal lobectomy patients with epilepsy were evaluated (11 right and 8 left) with a brief questionnaire that addressed: (1) General Happiness; (2) Depression; (3) Anxiety; (4) Impulse Control; and (5) Socialization. The patients with left temporal lobectomy reported increases in depression and decreases in socialization compared with the right temporal lobectomy patients after surgery. Furthermore although the right temporal lobectomy patients reported increases in general happiness, no changes in general happiness were reported by the left temporal lobectomy patients. The present study supported the idea that an increased negative affect is associated with left rather than right temporal lobectomy. This is consistent with a model of negative emotional valence when the right hemisphere dominates awareness.
Outbreaks of Salmonella infections attributed to beef – United States, 1973–2011

SUMMARY Non-typhoidal Salmonella is estimated to be the most common bacterial cause of foodborne illness in the United States, causing an estimated one million domestically acquired foodborne illnesses annually. Recent, large outbreaks have highlighted the importance of ground beef as an important source of multidrug-resistant Salmonella. We analysed the epidemiology of salmonellosis outbreaks that were attributed to beef in the United States reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1973 to 2011. During 1973–2011, of the 1965 outbreaks of Salmonella where a food vehicle was implicated, 96 were attributed to beef, accounting for 3684 illnesses. We observed a shift in the type of beef implicated in salmonellosis outbreaks, from roast to ground beef. Delicatessen-style roast beef cooked in commercial processing establishments was the predominant type during the 1970s and early 1980s; regulations on cooking and processing essentially eliminated this problem by 1987. Ground beef emerged as an important vehicle in the 2000s; it was implicated in 17 (45%) of the 38 beef-attributed outbreaks reported during 2002–2011. Although this emergence was likely due in part to increased participation in CDC's PulseNet, which was established in 1996, and proactive decisions by the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, stronger measures are needed to decrease contamination of ground beef with Salmonella.
Frontal lobe functioning in boys with attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder

Prior attempts to relate attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to frontal lobe dysfunction have yielded mixed results. The present study attempted to minimize several methodological problems that may have contributed to these inconsistencies. A relatively large sample of rigorously defined ADHD boys (n = 66) and controls (n = 64) at two different age levels were administered a battery of neuro‐psychological tests sensitive to frontal damage in adults. ADHD boys were inferior to controls on a Vigilance task, Stroop, FAS, Rey‐Osterrieth Complex Figure, and Porteus Mazes. The groups did not differ on Trail Making or on aspects of Wisconsin Card Sorting sensitive to cognitive flexibility. ADHD boys and controls were comparable on several control tasks. Both groups showed a developmental advance in skills implicating prefrontal cortex between ages 6 to 8 and ages 9 to 11, but the relative deficit of the ADHD children appeared stable during this period. It is suggested that a longitudinal study would .