Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fishy Business: Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Zinc Transporters and Free Zinc Availability in Human Neuronal Cells

Omega-3 (ω-3) fatty acids are one of the two main families of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The main omega-3 fatty acids in the mammalian body are α-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Central nervous tissues of vertebrates are characterized by a high concentration of omega-3 fatty acids. Moreover, in the human brain, DHA is considered as the main structural omega-3 fatty acid, which comprises about 40% of the PUFAs in total. DHA deficiency may be the cause of many disorders such as depression, inability to concentrate, excessive mood swings, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dry skin and so on. On the other hand, zinc is the most abundant trace metal in the human brain. There are many scientific studies linking zinc, especially excess amounts of free zinc, to cellular death. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, are characterized by altered zinc metabolism. Both animal model studies and human cell culture studies have shown a possible link between omega-3 fatty acids, zinc transporter levels and free zinc availability at cellular levels. Many other studies have also suggested a possible omega-3 and zinc effect on neurodegeneration and cellular death. Therefore, in this review, we will examine the effect of omega-3 fatty acids on zinc transporters and the importance of free zinc for human neuronal cells. Moreover, we will evaluate the collective understanding of mechanism(s) for the interaction of these elements in neuronal research and their significance for the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegeneration.
InterFace portraits: communicative-expressive interaction with a character's mind

In this paper, I introduce the notion of <i>communicative-expressive interaction</i> with a character's mind, within an interactive fiction video. It is an interaction model that allows a participant continuous interaction with a story as a way of increasing the participant's agency and immersion and consequently both the sense of engagement and the meaning of the interactive experience in its relation to the story. I describe a work-in-progress system called the <i>InterFace Portrait Storyteller,</i> in which participants use familiar gestures performed on a touch screen to explore the character's mind, which is constructed as a diegetic space. I also describe two interactive video installations, "One Measure of Happiness" and "Have I Lost My Plot? " within which the system interacts with either narrative or non-narrative approaches to the representation of diegtic space.
Hippocampal lesions halve immediate–early gene protein counts in retrosplenial cortex: distal dysfunctions in a spatial memory system

The present study examined whether hippocampal lesions disrupt retrosplenial cortex function. The immediate–early genesc‐fos and zif268 provided markers of cellular activity, and their levels were compared in different cytoarchitectonic subregions (dysgranular, granular a and granular b) and different layers (superficial or deep) within retrosplenial cortex. Experiments 1–3 examined the impact of hippocampal lesions on retrosplenial cortex function, with the variations in protocol (e.g. lesion method, rat strain, behaviour prior to gene activity measurement) testing the generality of the findings. Experiment 1 showed that radio‐frequency hippocampus lesions result in very striking losses of Fos and Zif268 activity in both superficial and deep laminae of all retrosplenial subregions. This pattern of results was repeated for Fos in experiments 2 and 3. Despite the loss of Fos and Zif268, there was no evidence of retrosplenial cortex atrophy as measured by Nissl counts (experiments 1–3) or NeuN‐positive cell counts (experiment 3). Likewise, there was little evidence of any overt changes in cellular size, shape or appearance. The specificity of these hippocampal lesion effects was confirmed in experiment 4 as entorhinal cortex lesions did not change retrosplenial Fos levels. These results provide strong support for the notion that the retrosplenial cortex is unusually sensitive to deafferentation from some of its inputs, so that hippocampal damage might produce permanent ‘covert pathology’ in the retrosplenial cortex. Such dysfunctions could contribute to the pattern of cognitive changes associated with hippocampal lesions and also help to explain the functional interdependency of these two structures.
Temporal pattern of NFκB activation influences apoptotic cell fate in a stimuli-dependent fashion

The transcription factor NFκB is a critical immediate early response gene involved in modulating cellular responses and apoptosis following diverse environmental injuries. The activation of NFκB is widely accepted to play an anti-apoptotic role in cellular responses to injury. Hence, enhancing NFκB activation in the setting of injury has been proposed as one potential therapeutic approach to environmental injuries. To this end, we constructed a recombinant adenoviral vector (Ad.IκBαAS) expressing antisense IκBα mRNA that is capable of augmenting NFκB activation prior to and following four types of cellular injury [TNF-α, UV, hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) or pervanadate treatment]. Biochemical and functional analyses of NFκB activation pathways for these injuries demonstrated two categories involving either serine (S32/36) phosphorylation (TNF-α, UV) or tyrosine (Y42) phosphorylation (H/R or PV) of IκBα. We hypothesized that activation of NFκB prior to injury using antisense IκBα mRNA would reduce apoptosis. As anticipated, recombinant adenoviral IκBα phosphorylation mutants (Ad.IκBαS32/36A or Ad.IκBαY42F) preferentially reduced NFκB activation and enhanced apoptosis following injuries associated with either serine or tyrosine phosphorylation of IκBα, respectively. These studies demonstrate for the first time that an IκBαY42F mutant can effectively modulate NFκB-mediated apoptosis in an injury-context-dependent manner. Interestingly, constitutive activation of NFκB following Ad. IκBαAS infection reduced apoptosis only following injuries associated with IκBα Y42, but not S32/36, phosphorylation. These findings demonstrate that the temporal regulation of NFκB and the apoptotic consequences of this activation are differentially influenced by the pathway mediating NFκB activation. They also provide new insight into the therapeutic potential and limitations of modulating NFκB for environmental injuries such as ischemia/reperfusion and pro-inflammatory diseases.
Powerful or powerless customers: the influence of gratitude on engagement with CSR

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how gratitude appeals and consumers’ sense of power jointly influence customer engagement in a service firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Based on previous literature, the authors propose that power moderates the effect of gratitude expression on consumers’ attitudes and behavioral intention to engage in matching donations. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (power: powerful vs powerless) × 2 (gratitude expression: included in the request vs none) between-subjects experiment was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Participants were asked to imagine that they recently saw a donation request while dining at a local restaurant and they then complete scales that measured their attitude and donation intention to engage in a restaurant’s CSR practice. Findings The findings of this study indicate that an expression of gratitude enhanced powerless but not powerful customers’ intention to engage in CSR practices. In addition, moderated mediation tests revealed social worth concerns as the underlying mechanism between gratitude expression and customer engagement for powerless consumers. However, such mediation effects were not observed for powerful consumers. Originality/value The current study identifies sense of power as a new psychological state that can influence donation behaviors in the context of CSR. In addition, the current study shows that the serial mediating role of social worth between gratitude expression and prosocial behaviors only holds true for individuals with a low sense of power.
Mumps Virus Induces Protein-Kinase-R-Dependent Stress Granules, Partly Suppressing Type III Interferon Production

Stress granules (SGs) are cytoplasmic granular aggregations that are induced by cellular stress, including viral infection. SGs have opposing antiviral and proviral roles, which depend on virus species. The exact function of SGs during viral infection is not fully understood. Here, we showed that mumps virus (MuV) induced SGs depending on activation of protein kinase R (PKR). MuV infection strongly induced interferon (IFN)-λ1, 2 and 3, and IFN-β through activation of IFN regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) via retinoic acid inducible gene-I (RIG-I) and the mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS) pathway. MuV-induced IFNs were strongly upregulated in PKR-knockdown cells. MuV-induced SG formation was suppressed by knockdown of PKR and SG marker proteins, Ras-GTPase-activating protein SH3-domain-binding protein 1 and T-cell-restricted intracellular antigen-1, and significantly increased the levels of MuV-induced IFN-λ1. However, viral titer was not altered by suppression of SG formation. PKR was required for induction of SGs by MuV infection and regulated type III IFN (IFN-λ1) mRNA stability. MuV-induced SGs partly suppressed type III IFN production by MuV; however, the limited suppression was not sufficient to inhibit MuV replication in cell culture. Our results provide insight into the relationship between SGs and IFN production induced by MuV infection.
Naïve adult stem cells from patients with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome express low levels of progerin in vivo

Summary Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS, OMIM 176670) is a rare disorder characterized by segmental accelerated aging and early death from coronary artery disease or stroke. Nearly 90% of HGPS sufferers carry a G608G mutation within exon 11 of LMNA, producing a truncated form of prelamin A, referred to as “progerin”. Here, we report the isolation of naïve multipotent skin-derived precursor (SKP) cells from dermal fibroblast cultures from HGPS donors. These cells form spheres and express the neural crest marker, nestin, in addition to the multipotent markers, OCT4, Sox2, Nanog and TG30; these cells can self-renew and differentiate into smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and fibroblasts. The SMCs derived from the HGPS-SKPs accumulate nuclear progerin with increasing passages. A subset of the HGPS-naïve SKPs express progerin in vitro and in situ in HGPS skin sections. This is the first in vivo evidence that progerin is produced in adult stem cells, and implies that this protein could induce stem cells exhaustion as a mechanism contributing to aging. Our study provides a basis on which to explore therapeutic applications for HGPS stem cells and opens avenues for investigating the pathogenesis of other genetic diseases.
The PROBE Framework for the Personalized Cloaking of Private Locations

The widespread adoption of location-based services (LBS) raises increasing concerns for the protection of personal location information. A common strategy, referred to as obfuscation (or cloaking), to protect location privacy is based on forwarding the LBS provider a coarse user location instead of the actual user location. Conventional approaches, based on such technique, are however based only on geometric methods and therefore are unable to assure privacy when the adversary is aware of the geographical context, in particular of the semantic locations and the statistical distribution of positions in the given space. This paper provides a comprehensive solution to this problem. We present a novel privacy model and an architectural framework for the personalized cloaking of semantic locations. In ourmodel, a cloaked location is an uncertainty regionwhich satisfies the privacy constraints specified by the user in the privacy profile (obfuscated location). We propose a strategy for generating obfuscated locations and evaluate different algorithms which implement efficiently such a strategy. The paper includes several experimental results assessing performance, storage requirements and accuracy for the approach. The paper also discusses the system architecture and shows that the approach can be deployed also for clients running on small devices.
Differential Range Use between Age Classes of Southern African Bearded Vultures Gypaetus barbatus

Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus movements were investigated in southern Africa to determine whether an individual's age, sex or breeding status influenced its ranging behaviour and to provide the information required to guide conservation activities. Data from satellite transmitters fitted to 18 individuals of four age classes were used to determine range size and use. Because of the nature of the movements of marked individuals, these data could be used to determine the overall foraging range of the entire population, which was estimated to be 51 767 km2. Although juvenile, immature and sub-adult birds used different parts of the overall range, their combined foraging range was 65% (33 636 km2) of the overall range. Average adult home ranges (286 km2) were only around 1% the size of the average foraging ranges of non-adults (10 540 –25 985 km2), with those of breeding adults being even smaller (95 km2). Home ranges of breeding adults did not vary in size between seasons but adults utilized their home range more intensively whilst breeding, moving greater distances during the incubation and chick hatching period. Range size and use increased as non-adults aged. Immatures and sub-adults had larger range sizes during winter, but range use of non-adults did not vary seasonally. Range size and use did not differ between the sexes in any of the age classes. Information on home range size and use enables specific areas within the species' range to be targeted for management planning, education and conservation action.
Neoclassical Growth Accounting and Frontier Analysis: A Synthesis

The standard measure of productivity growth is the Solow residual. Its evaluation requires data on factor input shares or prices. Since these prices are presumed to match factor productivities, the standard procedure amounts to accepting at face value what is supposed to be measured. In this paper we estimate total factor productivity growth without recourse to data on factor input prices. Factor productivities are defined as Lagrange multipliers to the program that maximizes the level of domestic final demand. The consequent measure of total factor productivity is shown to encompass not only the Solow residual, but also the efficiency change of frontier analysis and the hitherto slippery terms-of-trade effect. Using input-output tables from 1962 to 1991 we show that the source of Canadian productivity growth has shifted from technical change to terms-of-trade effects.
African Words and Gestures in New World Guise

IN THE NEW WORLD, THINGS AFRICAN are usually associated with the unusual and the exotic. Thus cumfa, with its frenzied drumming, would seem a natural candidate for inclusion in any list of African "survivals. " So also would a folktale or folksong which included several lines of obscure incantation. Or a word which made use of very un-English phonotactics, like kpoli, or was matched against a more standard equivalent (nyam versus eat). Our suspicions would be particularly aroused if the cultural or linguistic item were rarely used, if, for instance, we "got" it for the first and only time from the aging grandchild of some erstwhile slave, now living an isolated life far from the masses of the people. For academics and laymen alike, it is of such stuff that true New World Africanisms are made. In keeping with this pattern of intuition and reasoning, we never attached any historical significance to cut-eye and suck-teeth. The gestures to which these refer are performed daily in our native Guyana by all kinds of people, in urban center and rural area alike. And the compounds we use to describe them could hardly be more ordinary, composed as they are of simple English words-cut, eye, suck, and teeth. With such unpromising clues to go by, it is hardly surprising that we used them everyday without giving any thought to their source. However, while doing graduate work in Philadelphia in 1971, we happened to notice a curious division between American Whites and Blacks with respect to these very gestures. While the Blacks would "cut their eyes" and "suck their teeth" in much the same way that people did in our native community, Whites apparently never did, and were often ignorant of the meanings of these gestures when they were directed at them. On the basis of this chance observation, we began to consider the possibility that both the gestures and the words we used to describe them
Inhibition of nm23-H1 gene expression in chronic myelogenous leukemia cells

For solid tumors of a malignant origin, the expression of the nm23-H1 gene is a positive prognostic factor. However, for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), the prognostic role of nm23-H1 gene expression is unknown. The present study investigated the impact of nm23-H1 gene expression on the proliferation and migration of the CML K562 cell line to elucidate the association between nm23-H1 gene expression and CML cell survival. An RNAi lipo-recombinant plasmid of the nm23-H1 gene (pGCsi-nm23-H1) was constructed and transfected into the K562 cells. RT-PCR and western blotting were used to detect nm23-H1 mRNA and protein expression, respectively. The anchorage-independent growth ability of the transfected cells was observed in soft agar culture and the ability of the K562 cells to migrate was determined using a Transwell assay. Following the successful construction and transfection of the pGCsi-nm23-H1 plasmid into the K562 cells, nm23-H1 mRNA and protein expression levels were significantly lower compared with the control group. The stably-transfected pGCsi-nm23-H1 K562 cells exhibited a markedly increased ability to form colonies and the number and sizes of the colonies were significantly increased compared with those of the control. In vitro, the cells migrated through a Matrigel-coated membrane during incubation for 20 h. The Transwell assay revealed that the quantitative number of pGCsi-nm23-H1 K562 cells that migrated into the lower compartment of the invasion chamber was markedly increased compared with the control. In conclusion, nm23-H1 gene expression may inhibit K562 cell proliferation and migration. nm23-H1 may be a cancer suppressor gene and play a significant role in inhibiting the survival of CML cells.
Development and Evaluation of a Custom Display Compensation Method for Computer Users Based on Individual Visual Characteristics

In this paper, we present the development and evaluation of a custom on-screen image precompensation algorithm designed to match the visual capabilities of each user, to allow efficient access to images displayed on the screen of the computer. The method uses the characterization of the optical system in the eye of the computer user, which is obtained through a Wavefront Analyzer, to modify the display images in a way that will counter the distortion that they will experience in the eye of the user. An empirical evaluation, involving 20 subjects with varying degrees of visual dysfunction confirmed that the method used for precompensation provides a significant increase in retinal image quality for users that have some visual aberration present in the optical systems of their eyes. The methodology presented here represents a step forward in the direction of adaptable computer interfaces, which may represent the future in customization of human-computer interactions.
Teacher-directed versus child-centred: the challenge of promoting creativity in Chinese preschool classrooms

Abstract It has been argued in the literature that it is harder for Asians than Westerners to think and act in a creative manner due to cultural influences and the discourses of creativity are always culture-specific. This study addresses this issue by using a qualitative research approach, exploring and analysing the characteristic features of creative practice and its pedagogic practices in a Chinese context. Case studies of three Chinese preschool classrooms were reported. Interviews and observations were used as data sources. Findings revealed that the Chinese teachers held similar perspectives about creativity-fostering pedagogies but the three cases demonstrated different interpretation of these pedagogies, ranging from being strongly teacher-directed to strongly child-centred. A balance between teacher-directed and child-centred was found to be more effective pedagogic practice in the Chinese classroom. Results suggested that different creative pedagogies might work for certain contexts and certain children. An awareness of both cultural and contextual appropriateness is important for creativity reform in the Chinese context. This offers useful insights when transplanting creative pedagogies from other contexts, planning professional development programmes to support a pedagogical shift from traditional pedagogic practice to creativity-fostering pedagogic practice.
A comparative study of two pre-service teacher preparation programmes in the USA and Romania

Abstract This article presents an overall exploratory comparison of two specific pre-service teacher preparation programmes at two research-intensive institutions of higher education in the USA and Romania. The main conclusions suggest that US and Romanian teacher candidates differ very little in their ratings of their respective programmes in terms of learning in the programme, preparation for general teaching and twenty-first century skills. The largest differences were recorded for the university supervisor and cooperating teacher constructs, which the US teacher candidates rated considerably higher than their Romanian peers, namely in the quality and extent of applied field and clinical experiences, which merit further exploration.
Multi BSF layer InGaP/GaAs optimized solar cell

Back Surface Field layer plays an eminent role for both single and multi-junction solar cells for controlling the recombination rate. In this work multi BSF layers are used at both top and bottom cells to get higher efficiency. The work is done taking double junction InGaP/GaAs Solar cell and augmentation of the BSF layers is done using mathematical numerical modelling with Silvaco simulator. The structure, photo-generation rate and thickness of the BSF layers is discussed in this paper. For this improved cell schematic, the enhanced available short circuit current density is 17.35 mA/cm2 which is obtained at an open circuit voltage of 2.69 V, which leads to an augmented transformation efficiency.
An Informational Study of the Evolution of Codes and of Emerging Concepts in Populations of Agents

We consider the problem of the evolution of a code within a structured population of agents. The agents try to maximize their information about their environment by acquiring information from the outputs of other agents in the population. A naive use of information-theoretic methods would assume that every agent knows how to interpret the information offered by other agents. However, this assumes that it knows which other agents it observes, and thus which code they use. In our model, however, we wish to preclude that: It is not clear which other agents an agent is observing, and the resulting usable information is therefore influenced by the universality of the code used and by which agents an agent is listening to. We further investigate whether an agent that does not directly perceive the environment can distinguish states by observing other agents' outputs. For this purpose, we consider a population of different types of agents talking about different concepts, and try to extract new ones by considering their outputs only.