Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Where Have All the Young Men Gone?: Gender Imbalance in Tertiary Journalism Courses

This project worked with groups of students who typically apply to tertiary journalism courses. Some students joined focus groups, some completed questionnaires, all had the opportunity to discuss their impressions of journalism and what might attract them to such a course. This research is set against published literature which highlights a gender imbalance in journalism courses but does not address it. The project reveals participants’ perceptions, largely based on the television news they see, determine their consideration of journalism as a career. It provides an insight into how young males view the news and the men who present it.
Osteonecrosis of the Femoral Head After Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation

A comparative retrospective analysis of 100 consecutive patients after bone marrow transplantation was performed with magnetic resonance imaging in addition to plain radiography for the development of osteonecrosis of the femoral head. The incidence and risk factors for osteonecrosis of the femoral head were identified, comparing various parameters concerning bone marrow transplantation between the groups with and without evidence of osteonecrosis. Nineteen (19%) of 100 patients had osteonecrosis of the femoral head develop. Four factors were found to be statistically significantly different between patients who had osteonecrosis develop and those who did not: younger age at the time of bone marrow transplantation, chronic graft-versus-host disease, cumulative dose of steroid, and intravenous pulse therapy with methylprednisolone. It was concluded that a low rate of complications and low dose steroid administration would reduce the incidence of osteonecrosis after bone marrow transplantation.
Children of Parents with Mental Illness

1. Attempts to include children who may have experienced severe emotional or physical traumas in a range of family interviewing approaches may make such children feel even more trapped by conflicting loyalties, fears for the parents’ safety, fears of retaliation, and sometimes by having engaged in a parent’s paranoid beliefs. 2. Different approaches to interviewing families, which may themselves have been valid in eliciting and intervening in particular family processes, can nevertheless pose particular problems and dangers for this group of children. For example, the use of circular questioning that includes children may unwittingly place them in untenable positions or face them with intolerable dilemmas about how to respond in front of a parent whom they may perceive as both vulnerable and frightening. Yet approaches that stress the hierarchy of relationships within a family may both misperceive and alienate a child who has had to take on caring functions for a parent with mental illness. 3. Therapists working with the families of mentally ill members have commonly avoided attempts to actively engage the children, as they have usually been preoccupied with the interactions between the ill member and more “senior” adults, which may be seen to impinge on the patient’s competence and self-image.
Noncontact human force capturing based on surface hardness measurement

In this paper, we propose a remote grip force sensing method based on skin surface hardness measurement. The measurement system is composed of an airborne ultrasound phased array and a laser displacement sensor. The surface hardness distribution of a human hand is estimated by optically measured surface vibration amplitude induced by the ultrasound radiation pressure. The realtime grip force is estimated using the relationship between the hand surface compliance and the grip force which is obtained experimentally in advance. The feasibility of grip force estimation is confirmed for a gripping hand keeping a constant posture.
Apolipoprotein E distribution among human plasma lipoproteins: role of the cysteine-arginine interchange at residue 112.

Human apolipoprotein (apo) E occurs as three common isoforms (apoE4, E3, and E2), all of which influence plasma cholesterol levels. Although both apoE4 and E3 bind with equal effectiveness to the low density lipoprotein receptor, they associate preferentially with different classes of plasma lipoproteins: apoE4 with very low density lipoproteins, apoE3 with high density lipoproteins. The primary structure of apoE3 differs from that of apoE4 at only a single site; apoE3 has its sole cysteine residue at position 112, while apoE4 contains arginine at position 112 and completely lacks cysteine. The present study investigated how this structural difference between apoE4 and E3 determines their distribution among plasma lipoproteins, and analyzed the role of the disulfide-linked heterodimer apoE-A-II (which apoE4 cannot form) in determining the distribution. Human plasma was incubated with 125I-labeled apoE, and lipoproteins were separated by agarose chromatography. Both apoE3 that had been reduced and alkylated with iodoacetamide and apoE3-A-II distributed with high density lipoproteins, indicating that a combination of an inherent property of the monomeric apoE3 structure and apoE-A-II formation account for distribution of apoE3 to the high density lipoproteins. Cysteamine modification of apoE3 resulted in an apoE4-like distribution, demonstrating that a positive charge at position 112 determined the apoE4 distribution and that the effect was not exclusively due to the presence of arginine at this position. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Making Sense of Art: Access for Gallery Visitors with Vision Impairments

While there is widespread recognition of the need to provide people with vision impairments (PVI) equitable access to cultural institutions such as art galleries, this is not easy. We present the results of a collaboration with a regional art gallery who wished to open their collection to PVIs in the local community. We describe a novel model that provides three different ways of accessing the gallery, depending upon visual acuity and mobility: virtual tours, self-guided tours and guided tours. As far as possible the model supports autonomous exploration by PVIs. It was informed by a value sensitive design exploration of the values and value conflicts of the primary stakeholders.
Decreased programmed cell death in the uterine cervix associated with high risk human papillomavirus infection

The relationship between apoptosis, apoptosis regulatory proteins, cell proliferation and human papillomavirus infection during various phases of tumor progression in the uterine cervix was studied. Apoptosis was defined by morphological criteria and the TUNEL assay. Expression of p53, bcl-2, bax, cyclin D1, Ki 67 and E6 protein was evaluated by immunocytochemistry. Presence of mutant p53 was detected using a mutant specific ELISA. Type of HPV infection was determined by PCR using type specific primers. Apoptosis showed significant negative correlation with increasing histological abnormality (p=0.0005). Higher tumor cell proliferation was associated with increasing histological abnormality (p=0.001 for Ki 67 and cyclin D1). There was significant correlation between histological grade and immunoreactivity of p53 (p=0.0001 ) and bcl-2 (p=0.0002). However, mutant p53 was expressed by only 12 of the 230 samples. Expression of bax and the bax/bcl-2 ratio showed an inverse correlation to histological grade (p=0.0003 and 0.0001, respectively). There was also an inverse correlation between extent of apoptosis and immunoreactivity of p53 (p=0.0001) and bcl-2 (p=0.0001). A significant positive correlation between expression of the bax protein and apoptosis was evident (p=0.0001). HPV infection significantly correlated to the extent of histological abnormality (p=0.0001). High risk HPV-E6 protein also showed this significant correlation (p=0.0002). There was an inverse correlation between apoptosis and HPV infection (p=0.0002). High risk HPV infection was associated with decreased apoptosis and also increased human cell proliferation. Lowest levels of bax/bcl-2 ratio was also associated with HPV 16 and 18 infection (p=0.0001). Modulation of apoptosis and apoptotic regulatory proteins by high risk HPV infection may be an important factor in the development of cervical cancer.
Nephrogenic syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis.

The syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) is a common cause of hyponatremia. We describe two infants whose clinical and laboratory evaluations were consistent with the presence of SIADH, yet who had undetectable arginine vasopressin (AVP) levels. We hypothesized that they had gain-of-function mutations in the V2 vasopressin receptor (V2R). DNA sequencing of each patient's V2R gene (AVPR2) identified missense mutations in both, with resultant changes in codon 137 from arginine to cysteine or leucine. These novel mutations cause constitutive activation of the receptor and are the likely cause of the patients' SIADH-like clinical picture, which we have termed "nephrogenic syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis. "
Lateral Entorhinal Cortex is Critical for Novel Object-Context Recognition

Episodic memory incorporates information about specific events or occasions including spatial locations and the contextual features of the environment in which the event took place. It has been modeled in rats using spontaneous exploration of novel configurations of objects, their locations, and the contexts in which they are presented. While we have a detailed understanding of how spatial location is processed in the brain relatively little is known about where the nonspatial contextual components of episodic memory are processed. Initial experiments measured c‐fos expression during an object‐context recognition (OCR) task to examine which networks within the brain process contextual features of an event. Increased c‐fos expression was found in the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC; a major hippocampal afferent) during OCR relative to control conditions. In a subsequent experiment it was demonstrated that rats with lesions of LEC were unable to recognize object‐context associations yet showed normal object recognition and normal context recognition. These data suggest that contextual features of the environment are integrated with object identity in LEC and demonstrate that recognition of such object‐context associations requires the LEC. This is consistent with the suggestion that contextual features of an event are processed in LEC and that this information is combined with spatial information from medial entorhinal cortex to form episodic memory in the hippocampus. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Oviposition response and development of the egg‐pupal parasitoid Fopius arisanus on Bactrocera oleae, a tephritid fruit fly pest of olive in the Mediterranean basin

To date, information is wanting with regard to the use of new exotic parasitoids against olive fruit fly, Bactrocera (=Dacus) oleae (Gmelin) (Diptera: Tephritidae), a serious pest of olives Olea europaea L. , in the Mediterranean basin. We investigated the oviposition response and developmental biology on B. oleae of Fopius (=Biosteres) arisanus (Sonan) (=Opius oophilus Fullaway) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), an egg‐pupal parasitoid of tephritid fruit flies, never tested before as a potential parasitoid of this host. Our results showed that olive fruits infested with B. oleae eggs exerted a relevant attraction to gravid F. arisanus and represented a stimulus for oviposition. Nevertheless they were not as attractive to female parasitoids as the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae), eggs infested papaya fruits (Carica papaya L.). In our experimental conditions, F. arisanus completed development in B. oleae within 33 ± 1.7 days (males) and 35 ± 1.6 (females). Increases in host egg to female parasitoid ratios of 1:1, 5:1, 10:1 and 20:1 corresponded with decreases in the percentage of B. oleae parasitisation and host killing but corresponded also with increases in absolute parasitisation. Our findings are discussed in light of possibilities of utilising F. arisanus for biological control of olive fruit fly.
Measuring Trust In Advertising: Development and Validation of the Adtrust Scale

The reported study was conducted to develop a reliable and valid scale to measure the construct of trust in advertising. A multi-stage research project was conducted: (1) general consumer and advertising expert interviews were conducted to identify initial items; (2) a survey of 260 college students was executed to assess reliability of the scale; (3) a survey of 259 nonstudent adults was performed to test the reliability and validity of the scale; and (4) the development of a 20-item Likert format scale (the ADTRUST scale) to capture and measure the concept of trust in advertising. The ADTRUST scale showed high reliability and demonstrated concurrent, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. The research found that trust in advertising is a multi-dimensional construct with four distinct components: Reliability, Usefulness, Affect, and Willingness to Rely On. Thus, the construct of trust in advertising should be operationalized as the combination of (a) consumer perception of reliability and usefulness of advertising, (b) consumer affect toward advertising, and (c) consumer willingness to rely on advertising. The ADTRUST scale proved itself to be a valid measure of trust in advertising in the context of two different media: broadcast media and print media. Consumer trust in advertising, measured with the ADTRUST scale, varies across specific advertising media types. Five admedia were examined: television, newspapers, radio, magazines, and the Internet. The results of ANOVA indicate that trust in advertising is significantly lower for Internet advertising than for the other media types. Across all five media investigated, media credibility was consistently associated with media-specific ad-trust, indicating that trust in a medium and trust in advertising in that medium are directly related. The significance of the results is discussed in relation to the research literature. Implications of the findings are discussed and limitations and suggestions for future research are presented. Index words: Trust, Advertising, Scale Development MEASURING TRUST IN ADVERTISING: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE ADTRUST SCALE
Direction Selectivity In Primary Visual Cortex Using Massive Intracortical Connections

Almost all models of orientation and direction selectivity in visual cortex are based on feedforward connection schemes, where geniculate input provides all excitation to both pyramidal and inhibitory neurons. The latter neurons then suppress the response of the former for non-optimal stimuli. However, anatomical studies show that up to 90 % of the excitatory synaptic input onto any cortical cell is provided by other cortical cells. The massive excitatory feedback nature of cortical circuits is embedded in the canonical microcircuit of Douglas & Martin (1991). We here investigate analytically and through biologically realistic simulations the functioning of a detailed model of this circuitry, operating in a hysteretic mode. In the model, weak geniculate input is dramatically amplified by intracortical excitation, while inhibition has a dual role: (i) to prevent the early geniculate-induced excitation in the null direction and (ii) to restrain excitation and ensure that the neurons fire only when the stimulus is in their receptive-field. Among the insights gained are the possibility that hysteresis underlies visual cortical function, paralleling proposals for short-term memory, and strong limitations on linearity tests that use gratings. Properties of visual cortical neurons are compared in detail to this model and to a classical model of direction selectivity that does not include excitatory cortico-cortical connections. The model explain a number of puzzling features of direction-selective simple cells, including the small somatic input conductance changes that have been measured experimentally during stimulation in the null direction. The model also allows us to understand why the velocity-response curve of area 17 neurons is different from that of their LGN afferents, and the origin of expansive and compressive nonlinearities in the contrast-response curve of striate cortical neurons.
ABO genotype and risk of thrombotic events and hemorrhagic stroke

Summary. Background: The non‐O alleles of the ABO genotype have been associated with an increased risk of thrombosis. Risk associated with the specific A1, A2 or B alleles is not well defined. Objectives: To examine the association of the ABO genotype with myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, and venous thrombosis (VT). Patients and methods: We used data from two ongoing population‐based case–control studies of MI, stroke, and VT. Cases included hypertensive adults and postmenopausal women with incident non‐fatal MI (n = 1063), ischemic stroke (n = 469), and hemorrhagic stroke (n = 91), and postmenopausal women with incident non‐fatal VT (n = 504). Controls were frequency matched to cases on age, sex, hypertension status, and year of identification. ABO genotypes were determined using single‐nucleotide polymorphisms, and subjects were grouped by diplotype according to the presence of O1, O2, A11, A2 and B alleles. Logistic regression was used to test the association of diplotypes with risk of each outcome. Results: As compared with the O1O1 group, the A11 allele was associated with an increased risk of VT [odds ratio (OR) 1.79; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.41–2.26] and MI (OR 1.23; 95% CI 1.05–1.44). The B allele was associated with an increased risk of VT (OR 1.82; 95% CI 1.29–2.57) and ischemic stroke (OR 1.59; 95% CI 1.17–2.17). The AB diplotype category was associated with a 2.7‐fold risk of VT (OR 2.70; 95% CI 1.73–4.21). No other associations reached significance. Conclusions: The VT and MI findings are confirmatory, and the ischemic stroke finding with the B allele is a novel finding and needs replication.
A 38 h interval between hCG priming and oocyte retrieval increases in vivo and in vitro oocyte maturation rate in programmed IVM cycles†

BACKGROUND Our aim was to evaluate whether extending the interval between human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) priming and immature oocyte retrieval increases the oocyte maturation rate following in vitro maturation (IVM). METHODS This study was performed retrospectively. IVM was performed on 113 polycystic ovary syndrome patients (n = 120 cycles). Oocyte collection was performed either 35 h (Group 1; n = 76) or 38 h (Group 2; n = 44) after 10 000 IU of hCG priming. Following oocyte retrieval, oocyte maturity was assessed and the remaining immature oocytes were cultured in IVM medium up to Day 2. RESULTS The number of in vivo matured oocytes collected was significantly higher in Group 2 (13.6%, 114/840 versus 7.3%, 96/1312 in Group 1) (P < 0.01); the oocyte maturation rate after Day 1 was significantly higher (P < 0.01) in Group 2 (46.3 versus 36.0% in Group 1); and clinical pregnancy (40.9 versus 25%) and implantation rates (15.6 versus 9.6%) were better in Group 2 than those in Group 1. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that extending the period of hCG priming time from 35 to 38 h for immature oocyte retrieval promotes oocyte maturation in vivo and increases the IVM rate of immature oocytes. Therefore, oocyte retrieval after 38 h of hCG priming may improve subsequent pregnancy outcome in cycles programmed for IVM treatment.
Enhancement of Antitumor Radiation Efficacy and Consistent Induction of the Abscopal Effect in Mice by ECI301, an Active Variant of Macrophage Inflammatory Protein-1α

Purpose: We studied whether i.v. administration of a chemokine after local tumor site irradiation could prevent remaining, as well as distant, nonirradiated tumor cell growth by leukocyte recruitment. Experimental Design: Tumors were implanted s.c. in the right or both flanks. After local irradiation at the right flank, ECI301, a human macrophage inflammatory protein-1α variant was injected i.v. Tumor volumes were measured every 3 days after treatment. Results: In Colon26 adenocarcinoma-bearing BALB/c mice, repeated daily administration (over 3-5 consecutive days) of 2 μg per mouse ECI301 after local irradiation of 6 Gy prolonged survival without significant toxicity, and in about half of the treated mice, the tumor was completely eradicated. Three weekly administrations of ECI301 after local irradiation also led to significant, although less effective, antitumor radiation efficacy. ECI301 also inhibited growth of other syngenic tumor grafts, including MethA fibrosarcoma (BALB/c) and Lewis lung carcinoma (C57BL/6). Importantly, tumor growth at the nonirradiated site was inhibited, indicating that ECI301 potentiated the abscopal effect of radiation. This abscopal effect observed in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice was tumor-type independent. Leukocyte depletion studies suggest that CD8+ and CD4+ lymphocytes and NK1.1 cells were involved. Conclusions: Marked inhibition of tumor growth at the irradiated site, with complete tumor eradication and consistent induction of the abscopal effect, was potentiated by i.v. administration of ECI301. The results of this study may offer a new concept for cancer therapy, namely chemokine administration after local irradiation, leading to development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of advanced metastatic cancer.
Uncoupled responses of Smad 4-deficient cancer cells to TNF a result in secretion of monomeric laminin-g 2

Background: Functional loss of the tumor suppressor Smad4 is involved in pancreatic and colorectal carcinogenesis and has been associated with the acquisition of invasiveness. We have previously demonstrated that the heterotrimeric basement membrane protein laminin-332 is a Smad4 target. Namely, Smad4 functions as a positive transcriptional regulator of all three genes encoding laminin-332; its loss is thus implicated in the reduced or discontinuous deposition of the heterotrimeric basement membrane molecule as evident in carcinomas. Uncoupled expression of laminin genes, on the other hand, namely overexpression of the laminin-g2 chain is an impressive marker at invasive edges of carcinomas where tumor cells are maximally exposed to signals from stromal cell types like macrophages. As Smad4 is characterized as an integrator of multiple extracellular stimuli in a strongly contextual manner, we asked if loss of Smad4 may also be involved in uncoupled expression of laminin genes in response to altered environmental stimuli. Here, we address Smad4 dependent effects of the prominent inflammatory cytokine TNFa on tumor cells. Results: Smad4-reconstituted colon carcinoma cells like adenoma cells respond to TNFa with an increased expression of all three chains encoding laminin-332; coincubation with TGFb and TNFa leads to synergistic induction and to the secretion of large amounts of the heterotrimer. In contrast, in Smad4-deficient cells TNFa can induce expression of the g2 and b3 but not the a3 chain. Surprisingly, this uncoupled induction of laminin-332 chains in Smad4-negative cells rather than causing intracellular accumulation is followed by the release of g2 into the medium, either in a monomeric form or in complexes with as yet unknown proteins. Soluble g2 is associated with increased cell migration. Conclusions: Loss of Smad4 may lead to uncoupled induction of laminin-g2 in response to TNFa and may therefore represent one of the mechanisms which underlie accumulation of laminin-g2 at the invasive margin of a tumor. The finding, that g2 is secreted from tumor cells in significant amounts and is associated with increased cell migration may pave the way for further investigation to better understand its functional relevance for tumor