Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sideritis scardica extracts inhibit aggregation and toxicity of amyloid-β in Caenorhabditis elegans used as a model for Alzheimer’s disease

Background Beyond its traditional uses in the Balkan area, Sideritis scardica (known as Greek mountain tea, Lamiaceae) is currently extensively investigated for its pharmacological activity in the central nervous system. Antidepressant, psychostimulating, cognition-enhancing and neuroprotective properties have been described. In this study, we tested hydroalcoholic extracts of S. scardica for their potential to counteract amyloid-β toxicity and aggregation, which plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Methods For this purpose, we have chosen the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, which is used as a model organism for neurodegenerative diseases. The concentration of different polyphenols in extracts prepared from water, 20, 40, 50, and 70% ethanol was analysed by HPLC. Additionally, polar and unpolar fractions were prepared from the 40% ethanolic extract and phytochemically analysed. Results Essentially, the contents of all measured constituents increased with the lipophilicity of the extraction solvents. Treatment of transgenic C. elegans strains expressing amyloid-β with the extracts resulted in a reduced number of peptide aggregates in the head region of the worms and alleviated toxicity of amyloid-β, observable through the degree of paralysed animals. The mid-polar extracts (40 and 50% ethanol) turned out be the most active, decreasing the plaque number by 21% and delaying the amyloid-β-induced paralysis by up to 3.5 h. The more lipophilic extract fractions exhibited higher activity than the hydrophilic ones. Discussion Sideritis scardica extracts demonstrated pharmacological activity against characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease also in C. elegans, supporting current efforts to assess its potential for the treatment of cognitive decline. The active principle as well as the mode of action needs to be investigated in more detail.
On the Design of Large-Scale UMTS Mobile Networks Using Hybrid Genetic Algorithms

Third-generation mobile systems provide access to a wide range of services and enable mobile users to communicate, regardless of their geographical location and their roaming characteristics. Due to the growing number of mobile users and global connectivity, one of the most critical issues regarding the design of universal mobile telecommunications service (UMTS) networks pertains to the assignment of Node Bs to radio network controllers (RNCs), which is an NP-hard problem. Hence, for real-sized mobile networks, this problem cannot be practically solved by using exact methods. This paper proposes a hybrid genetic algorithm (HA) with migration to solve the problem of assigning Bs to RNCs as a design step of large-scale UMTS mobile networks. Computational results obtained from extensive tests confirm the effectiveness of the HA to provide superior solutions compared to other heuristic methods that are well documented in the literature. Such an algorithm is particularly suitable to design large-scale cellular mobile networks with Node Bs whose quantity varies between 100 and 500 and whose the number of RNCs ranges between five and ten.
Gender Differences in Children’s Arithmetic Performance Are Accounted for by Gender Differences in Language Abilities

Studies have shown that female children, on average, consistently outperform male children in arithmetic. In the research reported here, 1,556 pupils (8 to 11 years of age) from urban and rural regions in the greater Beijing area completed 10 cognitive tasks. Results showed that girls outperformed boys in arithmetic tasks (i.e., simple subtraction, complex multiplication), as well as in numerosity-comparison, number-comparison, number-series-completion, choice reaction time, and word-rhyming tasks. Boys outperformed girls in a mental rotation task. Controlling for scores on the word-rhyming task eliminated gender differences in arithmetic, whereas controlling for scores on numerical-processing tasks (number comparison, numerosity estimation, numerosity comparison, and number-series completion) and general cognitive tasks (choice reaction time, Raven’s Progressive Matrices, and mental rotation) did not. These results suggest that girls’ advantage in arithmetic is likely due to their advantage in language processing.
A Pathway to Psychological Difficulty: Perceived Chronic Social Adversity and Its Symptomatic Reactions

In this paper, we attempt to predict and explain psychological maladjustment or difficulty. Specifically, we discuss the concept of perceived chronic social adversity, and we expect that such perceived chronic social adversity may potentially lead to chronic stress responses. Accordingly, we propose the symptomatic reactions of perceived chronic social adversity. We put forward a set of hypotheses regarding the relationships between perceived chronic social adversity and those chronic stress responses, and we further hypothesize a mediating role of individualized negative essentialism brought by perceived chronical social adversity. Resilience and individual differences in the ability to cope with perceived adversity are discussed. Future research and prevention need to pay more attention to effects of subjective personal experiences on psychological difficulty, focusing on the importance of exploring daily social experiences in improving cognitive construction processes and developing appropriate preventions.
The Effect of Hydrostatic Pressure on Enrichments of Hydrocarbon Degrading Microbes From the Gulf of Mexico Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was one of the largest and deepest oil spills recorded. The wellhead was located at approximately 1500 m below the sea where low temperature and high pressure are key environmental characteristics. Using cells collected 4 months following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill at the Gulf of Mexico, we set up Macondo crude oil enrichments at wellhead temperature and different pressures to determine the effect of increasing depth/pressure to the in situ microbial community and their ability to degrade oil. We observed oil degradation under all pressure conditions tested [0.1, 15, and 30 megapascals (MPa)], although oil degradation profiles, cell numbers, and hydrocarbon degradation gene abundances indicated greatest activity at atmospheric pressure. Under all incubations the growth of psychrophilic bacteria was promoted. Bacteria closely related to Oleispira antarctica RB-8 dominated the communities at all pressures. At 30 MPa we observed a shift toward Photobacterium, a genus that includes piezophiles. Alphaproteobacterial members of the Sulfitobacter, previously associated with oil-degradation, were also highly abundant at 0.1 MPa. Our results suggest that pressure acts synergistically with low temperature to slow microbial growth and thus oil degradation in deep-sea environments.
Hip and trunk muscles activity during nordic hamstring exercise

The nordic hamstring exercise (NHE) is a dynamic lengthening hamstring exercise that requires trunk and hip muscles activation. Thigh muscles activation, specifically hamstring/quadriceps contractions has been previously examined during NHE. Trunk and hip muscles activity have not been enough studied. The aim of this study was to analyze of hip and trunk muscles activity during NHE. Surface electromyography (EMG) and kinematic data were collected during NHE. Ten healthy men with the age range of 21–36 years performed two sets of two repetitions with downward and upward motions each of NHE. EMG activity of fifteen trunk and hip muscles and knee kinematic data were collected. Muscle activity levels were calculated through repeated measure analysis of variance in downward and upward motions, through Paired t-test between downward and upward motions and gluteus maximus to erector spine activity ratio (Gmax/ES ratio) using Pearson correlation analyses were evaluated. Semitendinosus and biceps femoris muscles activity levels were the greatest in both motions and back extensors and internal oblique muscles activity were greater than other muscles (P<0.05). The decreased Gmax/ES ratio was significantly related to peak knee extension angle in downward (r=0.687) and upward motions (r=0.753) (P<0.05). These findings indicate the importance of synergistic muscles and trunk muscles coactivation in eccentric and concentric hamstrings contractions. It could be important for early assessment of subjects with hamstring injury risk.
Blockholder Trading, Market Efficiency, and Managerial Myopia

This paper analyzes how blockholders can exert governance even if they cannot intervene in a firm's operations. Blockholders have strong incentives to monitor the firm's fundamental value because they can sell their stakes upon negative information. By trading on private information (following the “Wall Street Rule”), they cause prices to reflect fundamental value rather than current earnings. This in turn encourages managers to invest for long‐run growth rather than short‐term profits. Contrary to the view that the U.S.'s liquid markets and transient shareholders exacerbate myopia, I show that they can encourage investment by impounding its effects into prices.
Similarities of in situ mRNA Expression between Gelatinase A (MMP‐2) and Type I Procollagen in Human Gastrointestinal Carcinoma: Comparison with Granulation Tissue Reaction

The mRNA localizations of gelatinase A (MMP‐2) and type I procollagen in human gastrointestinal carcinoma and non‐neoplastic fibrous granulation tissue were compared. By in situ hybridization, gelatinase A was shown to be expressed in fibroblasts not only in cancer stroma but also in the “reactive fibrosis zone,” which surrounds the invasive margin of cancer. In most cases, no accentuation of gelatinase A expression was observed in the invasive margin. This localization pattern of gelatinase A was essentially the same as that of type I procollagen. In gastric cancer associated with deep ulceration, gelatinase A was more abundantly expressed in fibroblastic cells in granulation tissue of the ulcer base than in cancer stroma. The same situation was found in non‐neoplastic fibrous granulation tissue, in which fibroblasts abundantly expressed mRNAs for both gelatinase A and type I collagen. Scar tissue (old fibrotic lesion) showed diminished expression of mRNAs for both gelatinase A and type I procollagen. The localization patterns suggest another function of gelatinase A in cancer tissue as a turnover enzyme of the extracellular matrix.
Adherence to guidelines in the clinical care for adults with congenital heart disease: the Euro Heart Survey on adult congenital heart disease.

AIMS To investigate the role of guidelines in structuring the clinical care for adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD), and to assess adherence to the guidelines in Europe. METHODS AND RESULTS A selected number of current guidelines were chosen pertaining to operative procedures, investigations, and the use of medication ('interventions'). The source for this analysis was the database of the Euro Heart Survey on adult CHD, which contains retrospectively collected data on 4110 patients followed-up for a median of 5.1 years. For each guideline investigated, patients were selected from the database for whom the particular guideline was relevant. The selected cases were classified according to two criteria: was there an indication for the particular intervention and did the intervention take place? In this manner, cases of 'undue treatment' and 'insufficient treatment' were identified. Adherence to guidelines was found to be good in the case of operative procedures and prophylactic drug treatment. However, regarding diagnostic procedures there had been adherence to guidelines in only slightly more than half of the cases. CONCLUSION Guidelines have an important role in the actual clinical care of adults with CHD. However, large outcome studies are needed to develop more precise guidelines.
X Protein of Hepatitis B Virus Resembles a Serine Protease Inhibitor

The × protein of hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been shown to be a trans‐activator for viral and cellular genes. Amino acid sequences in × protein were found to be highly homologous to functionally essential sequences in the “Kunitz domain,’characteristic of Kunitz‐type serine protease inhibitors. Mutations at these sequences completely abolished trans‐activation. Consequently, HBV × protein resembles a serine protease inhibitor or its analogue, and may bring about trans‐activation by activating certain transcriptional factors through proteolytic cleavage alteration.
Effect of Human Interferons on Morphological Differentiation and Suppression of N‐myc Gene Expression in Human Neuroblastoma Cells

The activity of human interferons (HuIFNs) to induce morphological changes and the suppression of N‐myc gene expression on human neuroblastoma cells (GOTO and KP‐N‐RT) was evaluated. Morphological differentiation, characterized as the extension and bifurcation of neurites, the formation of multinucleated giant cells and the formation of neurite networks, was induced by treatment with recombinant HuIFN‐γ (rHuIFN‐γ and also with natural HuIFN‐γ on human neuroblastoma cells (GOTO and KP‐N‐RT). But recombinant HuIFN‐αA and recombinant HuIFN‐βdid not induce any changes. The rHuIFN‐β and rHuIFN‐γ inhibited the growth of GOTO and KP‐N‐RT cells more strongly than the rHuIFN‐αA did. The expression of N‐myc gene was suppressed in GOTO cells treated with rHuIFN‐γ. The suppressive effect of rHuIFN‐γ was dependent on the duration of the treatment. However, rHuIFN‐αA and rHuIFN‐β did not suppress N‐myc gene expression. Moreover, both morphological differentiation and the supprcssive effect on N‐myc gene expression by rHuIFN‐γ were inhibited in the presence of cycloheximide. These results suggest that the morphological changes and N‐myc gene expression in neuroblastoma cells are closely related. Furthermore, this decreased N‐myc gene expression during the morphological differentiation may be related to the proteins induced by HuIFN‐γ.
Establishment and Characterization of Three Androgen‐independent, Metastatic Carcinoma Cell Lines from 3,2′‐Dimethyl‐4‐aminobiphenyl‐induced Prostatic Tumors in F344 Rats

Three stable carcinoma cell lines, designated PLS10, PLS20 and PLS30, have been established from 3,2′‐dimethyl‐4‐aminobiphenyl plus testosterone‐induced carcinomas in the dorsolateral prostate of male F344 rats. The cells are keratin‐positive and grow as typical epithelial monolayers in culture. When injected into intact male nude mice, PLS10 and PLS30 cells form well‐differentiated adenocarcinomas with abundant connective tissue stroma, while PLS20 cells give rise to poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas. Growth of all PLS cell lines in nude mice is not affected by castration and the cells are immunohistochemically negative for androgen receptors. Tumor growth rates in nude mice were found to be PLS20 > PLS10 > PLS30, with significant in vitro stimulation by insulin/transferrin, but not epidermal growth factor, dexamethasone or basic fibroblast growth factor. Spontaneous lung metastases were observed in all cases. However, skeletal invasion including bone is essentially observed only with the PLS20 tumors. Gelatin zymography showed predominant secretion of the active form of gelatinase B (Mr 92,000 type IV collagenase) by all the cell lines. Karyotype analysis revealed PLS10, PLS30 and PLS20 to be diploid, hyperdiploid and hypertetraploid, respectively. The results demonstrate that the three PLS cell lines are androgen‐independent and metastatic in common, but have different histology, growth potential and invasiveness. They may therefore be useful models for understanding progression and metastasis of human prostatic carcinomas.
Spatio‐temporal dynamics of resting‐state brain networks improve single‐subject prediction of schizophrenia diagnosis

Correlation in functional MRI activity between spatially separated brain regions can fluctuate dynamically when an individual is at rest. These dynamics are typically characterized temporally by measuring fluctuations in functional connectivity between brain regions that remain fixed in space over time. Here, dynamics in functional connectivity were characterized in both time and space. Temporal dynamics were mapped with sliding‐window correlation, while spatial dynamics were characterized by enabling network regions to vary in size (shrink/grow) over time according to the functional connectivity profile of their constituent voxels. These temporal and spatial dynamics were evaluated as biomarkers to distinguish schizophrenia patients from controls, and compared to current biomarkers based on static measures of resting‐state functional connectivity. Support vector machine classifiers were trained using: (a) static, (b) dynamic in time, (c) dynamic in space, and (d) dynamic in time and space characterizations of functional connectivity within canonical resting‐state brain networks. Classifiers trained on functional connectivity dynamics mapped over both space and time predicted diagnostic status with accuracy exceeding 91%, whereas utilizing only spatial or temporal dynamics alone yielded lower classification accuracies. Static measures of functional connectivity yielded the lowest accuracy (79.5%). Compared to healthy comparison individuals, schizophrenia patients generally exhibited functional connectivity that was reduced in strength and more variable. Robustness was established with replication in an independent dataset. The utility of biomarkers based on temporal and spatial functional connectivity dynamics suggests that resting‐state dynamics are not trivially attributable to sampling variability and head motion.
DNA Sequence Copy Number Aberrations Associated with Histological Subtypes and DNA Ploidy in Gastric Carcinoma

We have analyzed DNA sequence copy number aberrations (DSCNAs) and DNA ploidy by using comparative genomic hybridization and laser scanning cytometer in gastric carcinomas (GCs) to elucidate the genomic aberrations in relation to clinicopathological parameters. Thirty‐two out of 33 cases showed one or more DSCNAs with a mean number of 11.7 per tumor. High‐level gains were detected at 2p, 3q, 6p, 7p, 7q, 8q, 12p, 13q, 19q, and 20q. Frequency of gross genomic abnormalities and chromosome regions that have genomic aberrations were similar in both intestinal‐and diffuse‐type GCs, except aberrations at 8p, 9p, 12q, and 20q. The overall number of DSCNAs was significantly greater in DNA aneuploid tumors than that in DNA diploid tumors. We detected genomic aberrations characterized by histological subtype, tumor location, and DNA ploidy status: gain of 20q and losses of 8p and 9p in intestinal‐type GCs, gains of 8p and 12q in diffuse‐type GCs, gain of 20q in the lower third GCs, and loss of 5q, 9p, lOq, 16q, and 18q in DNA aneuploid GCs. Furthermore, 5q loss is associated with DNA aneuploidy (P=0.0001) or the total number of losses (P=0.001), gain+losses (P=0.004), and high‐level gains (P=0.001) in GCs. Among these loci, chromosome 8p was unique. Gain of 8p was more common in diffuse‐type GC, whereas loss of 8p was more frequently detected in intestinal‐type GC. In conclusion, we describe chromosomal regions of 5q, 8p, and 20q, which are of interest for further investigation of GCs.
Socially Dominated: The Racialized and Gendered Positionality of Those Precluded from Bullying

Abstract Workplace bullying has received increasing attention from researchers since the early 2000s. While the cost of disengagement and the impact on people of color have been considered (Hollis, 2012), this conceptual essay is a secondary analysis of data collected in Chapter 1 to reflect on the position of the target. Reflecting on the primary sample of 200 community college respondents, this analysis uses descriptive statistics to answer the question, “what is the extent of community college women affected by workplace bullying? ” After it was determined that 32.5% of the general sample, primarily women, avoided bullying, the researcher developed a second question “who is not bullied in community colleges? ” This secondary analysis shows that race, gender, and position are factors that seemingly contribute to who avoids bullying. Considering theories regarding social dominance (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994; Sidanius, 1993) and constrained choice (Broadbridge, 2010; Hakim, 2002), the data revealed that those who are not bullied tend to be white, women, in middle management, without tenure. Further, only 6% of the people of color reported they were unaffected by workplace bullying. These respondents of color all held positions without power in the community college structure.
Diagnostic efficacy of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography for small renal cell carcinoma

Objective: To analyze the characteristics of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) on the small renal cell carcinoma (SRCC), and to discuss the application and clinical significance of CEUS in the diagnosis of SRCC. Methods: From April 2011 to February 2015, Eighty-nine patients with 89 renal lesions who had undergone CEUS were retrospectively studied. All of the lesions were histopathologically proved. Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography was performed using low-acoustic power modes and a sulfur hexafluoride-filled microbubble contrast agent. The conventional ultrasonography (US), contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) and CEUS images were analyzed respectively. The conventional US was mainly used to observe the position, size, shape, border, echogenicity and blood supply of tumor. The dynamic change of the enhancement from the cortical phase to the late phase, the enhancement patterns, degree of enhancement and pseudocapsule at different phases were evaluated by CEUS. The accuracy rate, visualization rate of blood flow, visualization rate of pseudocapsule and focal necrosis area were compared between the conventional US and CEUS. Study on comparison with the results between CEUS and CECT. Results: Among these 72 renal lesions, 55 clear cell carcinomas, 3 chromophobe cell carcinomas, 3 papillary carcinomas, 1 acidophilic cell adenoma (malignant potentially) and 10 angiomyolipomas (AML) were confirmed through postoperative histopathologically. The accuracy rate, visualization rate of blood flow, visualization rate of pseudocapsule and focal necrosis area of lesions display rate of SRCC by the conventional US and CEUS are 76.3% (55/72), 65.2% (47/72), 13.9% (10/72), 11.1% (8/72) and 90.2% (65/72), 100.0% (72/72), 75.0% (54/72), 62.5% (45/72), respectively. CEUS had the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV),and accuracy for SRCC diagnostic efficacy of 95.1% (59/62), 60.0% (6/10), 93.6% (59/63), 66.6%(6/9), and 90.2% (65/72), respectively. The lesions of small renal cell carcinoma mostly were manifested as abundant blood-supply, and showed CEUS pattern of “fast-in and slow-out, hyperenhancement, heterogeneous enhancement and perilesional rim-like enhancement”. The detection rate of blood flow in CEUS was 100%. CEUS can effectively reflect the blood supply of the lesions compared with baseline sonograms, and can sensitively display pseudocapsule and necrotic area of lesions, so has higher diagnostic sensitivity. The differences between them were statistically significant (P<0.001). The difference in diagnosis on SRCC by CEUS and CECT has no statistic significance (P>0.05). Conclusion: The CEUS has higher sensitivity in showing low-speed blood flow and microcirculation blood supply situation within SRCC compared with conventional US. It is helpful to the diagnosis of SRCC, and has a certain clinical value. CEUS and CECT complement each other in the diagnosis of SRCC.