Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Response of testicular antioxidant enzymes to hexachlorocyclohexane is species specific.

AIM To find out whether the response of testicular oxidative stress parameters to hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) is species specific. METHODS In rats and mice (n=5 in each group), HCH was administered at a dose of 20 mg/kg/day intraperitoneally for 30 days in 0.1 ml of refined groundnut oil. The control groups received equal volume of the vehicle. Animals were sacrificed 24 hours after the last injection and various oxidative stress parameters were measured immediately. RESULTS The level of both endogenous as well as FeSO4 and ascorbic acid-stimulated lipid peroxidation was increased significantly in the HCH-treated rats, whereas the pattern was just the reverse in case of mice. Although the level of H2O2 content increased in response to HCH in both groups, a totally different trend was observed for the activity of the principal H2O2-metabolising enzyme, catalase. In case of rats, a significant decline in the activity of catalase was recorded in response to HCH whereas a sharp augmentation in the enzyme activity was noticed in mice. Similarly, the decreased activity of superoxide dismutase observed in rats remained unaltered in mice. CONCLUSION HCH induces oxidative stress in the testis of both rats and mice. However, the pattern of response of testicular oxidative stress parameters seems to be species specific.
The Lack of Causality between Asbestos and Colorectal Cancer

To evaluate a potential causal relationship between asbestos exposure and the risk of colorectal cancer, 30 cohort studies published in English were reviewed and analyzed. The latest report of each cohort up through 1993 was used. The outcome measure was the standardized morbidity (incidence) or mortality ratio (SMR). Summary SMRs were examined by type of cohort registration, type of work, type of asbestos, latency from onset of exposure to period of risk, and incidence only. The overall relative risk was 0.99 for all 30 studies. The evidence does not meet the important criteria for a judgment of causality because the relative risk is not consistently elevated, weak in the two studies with a statistically significant elevation of SMR, and limited data do not support a dose-response relationship.
Salient indicators of mobile instant messaging addiction with selected socio-demographic attributes among tertiary students in South Africa

The scholarship of addiction has metamorphosed over the years with a trajectory of social psychology studies focusing on technology-based addictions. Relatedly, the nascency of mobile messenger applications has not left the South African student community with immunity from the problematic and psychological effects of excessive reliance on mobile technology. An adoption of the Internet addiction test led to the identification of four factors, namely, withdrawal, compulsion, control disorder, and lifestyle disturbance as the underlying indicators of addictive tendencies among tertiary students. Analysis of variance was performed with Dunnette and Scheffe post hoc tests with a view to identifying possible existence of statistically significant differences among selected biographic variables. While gender had been shown to be a predictor of mobile messaging overuse in past studies, no gender differences were established in this study. Significant differences were noted with age and academic programme (specifically, engineering and social sciences). These results could have implications on the future development of novel, mobile software applications with discipline-specific and age-appropriate usability functions. It should also be noted that mobile phones are becoming more varied in their use, and new messaging applications appear to be more attractive to selected demographic segments rather than others.
News Narratives about Nano S&T in Major U.S. and Non-U.S. Newspapers

The author of this content analytic study examines news narratives about nano science and technology (nano S&T) in major U.S. and non-U.S. newspapers by taking a random sample of 350 articles published from1988 through mid-July 2004 froma universe of 1,330 articles. In addition to identifying dominant frames or content themes, the author evaluates whether there is a dominant tone or sentiment regarding the ethical, legal, and societal implications of developments and issues in nano S&T. Scientific discoveries or projects and the social effects of nano S&T are the dominant frames. The ratio of articles leaning toward the sentiment that benefits outweigh risks versus that risks outweigh benefits is three to one.
Compensatory responses of an arid land crucifer, Chorispora tenella (Brassicaceae), to experimental flower removal

We studied experimentally the compensatory ability of an annual arid land crucifer, Chorispora tenella, with respect to density of conspecifics. Chorispora tenella was able to compensate for flower losses by modulating the rates of abortion of flowers, fruits and ovules. In addition, plants growing at lower density compensated more intensely against losses than plants growing at high density. Nevertheless, as a consequence of compensation, plants in all treatments produced the same quantity of seeds (equal compensation). These results suggest that, from flower production to fruit and ovule maturation, C. tenella maintained a number of ovules that exceeded those that it could eventually mature. This could help to colonize arid environments successfully, in which resources are typically scarce and spatio-temporally unpredictable.
REVIEW: "Agency or Reproduction?"

As a literacy volunteer at the local jail, I teach classes covering life skills. I prepare my students, primarily low-income African Americans from the inner cities, for beginning their lives again “on the outside. ” Almost always their personal literacy goals include learning the practical skills they will be required to use in their everyday encounters with institutional representatives once they are released. Thus we cover skills ranging from those needed in applying for a social security card, finding a job, and securing housing, to preparing to pass the drivers’ exam. All of these tasks involve engaging in interactions with institutional representatives, or “gatekeepers,” as they are often called. Given this background in the jails, I was anxious to read Ellen Cushman’s book entitled The Struggle and the Tools: Oral and Literate Strategies in an Inner City Community. The volume focuses on Black community residents’ interactions with gatekeepers, which Cushman defines as the representatives of the institutions with which poor inner-city residents must negotiate to meet their daily needs. For many reasons Cushman’s book proved a delight to read: In particular, Cushman provides us with rich accounts of daily life in a northeastern inner-city neighborhood and offers a new perspective on literacy studies. Yet I felt her book falls short in several important ways. The Struggle and the Tools, the result of a 3-year ethnographic study, certainly answers Brian Street’s (1984) call for more literacy studies in a variety of contexts. Cushman uses a broad definition of literacy and carves out new territory in her attempts to illuminate “the oral, literate, and analytical strategies inner city residents develop in light of their oppositional ideologies” (p. 4). She draws on notions of hegemony, not commonly encountered in literacy research, expanding on Hanks’s (1996) “ideological dimension” of language. Her main focus, in fact, is to explore the “underside of power relations where language imbued with antihegemonic ideologies unfolds in gate keeping encounters” (p. xiv). Rather than adopting the common viewpoint that poor Black inMIND, CULTURE, AND ACTIVITY, 10(3), 250–253 Copyright © 2003, Regents of the University of California on behalf of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition
KNOWLEDGE WORKER TEAM EFFECTIVENESS: THE ROLE OF AUTONOMY, INTERDEPENDENCE, TEAM DEVELOPMENT, AND CONTEXTUAL SUPPORT VARIABLES

This study investigated how autonomy, interdependence, and team development, along with process and contextual support variables, were related to the effectiveness of teams of “knowledge workers. ” The sample included 231 knowledge workers from 27 work teams. Team members completed surveys measuring the design, process, and contextual factors. Effectiveness measures included multiple key stakeholder evaluations of team performance and self-report measures of attitudinal outcomes. The results suggest that interactions among design, process, and contextual support factors have important implications for team effectiveness. In particular, the positive relationship between team autonomy and team job motivation was reduced as teams worked under more interdependent conditions. This interaction effect also varied across the types of autonomy (e.g., planning-related, product-related, and people-related) the team was given. Results also demonstrated that the relationship between job motivation and team process behaviors (helping, sharing, and innovating) was more positive in teams who were developmental mature. Process behaviors were positively related to effectiveness, but those relationships became more positive in the presence of certain contextual factors (high-quality goals and efficient information transmission), and less positive in the presence of others (feedback and time pressure). Future research needs and practical implications of these results are discussed.
Virtues, Work Experiences, Satisfactions And Well-Being Among Physicians In Turkey

This study examined the relationship between virtues and indicators of work satisfaction and engagement, extra-work satisfactions and psychological wellbeing among physicians. Data were collected from 431 physicians in Turkey using anonymously completed questionnaires. A virtue is any psychological process that enables a person to benefit him or herself and others. Three virtues were considered: gratitude, optimism, and proactive behaviors. This emphasis was consistent with emerging trends in both psychology and organizational studies, termed positive psychology or positive organizational scholarship respectively, to focus on strengths and excellence rather an weakness and pathology. Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for both personal demographic and work situation characteristics, indicated that virtues accounted for significant increments in explained variance on most outcome measures. Optimism emerged as a particularly consistent predictor of most outcomes. Explanations for the association of virtues with favorable outcomes are offered along with potentially practical implications.
Adrenergic control of protein metabolism in skeletal muscle

This review summarizes evidence indicating that the sympathetic nervous system, through hormonal and neurotransmitter actions, produces anabolic, protein-sparing effects on skeletal muscle protein metabolism. Studies are reviewed which indicate that catecholamines secreted by the adrenal medulla have an inhibitory effect on muscle Ca2+-dependent protein degradation independently of other hormones. In addition, norepinephrine released from adrenergic terminals may increase the rate of protein synthesis in oxidative muscles, leading to increased protein accretion. Evidence is also presented that these effects seem to be mediated by β2-adrenoceptors and cyclic adenosine monophosphate-dependent pathways. The understanding of the precise mechanisms by which endogenous catecholamines promote muscle anabolic effects may bring new perspectives for efficient treatment of muscle-wasting conditions and enhancement of growth efficacy in farm species.
The close proximity of threat: altered distance perception in the anticipation of pain

Pain is an experience that powerfully influences the way we interact with our environment. What is less clear is the influence that pain has on the way we perceive our environment. We investigated the effect that the anticipation of experimental pain (THREAT) and its relief (RELIEF) has on the visual perception of space. Eighteen (11F) healthy volunteers estimated the distance to alternating THREAT and RELIEF stimuli that were placed within reachable space. The results determined that the estimated distance to the THREAT stimulus was significantly underestimated in comparison to the RELIEF stimulus. We conclude that pain-evoking stimuli are perceived as closer to the body than otherwise identical pain-relieving stimuli, an important consideration when applied to our decisions and behaviors in relation to the experience of pain.
Gender and Student Achievement in English Schools

The widening gap between the average educational achievement of boys and girls has been the subject of much discussion. This gap is especially controversial for students taking national exams at the end of their compulsory education. However, the gender gap is also apparent at earlier and at later stages of education. In this paper, we analyse changes over time in the gender achievement gap at the different stages of compulsory education in English schools. We first use a combination of data sources to paint a picture of how gender gaps have evolved over time and in what context they are most marked. Then we consider possible explanations for the observed gender gaps. We look at the relevance of school inputs, teaching practice, and the examination system for explaining the gender gap. We also discuss the potential influence of wider social and economic changes as reflected, for example, in the much higher education levels of mothers relative to those of previous generations. Analysis of this issue is important in the context of research on the gender wage gap. However, it is also raises policy-relevant issues in relation to whether changes in the school system can effect a change in the gender gap in educational achievement.
High School Students’ Informal Reasoning Regarding a Socio‐scientific Issue, with Relation to Scientific Epistemological Beliefs and Cognitive Structures

This study investigated the relationship among 68 high school students’ scientific epistemological beliefs (SEBs), cognitive structures regarding nuclear power usage, and their informal reasoning regarding this issue. Moreover, the ability of students’ SEBs as well as their cognitive structures for predicting their informal reasoning regarding this issue was also examined. The participants’ SEBs were assessed with a quantitative instrument; their cognitive structures were assessed through tape‐recorded interviews and were further analyzed with the ‘flow map method’; their reasoning regarding nuclear power usage was assessed with an open‐ended questionnaire; and, then, their responses were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. It was revealed that students’ beliefs about the justification of scientific knowledge (an aspect of the beliefs on the nature of knowing science) were significantly correlated with their reasoning quality; the extent and the richness of students’ cognitive structures as well as their usage of the information processing mode, ‘comparing,’ were positively correlated with their reasoning quality. A series of regression analyses further confirmed that students’ use of the information processing mode, ‘comparing,’ was the most significant factor for predicting reasoning quality, while their beliefs regarding the justification of scientific knowledge was the other important predictor.
Effects of Consumer Tendencies and Positive Emotion on Impulse Buying Behavior for Apparel

This study tested how impulse buying behavior for apparel was related to hedonic consumption and impulse buying tendencies and emotion in the context of shopping. A total of 290 self-administered questionnaires were obtained from college students during scheduled classes. A structural equation model using a correlation matrix with maximum likelihood was estimated for examining the relationships among consumer tendencies of hedonic consumption and impulse buying, positive emotion, and impulse buying behaviors by LISREL 8.53. Findings showed that impulse buying behaviors for apparel could be classified into planned, reminded, and fashion-oriented impulse buying typologies. Hedonic consumption and impulse buying tendencies had significant effects on positive emotion. Positive emotion had a significant effect on planned, reminded, and fashion-oriented impulse buying for apparel. This study suggests that positive emotion plays an important role in determining impulse buying behaviors relevant to hedonic and impulse buying tendencies. Managerial implications for apparel retailers are discussed.
Significance of the vaginal bacterial flora in the bitch: a review

The literature on the bacterial flora in the vagina of the bitch is reviewed. The bacterial flora in the vagina of healthy bitches is compared with the flora of infertile bitches and bitches with vaginitis, and the role of Brucella canis as a cause of infertility is evaluated. Several investigators have recommended that bitches with reproductive disorders be treated with antibacterial drugs, but there is very little knowledge of the effect of this therapy on the bacterial flora in the vagina.
Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup distribution within Leber hereditary optic neuropathy pedigrees

eber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON; OMIM #535000) is a mitochondrial genetic disease that causes blindness in young adults, with an estimated minimum prevalence of 3.2 per 100 000 in the north east of England. 1 It classically presents as bilateral subacute loss of central vision due to the focal neurodegeneration of the retinal ganglion cell layer. Over 95% of cases are principally due to one of three ‘‘primary’’ mtDNA point mutations: 3460GRA, 11778GRA, and 14484TRC, all of which involve genes that encode complex I subunits of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. However, less than ,50% of male and ,10% of female LHON carriers will develop the optic neuropathy. 23
Characterization of a Novel Dermal Fibrosis Model Induced by Areca Nut Extract that Mimics Oral Submucous Fibrosis

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is an oral potentially malignant disorder and areca quid chewing is the main etiological factor. However, the molecular mechanism underlying OSF remains unclear, partly due to the lack of an appropriate animal model. The present study aimed to establish and characterize an animal model of areca nut extract (ANE)-induced skin fibrosis that mimics OSF. Mice were divided into 4 groups: the control group; the bleomycin group; and the ANE10 and ANE20 groups, which received 10mg/ml and 20mg/ml subcutaneous (SC) injection of ANE, respectively. Skin fibrosis was evaluated by histological analyses. Additionally, the expression levels of the fibrotic marker genes were determined by immunohistochemical staining and immunoblotting. ANE administration significantly increased dermal thickness and collagen deposition compared with the control group. Moreover, ANE induced the expression of the fibrotic marker genes alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in the skin lesions. The SC injection of ANE successfully induced skin fibrosis, exhibiting characteristics similar to those of OSF. This model may facilitate future studies of the mechanism underlying OSF.
ASSESSMENT OF GEOTECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF MIGMATITE- DERIVED RESIDUAL SOIL FROM ILORIN, SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA, AS BARRIER IN SA

This study investigates the geotechnical properties of a migmatite derived soil from southwestern Nigeria for its potential use as barri er in sanitary landfill. The required parameters for soils to be considered as barrier su ch as grain size distribution, Atterberg consistency limits, maximum dry density ( MDD) and the coefficient of permeability were determined. Results obtained show that the hydraulic conductivity is lower than the suggested limit (1 x 10 cm/s) of the various waste regulatory agencies. In addition, it has adequate basic geotec hnical properties, strength and the shrinkage potential upon drying. These properties s uggest the potential suitability of the soil as a barrier in containment facility for d isposal of waste material.
Working Paper

Open Source Software (OSS) has received wide attention from the research community, which has analyzed both the innovation process of software development by distributed and unrelated teams, and the market dynamics between “free” and proprietary software. Up until now, OSS adoption has been irregular, although OSS seems to be breaking the dominance of existing players in some market segments. In this paper, we contend that, due to the particularities of its development process, traditional ways of explaining IT adoption –rational decision making, technology diffusion models, and the psychology of the decision maker– are insufficient to explain the case of OSS diffusion. We believe that the existence of a strong and diffused development community gives a new role to the user community, as the two are intertwined. In addition, new concerns for corporate social responsibility and welfare create a new context, in which “user gangs” may exert some degree of pressure on the IT decision maker. By analyzing some significant cases, we depict under what conditions significant OSS adoption may unfold, showing that in two of the cases studied user gangs play a significant role. The resulting preliminary framework will inform future work, in which we aim to validate the emerging insights gained in this research.
Survival of HeartMate II Patients Despite Cessation of Anticoagulation　- Outcomes and Hemostatic Analysis.

BACKGROUND In long-term left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy, recurrent bleeding events may justify cessation of anticoagulation therapy (AT). However, data about THE safety and risks of AT cessation in LVAD patients are scarce.Methods and Results:Between 2010 and 2015, 128 patients received a HeartMate II (HMII). Following recurrent bleeding events, we ceased vitamin K antagonist (VKA) therapy in 13 patients (10%) (no-VKA group). To characterize the hemostatic profile, we performed von Willebrand factor (vWF), platelet function (PF), and other hemostatic tests in all HMII patients. The incidence of pump thrombosis (PT), ischemic stroke (IS) and bleeding events in this HMII population was 4.7 %, 6.2% and 36.7%, respectively. Median survival without VKA was 435 days. No cases of PT and only 1 of IS occurred after AT discontinuation. All patients had impaired PF and acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AvWS). However, the vWF collagen-binding activity to antigen ratio before and after VKA cessation was significantly lower in the no-VKA group compared with the HMII population (0.60±0.12 vs. 0.73±0.14, P=0.006). The thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) value was significantly higher in the no-VKA group (P=0.0005). CONCLUSIONS We experienced good results with AT cessation in specific HMII patients. The simultaneous onset of AvWS and high TAT values could explain at least in part the low thromboembolic rate in HMII patients without VKA.