Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brain structure variation in great apes, with attention to the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei)

This report presents data regarding the brain structure of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in comparison with other great apes. Magnetic resonance (MR) images of three mountain gorilla brains were obtained with a 3T scanner, and the volume of major neuroanatomical structures (neocortical gray matter, hippocampus, thalamus, striatum, and cerebellum) was measured. These data were included with our existing database that includes 23 chimpanzees, three western lowland gorillas, and six orang‐utans. We defined a multidimensional space by calculating the principal components (PCs) from the correlation matrix of brain structure fractions in the well‐represented sample of chimpanzees. We then plotted data from all of the taxa in this space to examine phyletic variation in neural organization. Most of the variance in mountain gorillas, as well as other great apes, was contained within the chimpanzee range along the first two PCs, which accounted for 61.73% of the total variance. Thus, the majority of interspecific variation in brain structure observed among these ape taxa was no greater than the within‐species variation seen in chimpanzees. The loadings on PCs indicated that the brain structure of great apes differs among taxa mostly in the relative sizes of the striatum, cerebellum, and hippocampus. These findings suggest possible functional differences among taxa in terms of neural adaptations for ecological and locomotor capacities. Importantly, these results fill a critical gap in current knowledge regarding great ape neuroanatomical diversity. Am. J. Primatol. 63:149–164, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Virtual topology control with multistate neural associative memories

Previously, a highly adaptive virtual network topology (VNT) reconfiguration method called Attractor Selection Based (ASB) topology control was presented. ASB has an important drawback: it can only work with binary path tables. We propose a novel VNT controller by adding multistate path capabilities into ASB. However, adding multistate path capabilities reduces topology exploration space. We solve this problem by changing the system dynamics of ASB. With the modification of the system dynamics and the extension from binary to multistate paths, we observed a 60% performance improvement over ASB, and a 21% reduction in processing time in the simulations.
Enhanced antitumoral activity of oncolytic herpes simplex virus with gemcitabine using colorectal tumor models

To enhance the oncolytic activity of herpes simplex viruses (HSVs) control of immune‐suppression and immune‐resistance by cancer cells is important. Myeloid‐derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), which interfere with tumor‐suppressive environments, are inhibited by gemcitabine (GEM) treatment. We investigated the oncolytic activity and systemic antitumor immunity induced by oncolytic HSVs in combination with GEM treatment. A mouse model with subcutaneous tumors on both sides of the lateral flanks was used. A highly attenuated HSV type 1, strain HF10, was inoculated into one side of each tumor three times following intraperitoneal injection of GEM. Histopathological changes and IFN‐γ secretion of the tumor and leukocytes in the spleen were analyzed. These treatments were repeated to enhance oncolytic activity. HF10 inoculation reduced tumor growth only on the HF10‐treated side. HF10 inoculation following GEM treatment resulted in greater reduction of tumor growth on the HF10‐treated tumor; furthermore, reduction of tumors on the contralateral untreated side was also observed. Necrosis of the tumor was observed in areas where HSV‐infected cells were detected. F4/80+ macrophages around the tumor were eliminated, and CD4+ T and CD8+ T cells increased in the spleen. A single injection of GEM decreased CD11b+/Gr‐1+ MDSCs while retaining CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells. Repetition of this treatment regimen resulted in even greater reduction of tumor growth on both sides and complete rejection in some of the mice. Intratumoral injection of oncolytic HSVs following GEM injection reduced MDSCs. Repeated treatment with oncolytic HSVs following GEM resulted in enhanced oncolytic activity.
Growth Factor-Independent Proliferation of Erythroid Cells Infected with Friend Spleen Focus-Forming Virus Is Protein Kinase C Dependent but Does Not Require Ras-GTP

ABSTRACT Interaction of erythropoietin (Epo) with its cell surface receptor activates signal transduction pathways which result in the proliferation and differentiation of erythroid cells. Infection of erythroid cells with the Friend spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV) leads to the interaction of the viral envelope glycoprotein with the Epo receptor and renders these cells Epo independent. We previously reported that SFFV induces Epo independence by constitutively activating components of several Epo signal transduction pathways, including the Jak-Stat and the Raf-1/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. To further evaluate the mechanism by which SFFV activates the Raf-1/MAPK pathway, we investigated the effects of SFFV on upstream components of this pathway, and our results indicate that SFFV activates Shc and Grb2 and that this leads to Ras activation. While studies with a dominant-negative Ras indicated that Ras was required for Epo-induced proliferation of normal erythroid cells, the Epo-independent growth of SFFV-infected cells can still occur in the absence of Ras, although at reduced levels. In contrast, protein kinase C (PKC) was shown to be required for the Epo-independent proliferation of SFFV-infected cells. Further studies indicated that PKC, which is thought to be involved in the activation of both Raf-1 and MAPK, was required only for the activation of MAPK, not Raf-1, in SFFV-infected cells. Our results indicate that Ras and PKC define two distinct signals converging on MAPK in both Epo-stimulated and SFFV-infected erythroid cells and that activation of only PKC is sufficient for the Epo-independent proliferation of SFFV-infected cells.
The predictive value of Ki-67 before neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIM To review the predictive values of Ki-67 before neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer patients. METHODS PubMed and EMBASE were searched. Random-effect model meta-analysis was conducted using Revman software. RESULTS High Ki-67 was associated with more pathological complete responses (pCRs) events (odds ratio: 3.10; 95% CI: 2.52-3.81; 53 studies, 10,848 patients) regardless of HR+, HER2+ and triple-negative breast cancer types, the definitions of pCR and cut-off points for Ki-67. Ki-67 could predict pCR in those who received anthracyclines plus taxanes, and anthracyclines only, and those from Asia and Europe. CONCLUSION High Ki-67 before NAC was a predictor for pCR in neoadjuvant setting for breast cancer patients.
Destination cooperation in interference channels

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) techniques are used to exploit spatial diversity and to achieve high bit rates required for emerging multimedia applications. Cooperative communication can be used to achieve the diversity gains typical of MIMO without the need for multiple antennas on the consumer units. In this paper, we investigate the use of receiving node (destination) cooperation. We evaluate the performance of destination cooperation in an interference channel (DC-IC). We compare the performance of this system with the baseline 2-user orthogonal channel method. We demonstrate that the 2-user DC-IC outperforms the baseline technique by far. This is due to the cooperative communication. In the cooperative scheme, the receiver nodes in the first time slot, decode the received information from both sources while in the second time slot they cooperate. The scheme provides both diversity and coding gain. Using a typical scenario, we illustrate the efficiency of employing such technique with and without channel coding. However, the proposed technology can be applied to consumer mobile communication devices such as smart phones, tablets, etc.
Investigation of the Chromatic Dispersion in Two-Section InAs/GaAs Quantum-Dot Lasers

We present the measurements of the dispersion of InAs/GaAs quantum-dot lasers emitting at 1230 nm (ground state) and 1160 nm (excited state) from the analysis of their subthreshold emission spectra. Measurements from devices with various lengths allow us to deduce that the group velocity dispersion is as high as 2270 fs<sup>2</sup>mm<sup>−1</sup> and is mainly due to the dispersion of bulk GaAs. The gain-induced dispersion varies with the injected current at a rate of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\simeq -2~\text {fs}^{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>mA<sup>−1</sup>mm<sup>−1</sup>, whereas the effect of a saturable absorber on the dispersion is found to be negligible. These results suggest that the implementation of integrated dispersion compensation could significantly reduce the pulse duration of these lasers in mode-locked regime and lead to an enhancement of the formation of optical frequency combs in these devices.
Stimulation of the Expiratory Muscles Using Microstimulators

<para> Respiratory complications constitute a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with spinal cord injury. These complications arise in part due to the loss of supraspinal control over the expiratory muscles and the resultant difficulties in clearing airway secretions effectively. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of lower thoracic spinal nerve stimulation using wireless microstimulators in activating the expiratory muscles. Studies were performed on nine anesthetized dogs. A thoracic laminectomy was performed on each dog, and was followed by spinal cord transection at T2. A total of 16 microstimulators (supplied by the Alfred Mann Foundation, Santa Clarita, CA) were inserted percutaneously into the bilateral intercostal nerves approximately 1 <formula formulatype="inline"><tex>$\sim$</tex></formula> 3 cm distal to the neuroforamen from T7 to L1 in each dog. The stimulation parameters were: frequency of 20 Hz , pulse width of 200 <formula formulatype="inline"><tex>$\mu{\rm s}$</tex></formula>, and stimulation burst of 2 s. The stimulation intensities were 3.78, 5.4, 8.1, and 10.8 mA. The pressure-generating capacity of the expiratory muscles was evaluated by the change in airway pressure <formula formulatype="inline"><tex>$({\rm P}_{\rm aw})$</tex></formula> at functional residual capacity, which was produced by the microstimulators during airway occlusion. As a general trend, the expiratory pressure generated using the microstimulators increased with increasing intensity and the number of spinal nerves recruited. The maximal expiratory pressures generated from one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight pairs of spinal nerves were 8.4 <formula formulatype="inline"><tex>$\pm$</tex></formula> 0.8, 12.2 <formula formulatype="inline"><tex>$\pm$</tex></formula> 1.0, 14.6 <formula formulatype="inline"><tex>$\pm$</tex></formula> 1.4, 17.8 <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex>$\pm$</tex></formula> 1.8, 23.0 <formula formulaty
1 A THEORETICAL BASED APPROACH TO EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT : ESTABLISHING LINKS BETWEEN EDUCATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

This chapter attempts to make a contribution to knowledge and theory building in the field of school improvement in relation to educational effectiveness research. It refers to a dynamic perspective of educational effectiveness and improvement stressing the importance of using an evidence-based and theory-driven approach. Specifically, an approach to school improvement based on the work done in relation to the dynamic model of educational effectiveness is offered. For this reason, an outline of the model is provided and possibilities of using the model for improvement purposes in educational practice are discussed. The recommended approach to school improvement gives also emphasis to quality of teaching and to conditions created at different levels for improving the quality of teaching. Moreover, it is demonstrated that, for improvement purposes, the dynamic model points at the importance of a whole school approach and the use of data collected through school self-evaluation mechanisms for decision making about improvement of policies and actions. Furthermore, the improvement approach related to this model emphasises the use of the available knowledge-base in relation to the main aims of the efforts schools are making to deal with different challenges/problems are facing. Finally, we provide suggestions on conducting experimental and case studies investigating how and under what conditions schools can make use of the dynamic model and develop a theory-driven and evidence-based approach to improvement of the quality of education. INTRODUCTION Educational Effectiveness Research (EER) can be seen as a conglomerate of research in different areas: research on teacher behaviour, curriculum, grouping procedures, school organisation, and educational policy. The main research question of EER is which factors in teaching, curriculum, and learning environment at different levels such as the classroom, the school, and the above-school levels can directly or indirectly explain the differences in the outcomes of students, taking into account background characteristics, such as ability, Socio Economic Status (SES), and prior attainment. In the last 25 years, EER has improved considerably by the criticism on research design, the sampling and statistical techniques. Methodological advances, particularly the availability of particular software for the analysis of multilevel data, have enabled more efficient estimates of teacher and school differences in student achievement to be obtained (Goldstein, 2003). There is also substantial agreement as to appropriate
Do Couples Bargain Over Fertility? Evidence Based on Child Preference Data

Empirical literature has found evidence in favour of household bargaining models. In contrast to earlier tests that are limited to assignable private goods, we use child preference data in order to extend the empirical evidence on household bargaining to public household goods. In the empirical analysis, we exploit the different theoretical predictions for couples with heterogeneous and homogeneous preferences derived from household models. Our results indicate that couples bargain over fertility. Furthermore, we find that the ability to commit to household resource allocations depends on the gender of the partner with higher preferences.
Performance evaluation of a firewall-compliant Globus-based wide-area cluster system

Presents a performance evaluation of a wide-area cluster system based on a firewall-enabled Globus metacomputing toolkit. In order to establish communication links beyond the firewall, we have designed and implemented a resource manager called RMF (Resource Manager beyond the Firewall) and the Nexus Proxy, which relays TCP communication links beyond the firewall. In order to extend the Globus metacomputing toolkit to become firewall-enabled, we have built the Nexus Proxy into the Globus toolkit. We have built a firewall-enabled Globus-based wide-area cluster system in Japan and run some benchmarks on it. In this paper, we report various performance results, such as the communication bandwidth and latencies obtained, as well as application performance involving a tree search problem. In a wide-area environment, the communication latency through the Nexus Proxy is approximately six times larger when compared to that of direct communications. As the message size increases, however, the communication overhead caused by the Nexus Proxy can be negligible. We have developed a tree search problem using MPICH-G. We used a self-scheduling algorithm, which is considered to be suitable for a distributed heterogeneous metacomputing environment since it performs dynamic load balancing with low overhead. The performance results indicate that the communication overhead caused by the Nexus Proxy is not a severe problem in metacomputing environments.
BIOGEOGRAPHICAL BASIS OF RECENT PHENOTYPIC DIVERGENCE AMONG BIRDS: A GLOBAL STUDY OF SUBSPECIES RICHNESS

Abstract Theory predicts that biogeographic factors should play a central role in promoting population divergence and speciation. Previous empirical studies into biogeography and diversification have been relatively restricted in terms of the geographical area, phylogenetic scope, and the range of biogeographic factors considered. Here we present a global analysis of allopatric phenotypic divergence (measured as subspecies richness) across more than 9600 bird species. The main aim of this study was to examine the extent to which biogeographical factors can explain patterns of phenotypic divergence. Analysis of the taxonomic distribution of subspecies among species suggests that subspecies formation and extinction have occurred at a considerably faster rate than has species formation. However, the observed distribution departs from the expectation under a random birth–death model of diversification. Across 19 phylogenetic trees, we find no significant linear relationship between species age and subspecies richness, implying that species age is a poor predictor of subspecies richness. Both subspecies richness and subspecies diversification rate are found to exhibit low phylogenetic signal, meaning that closely related species do not tend to possess similar numbers of subspecies. As predicted by theory, high subspecies richness was associated with large breeding range size, island dwelling, inhabitation of montane regions, habitat heterogeneity, and low latitude. Of these factors, breeding range size was the variable that explained the most variation. Unravelling whether species that have invaded previously glacial areas have more or fewer subspecies than expected proves to be complicated due to a covariation between the postglacial colonization, latitude, geographic range size, and subspecies richness. However, the effect of postglacial colonization on subspecies richness appears to be small. Mapping the distribution of species' subspecies richness globally reveals geographical patterns that correspond to many of the predictions of the statistical models, but may also reflect geographical variation in taxonomic practice. Overall, we demonstrate that biogeographic models can explain about 30% of the global variation in subspecies richness in birds.
Production of neurotrophins by activated T cells: implications for neuroprotective autoimmunity.

Neurotrophins (NTs) promote neuronal survival and maintenance during development and after injury. However, their role in the communication between the nervous system and the immune system is not yet clear. We observed recently that passively transferred activated T cells of various antigen specificities home to the injured central nervous system (CNS), yet only autoimmune T cells specific to a CNS antigen, myelin basic protein (MBP), protect neurons from secondary degeneration after crush injury of the rat optic nerve. Here we examined the involvement of NTs in T-cell-mediated neuroprotection, and the possible significance of the antigen specificity of the T cells in this activity. Analysis of cytokine and NT expression in various rat T cell lines showed that the T cells express mRNA for cytokines of Th1, Th2, and Th3 phenotypes. In addition, the T cells express mRNA and protein specific to nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, NT-3, and NT-4/5. Antigen activation significantly increased NT secretion. Thus, reactivation of CNS autoimmune T cells by locally presented antigens to which they are specific can lead to enhanced secretion of NTs and possibly also of other factors in injured optic nerves. mRNA for TrkA, TrkB and p75 receptors was expressed in the injured nerve, suggesting that these specific receptors can mediate the effects of the T-cell-derived NTs. The neuroprotective effect of the passively transferred autoimmune anti-MBP T cells in injured optic nerves was significantly decreased after local applicaiton of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor known to be associated with NT-receptor activity. These results suggest that the neuroprotective effect of autoimmune T cells involves the secretion of factors such as NTs by the T cells reactivated by their specific antigen in the injured CNS. T cell intervention in the injured CNS might prove to be a useful means of promoting post-injury CNS maintenance and recovery, possibly via supply of NTs and other factors.
Asexual reproduction parameters and the influence of fission on a Holothuria atra sea cucumber population from a fringing reef on Reunion Island (Indian Ocean)

Holothuria atra is one of the most common sea cucumbers of intertidal zones in the tropical IndianPacific region. Asexual reproduction through transverse fission is a biological phenomenon which has already been studied, most notably in the south of the island of Taiwan (Chao & Chang, 1989; Chao et al., 1994), on the reefs of New Caledonia (Conand, 1989) and on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (Harriot, 1982; Uthicke, 1994; Uthicke, 1997).
A measure of limited joint motion and deformity correlates with HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 alleles in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

OBJECTIVE To assess factors associated with a poor outcome in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a measure was developed of limited joint motion and deformity, a deformity index (DI), and correlated biochemical and genetic variables with the magnitude of the DI. METHODS Forty patients were evaluated in a cross sectional study. Clinical measures included the DI and Health Assessment Questionnaire, and disease variables included the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C reactive protein, rheumatoid factor, and HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 alleles. RESULTS Significant correlations were noted between increasing DI and duration of RA and concentration of C reactive protein. Patients with a DQB1*301 allele or DR4 allele had a higher DI than those without, and a positive trend was noted between increasing DI and dose of DRB1 RA susceptibility alleles. The trend was lost when a non-linear regression technique was used to remove the effect attributable to C reactive protein, suggesting an interrelation between persistent inflammation and genetics in determining total joint damage. CONCLUSIONS The DI may be useful to study interactions between genetic and inflammatory processes in rheumatoid disease progression.
Ethnic Enclave Resources and Predictors of Depression Among Arizona's Korean Immigrant Elders

This is the first study examining predictors of depression among Arizona's Korean immigrant elders not residing in ethnic enclaves. A snowball sample of 120 elders, aged 64 and over, completed the study interview. The proportion of respondents reporting depression was 38.1%, higher than the incidence reported among counterparts in New York City's immigrant ethnic enclaves. Multiple regression analyses (R2 = .44) indicate that English language proficiency had the most powerful effect on explaining depression. Discussion centers on why programs aimed at reducing language barriers among socially isolated immigrant elders need to be a first priority in service provision.