Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T-cells for tumor therapy can be obtained from antigen-loaded sponge implants.

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the therapeutic use of tumor-specific T-cells obtained from s.c. Ag (antigen)-loaded sponge implants. Naive C57BL/6 mice were implanted with small, polyurethane sponges containing irradiated FBL-3 tumor cells. On day 10, cells that had accumulated in the sponges were harvested and tested for specific cytolytic and proliferative function in vitro. The results demonstrated that CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells immune to FBL-3 could both be primed in and obtained from the Ag-loaded sponge implants. Limiting dilution analysis demonstrated that the frequency of FBL-3-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes elicited from Ag-loaded sponges was four times greater than the frequency from draining lymph nodes and at least 50 times greater than from spleen and peripheral blood. Tumor-specific T-cells could similarly be obtained from Ag-loaded sponges implanted into previously primed mice and into mice bearing disseminated FBL-3. In both circumstances, elicited T-cells exhibited much higher cytolytic activity than T-cells from sponges implanted in naive mice, indicating an in situ accumulation and expansion of primed T-cells in response to the antigen stimulation. Tumor-specific T-cells obtained from Ag-loaded sponge implants could be grown long-term in vitro by periodic restimulation with irradiated FBL-3 and low concentrations of interleukin 2. Adoptive transfer of the resultant expanded T-cell lines into mice with disseminated FBL-3 revealed that cultured sponge-infiltrating T-cells could mediate effective antitumor therapy. Thus, in vivo immunization with Ag-loaded sponges provides a potentially useful technique for procuring primed, Ag-specific T-cells for tumor therapy.
MEXICAN AMERICAN WOMEN'S PERSPECTIVES OF THE INTERSECTION OF RACE AND GENDER IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL: A CRITICAL RACE THEORY ANALYSIS

This qualitative multiple participant case study examined Mexican American women‘s experiences at the intersection of race and gender in public high school. Mexican American women‘s experiences cannot be isolated and described independently in terms of either race or gender. The intersection of race and gender for Mexican American women has not been investigated fully. The few studies that include Mexican American females focus on dropouts and emphasize at risk factors such as gender, race, socioeconomic status, and language. Consequently, the gaps in the empirical literature are caused in part by the shortage of research on Mexican American women and the propensity toward examining Mexican American women from the deficit perspective. Critical Race Theory was the framework for the analysis and the interpretation in this study. The significant findings of this research support CRT, in that racism is prevalent and ordinary in the daily the lives of Mexican American females. The findings of the study included: First, racism is endemic and pervasive in public education. Second, colorblindness is the notion from which many educational entities operate. Third, the participants perceive social justice as the solution to ending all forms of racism and oppression. Finally, navigating the system is necessary to learn to be academically successful. The results contribute to the limited research on Mexican American women at the intersection of race and gender and the racism experienced in public high school to the overall CRT research in education, and in particular, to LatCrit research.
Determinants and interindividual variation of R-R interval dynamics in healthy middle-aged subjects.

Determinants and intersubject variations of fractal and complexity measures of R-R interval variability were studied in a random population of 200 healthy middle-aged women (age 51 +/- 6 yr) and 189 men (age 50 +/- 6 yr) during controlled conditions in the supine and sitting positions. The short-term fractal exponent (alpha(1)) was lower in women than men in both the supine (1.18 +/- 0.20 vs. 1.12 +/- 0.17, P < 0.01) and sitting position (P < 0.001). Approximate entropy (ApEn), a measure of complexity, was higher in women in the sitting position (1.16 +/- 0.17 vs. 1.07 +/- 0.19, P < 0.001), but no gender-related differences were observed in ApEn in the supine position. Fractal and complexity measures were not related to any other demographic, laboratory, or lifestyle factors. Intersubject variations in a fractal measure, alpha(1) (e.g., 1.15 +/- 0.20 in the supine position, z value 1.24, not significant), and in a complexity measure, ApEn (e.g., 1.14 +/- 0.18 in the supine position, z value 1.44, not significant), were generally smaller and more normally distributed than the variations in the traditional measures of heart rate variability (e.g., standard deviation of R-R intervals 49 +/- 21 ms in the supine position, z value 2.53, P < 0.001). These results in a large random population sample show that healthy subjects express relatively little interindividual variation in the fractal and complexity measures of heart rate behavior and, unlike the traditional measures of heart rate variability, they are not related to lifestyle, metabolic, or demographic variables. However, subtle gender-related differences are also present in fractal and complexity measures of heart rate behavior.
LBA privacy preserving index and its theoretical analysis in cloud storage systems

In cloud storage systems, the index system, which maps a queried item to its storage location, is a key component. Due to the limited space in the storage nodes, it requires to compact the index for fast response. Moreover, since the index may be published on many nodes of the system, the privacy of the nodes' ownership information needs to be protected. In this paper we introduce an indexing model - the Lightweight Bloom filter Array (LBA) to improve the index performance while preserves item information on the nodes of the cloud storage systems. We conduct theoretical analysis to find the performance of the index system. We also make theoretical comparisons with other index method. Simulations show that the theoretical deduction is in good accordance with the expected performance.
Pontomedullary glutamate receptors mediating locomotion and muscle tone suppression

Microinjection of NMDA and non-NMDA agonists into the same sites in pontomedullary motor “inhibitory” areas of decerebrate animals produced opposite effects on muscle tone. Microinjection of non-NMDA agonists into peri-locus coeruleus alpha (peri-LC alpha) and nucleus magnocellularis (NMC) suppressed muscle tone, while injection of NMDA agonists at the same sites increased muscle tone and produced locomotion. The latency, duration, and magnitude of muscle tone change after both NMDA and non-NMDA agonist injections were dose dependent. Increased muscle tone and locomotor effects were blocked by NMDA antagonists, and muscle tone suppression effects were blocked by non- NMDA antagonists. We conclude that pontomedullary non-NMDA receptors mediate muscle tone suppression, and that NMDA receptors mediate locomotion and muscle tone facilitation. Activation of both NMDA and non-NMDA pontomedullary receptors by glutamate release in REM sleep can explain the combination of motor activation and loss of muscle tone that characterizes this state. In the waking animal, the co- localization of these mechanisms may facilitate the coordination of locomotion with postural adjustments.
The Empirical Analysis about Effects of Career Decision-Making Difficulties on the Career Decision Status in College Students

Objective: explore the specific impact of different types of career decision-making difficulties on the determination of college students' career goals so as to provide an empirical basis for colleges to carry out targeted career education. Methods: extract 31 projects from the Chinese version of CDDQ to measure 9 types of career decision-making difficulties, and use Logistic Regression Analysis to process research samples. Results: only lack of motivation for career decision-making, information about self and information about the career decision-making process have significant effects on the career goal-setting status. Conclusion: enhancing the motivation for career decision, the knowledge about self and information about career decisionmaking process can significantly increase the possibility for career decidedness.
Cerebrospinal Fluid Space Alterations in Melancholic Depression

Melancholic depression is a biologically homogeneous clinical entity in which structural brain alterations have been described. Interestingly, reports of structural alterations in melancholia include volume increases in Cerebro-Spinal Fluid (CSF) spaces. However, there are no previous reports of CSF volume alterations using automated whole-brain voxel-wise approaches, as tissue classification algorithms have been traditionally regarded as less reliable for CSF segmentation. Here we aimed to assess CSF volumetric alterations in melancholic depression and their clinical correlates by means of a novel segmentation algorithm (‘new segment’, as implemented in the software Statistical Parametric Mapping-SPM8), incorporating specific features that may improve CSF segmentation. A three-dimensional Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) was obtained from seventy patients with melancholic depression and forty healthy control subjects. Although imaging data were pre-processed with the ‘new segment’ algorithm, in order to obtain a comparison with previous segmentation approaches, tissue segmentation was also performed with the ‘unified segmentation’ approach. Melancholic patients showed a CSF volume increase in the region of the left Sylvian fissure, and a CSF volume decrease in the subarachnoid spaces surrounding medial and lateral parietal cortices. Furthermore, CSF increases in the left Sylvian fissure were negatively correlated with the reduction percentage of depressive symptoms at discharge. None of these results were replicated with the ‘unified segmentation’ approach. By contrast, between-group differences in the left Sylvian fissure were replicated with a non-automated quantification of the CSF content of this region. Left Sylvian fissure alterations reported here are in agreement with previous findings from non-automated CSF assessments, and also with other reports of gray and white matter insular alterations in depressive samples using automated approaches. The reliable characterization of CSF alterations may help in the comprehensive characterization of brain structural abnormalities in psychiatric samples and in the development of etiopathogenic hypotheses relating to the disorders.
Recent trends in minimum income protection for Europe's elderly

In Europe, the elderly stand out for their heavy reliance on welfare state arrangements for securing their living standard. In spite of relatively high elderly at-risk-of-poverty rates in many EU member states, the past two decades have witnessed a tendency to re-strengthen the link between past contributions and pension benefi ts, and to rely more strongly on private pensions. At the same time, public pension replacement rates are projected to decrease in a large number of European countries. In this context, minimum income protection for Europe’s elderly is likely to become even more important for alleviating elderly poverty than is the case today. Yet, minimum income protection schemes targeted at the elderly have remained largely undocumented in the international literature. Therefore, this chapter reviews existing minimum income policies for the elderly in Europe and develops a typology based on entitlement and eligibility criteria. Building on data from a project involving national experts from 25 EU member states, it is shown that in the 2000s welfare erosion of elderly persons’ non-contributory minimum income guarantees has been limited. Moreover, a substantial number of countries has pursued a deliberate policy of increases in minimum income benefi ts for the elderly. Nonetheless, only in a few countries benefi ts are adequate for lifting elderly persons above the poverty line. At the same time, differences between EU member states in terms of mode of access and benefi t levels remain large.
Etiology of liver cirrhosis in Brazil: chronic alcoholism and hepatitis viruses in liver cirrhosis diagnosed in the state of Espírito Santo

OBJECTIVES: To report the etiology of liver cirrhosis cases diagnosed at the University Hospital in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, Brazil. METHODS: The medical charts of patients with liver cirrhosis who presented to the University Hospital in Vitoria were reviewed. Chronic alcoholism and the presence of hepatitis B or C infections (HBV and HCV, respectively) were pursued in all cases. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 1,516 cases (male:female ratio 3.5:1, aged 53.2±12.6 years). The following main etiological factors were observed: chronic alcoholism alone (39.7%), chronic alcoholism in association with HBV or HCV (16.1%), HCV alone (14.5%) and in association with alcoholism (8.6%) (total, 23.1%), and HBV alone (13.1%) and in association with alcoholism (7.5%, total 20.6%). The remaining etiologies included cryptogenic cases (9.8%) and other causes (6.0%). The mean patient age was lower and the male-to-female ratio was higher in the cirrhosis cases that were associated with alcoholism or HBV compared with other causes. Intravenous drug abuse and a history of surgery or blood transfusion were significantly associated with HCV infection. Hepatocellular carcinoma was present at the time of diagnosis in 15.4% of cases. Chronic alcoholism associated with HCV infection was significantly associated (p<0.001) with reduced age (at the time of cirrhosis diagnosis) and increased prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma (p = 0.052). CONCLUSION: Alcoholism, HCV and HBV are the main factors associated with liver cirrhosis in the state of Espirito Santo. Chronic alcoholism associated with HCV infection reduced the age of patients at the time of liver cirrhosis diagnosis.
Imatinib and Nilotinib Inhibit Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Growth, but Do Not Prevent Adhesion, Migration and Engraftment of Human Cord Blood CD34+ Cells

Background The availability of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has considerably changed the management of Philadelphia chromosome positive leukemia. The BCR-ABL inhibitor imatinib is also known to inhibit the tyrosine kinase of the stem cell factor receptor, c-Kit. Nilotinib is 30 times more potent than imatinib towards BCR-ABL in vitro. Studies in healthy volunteers and patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia or gastrointestinal stromal tumors have shown that therapeutic doses of nilotinib deliver drug levels similar to those of imatinib. The aim of this study was to compare the inhibitory effects of imatinib and nilotinib on proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, migration and engraftment capacities of human cord blood CD34+ cells. Design and Methods After a 48-hour cell culture with or without TKIs, CFC, LTC-IC, migration, adhesion and cell cycle analysis were performed. In a second time, the impact of these TKIs on engraftment was assessed in a xenotransplantation model using NOD/SCID/IL-2Rγ (null) mice. Results TKIs did not affect LTC-IC frequencies despite in vitro inhibition of CFC formation due to inhibition of CD34+ cell cycle entry. Adhesion of CD34+ cells to retronectin was reduced in the presence of either imatinib or nilotinib but only at high concentrations. Migration through a SDF-1α gradient was not changed by cell culture in the presence of TKIs. Finally, bone marrow cellularity and human chimerism were not affected by daily doses of imatinib and nilotinib in a xenogenic transplantation model. No significant difference was seen between TKIs given the equivalent affinity of imatinib and nilotinib for KIT. Conclusions These data suggest that combining non-myeloablative conditioning regimen with TKIs starting the day of the transplantation could be safe.
Why Not Use Query Logs As Corpora

Generally, every Web search engine logs the user sessions. These records, called query logs, contain valuable information about the behaviour of Internet users and their language. There are only a few experiments on mining query logs, but they confirm that query logs are very useful for designing natural language applications in Web retrieval. This paper shows how lexical and semantic information can be extracted from query logs using statistical methods. I first summarize approaches in query log processing and mining for different purposes. After a short description of the used query logs, I present new domain- and language-independent methods for generating a compound dictionary and extracting semantically similar terms. The evaluation will shed light on the quality of proposed methods and show that the results are good enough to be directly integrated in query processing and improve information retrieval on the Web.
The Influence of Working Conditions on Principal Turnover in K-12 Public Schools

Purpose: During the past two decades, principal turnover issues have raised nationwide concerns about leadership stability and student performance. With national data from National Center for Education Statistics, this study examines how principal working conditions influence the probability of different types of principal turnover (mover, promoted, demoted, leaver, and retired). Research Method: This study utilizes data from 2011 to 2012 Schools and Staffing Survey and 2012-2013 Principal Follow-up Survey, and performs multinomial logistic regressions with region fixed effects to examine how principal working conditions are associated with principal turnover, while controlling for principal characteristics and school context. Findings: This study finds that principals with beneficial job contracts, tenure system, and higher salary were less likely to transition. Additionally, positive disciplinary environment lowered the odds of principals moving to another school, especially in schools with high concentrations of students of color. Moreover, more influences on determining teacher professional development and budgeting were associated with lower odds of principals leaving education, but more influence on setting performance standards showed the opposite direction. Implications: This study could assist policy makers in providing positive working conditions to support and retain principals for long-term school improvement. Moreover, school districts could facilitate building positive school disciplinary environment to lower principal turnover in underserved schools.
Plant High-Affinity Potassium (HKT) Transporters Involved in Salinity Tolerance: Structural Insights to Probe Differences in Ion Selectivity

High-affinity Potassium Transporters (HKTs) belong to an important class of integral membrane proteins (IMPs) that facilitate cation transport across the plasma membranes of plant cells. Some members of the HKT protein family have been shown to be critical for salinity tolerance in commercially important crop species, particularly in grains, through exclusion of Na+ ions from sensitive shoot tissues in plants. However, given the number of different HKT proteins expressed in plants, it is likely that different members of this protein family perform in a range of functions. Plant breeders and biotechnologists have attempted to manipulate HKT gene expression through genetic engineering and more conventional plant breeding methods to improve the salinity tolerance of commercially important crop plants. Successful manipulation of a biological trait is more likely to be effective after a thorough understanding of how the trait, genes and proteins are interconnected at the whole plant level. This article examines the current structural and functional knowledge relating to plant HKTs and how their structural features may explain their transport selectivity. We also highlight specific areas where new knowledge of plant HKT transporters is needed. Our goal is to present how knowledge of the structure of HKT proteins is helpful in understanding their function and how this understanding can be an invaluable experimental tool. As such, we assert that accurate structural information of plant IMPs will greatly inform functional studies and will lead to a deeper understanding of plant nutrition, signalling and stress tolerance, all of which represent factors that can be manipulated to improve agricultural productivity.
An Investigation of Knowledge Sharing Phenomenon among IT Engineers: An Interpretative Phenomenological Perspective

: In order to strengthen the IT industry in developing Arabic economies, knowledge sharing among developers and engineers is key. This study explores the factors that drive such individuals to share knowledge amongst themselves. Phenomenology, as a philosophy of knowledge and a qualitative research approach, was employed to construct a new understanding of the knowledge sharing phenomenon in organisations in Saudi Arabia. The study synthesised data from ten semi-structured interviews with IT engineers and developers into a consistent description of the key determinants that facilitate knowledge sharing intentions. The emerging themes were clustered into three conceptual categories: (1) individual domain (2) organisational domain, and (3) Information Technology domain. The primary conclusion, derived from the point of view experiences of the participating IT managers is that reputation, openness to experience, organisational culture, management support and technology capability main reasons for knowledge The end result of this study is to offer guidance to managers and policymakers for the development and rollout of sound knowledge management systems within the Kingdom. in IT An interpretative was adopted, and our study indicates insights about the intention to share knowledge.
High Proportion of Asymptomatic Infections in an Outbreak of Hepatitis E Associated With a Spit-Roasted Piglet, France, 2013.

BACKGROUND On 11 December 2013, 3 clustered cases of hepatitis E were reported on a French coastal island. Individuals had taken part in a wedding meal that included a spit-roasted piglet. The piglet had been stuffed with a raw stuffing partly made from the liver. Investigations were carried out to identify the vehicle of contamination and evaluate the dispersion of the hepatitis E virus (HEV) in the environment. METHODS A questionnaire was administered to 98 wedding participants who were asked to give a blood sample. Cases were identified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and serological tests. A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 38 blood-sampled participants after the exclusion of 14 participants with evidence of past HEV infection. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated based on food consumed at the wedding meal using univariate and multivariable Poisson regressions. Phylogenetic analyses were performed to compare the clinical HEV strains. Strains were detected in the liquid manure sampled at the farm where the piglet was born and in the untreated island wastewater. RESULTS Seventeen cases were identified, 70.6% were asymptomatic. Acute HEV infection was independently associated with piglet stuffing consumption (RR = 1.69 [1.04-2.73], P = .03). Of clinical strains from the index cases, veterinary and environmental HEV strains were identical. CONCLUSIONS Our investigation attributed this large HEV outbreak to the consumption of an undercooked pig liver-based stuffing. After infection, the cases became a temporary reservoir for HEV, which was detected in the island's untreated wastewater.
The practice of using NAPLAN numeracy test results: a review of the literature

Considered by many as a source of valuable data and a potential to improve mathematics education, a significant amount of studies have been conducted on The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test results. This study is a systematic literature review of 86 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2008 and 2017 to investigate how NAPLAN numeracy test results were used in those studies. Findings showed NAPLAN results were used primarily to map student progress and identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching