Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TRESK gene recombinant adenovirus vector inhibits capsaicin-mediated substance P release from cultured rat dorsal root ganglion neurons

The present study was conducted to determine whether the activation of TRESK in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) by the TRESK gene recombinant adenovirus vector inhibits the capsaicin-evoked substance P (SP) release using a radioimmunoassay. TRESK is an outwardly rectifying K+ current channel that contributes to the resting potential and is the most important background potassium channel in DRG. Previous studies have shown that neuropathic pain (NP) is closely related to the regulation of certain potassium channels in DRG neurons, while DRG-released SP is important in the peripheral mechanism of NP. In the present study, the TRESK gene adenovirus vector significantly enhanced the TRESK mRNA and protein of the cultured rat DRG neurons. Radioimmunoassay analysis revealed that the capsaicin-mediated SP release was significantly inhibited by the TRESK gene recombinant adenovirus vector in rat DRG neurons. These findings suggest that TRESK plays a role in adjusting the release of SP in DRG, which is related to NP.
Mother–Infant Interactions at Home and in a Laboratory Setting

This study addresses the question how the setting of assessment influences maternal playing behavior with their 3-month-old infants across cultures. Mother–infant interactions of 338 dyads from two cultural communities (German middle-class and rural Cameroonian Nso) were videotaped either in their home or in a laboratory setting. Results indicate that both settings of assessment are appropriate to observe cultural differences in maternal interactional behavior. As expected, rural Nso mothers show more proximal interactional behavior than German middle-class mothers, who focus more on distal behavioral strategies. The laboratory setting amplifies cultural differences by culture-specific effects on the playing behavior. Whereas rural Nso mothers show increased activities in the lab, German middle-class mothers’ behavior seems to be inhibited.
Left-handers’ struggle in a rightward wor(l)d: The relation between horizontal spatial bias and effort in directed movements

ABSTRACT Five studies investigated the role of handedness and effort in horizontal spatial bias related to agency (Spatial Agency Bias, SAB). A Pilot Study (n = 33) confirmed the basic assumption that rightward writing requires greater effort from left- than from right-handers. In three studies, Italian students (n = 591 right-handed, n = 115 left-handed) were found to start drawings on the left, proceeding rightward (Study 1a, 1b), and to draw moving objects with a rightward orientation in line with script direction (Study 1c). These spatial asymmetries were displayed stronger by left- than by right-handed primacy school children, arguably due to the greater effort involved in learning how to write in a rightward fashion. Once writing has become fully automatic (high school) right- and left-handed students showed comparable spatial bias (Study 1c). The hypothesized role of effort was tested explicitly in Study 2 in which 99 right-handed adults learned a new (leftward) spatial trajectory through an easy or difficult motor exercise. The habitual rightward bias was reliably reduced, especially among those who performed a difficult task requiring greater effort. Together, findings are largely in line with the body specificity hypothesis (Casasanto, 2011) and suggest that spatial asymmetries are learned and unlearned most efficiently through effortful motor exercises.
Protein Structural Modularity and Robustness Are Associated with Evolvability

Theory suggests that biological modularity and robustness allow for maintenance of fitness under mutational change, and when this change is adaptive, for evolvability. Empirical demonstrations that these traits promote evolvability in nature remain scant however. This is in part because modularity, robustness, and evolvability are difficult to define and measure in real biological systems. Here, we address whether structural modularity and/or robustness confer evolvability at the level of proteins by looking for associations between indices of protein structural modularity, structural robustness, and evolvability. We propose a novel index for protein structural modularity: the number of regular secondary structure elements (helices and strands) divided by the number of residues in the structure. We index protein evolvability as the proportion of sites with evidence of being under positive selection multiplied by the average rate of adaptive evolution at these sites, and we measure this as an average over a phylogeny of 25 mammalian species. We use contact density as an index of protein designability, and thus, structural robustness. We find that protein evolvability is positively associated with structural modularity as well as structural robustness and that the effect of structural modularity on evolvability is independent of the structural robustness index. We interpret these associations to be the result of reduced constraints on amino acid substitutions in highly modular and robust protein structures, which results in faster adaptation through natural selection.
Effects of an Inconsistency-Detection Training Aimed at Improving Comprehension Monitoring in Primary School Children

Grounded within the situation model framework, this study investigated the effectiveness of a reading comprehension strategy training aimed at improving children's comprehension monitoring strategies. Sixty-four third and fourth graders received a 4-week training targeted at situation model updating, evaluative and self-regulatory strategies, and metacognitive awareness. A group (n = 51) following the school's regular reading comprehension curriculum served as the control group. The inconsistency-detection training was expected to show a pretest-to-posttest enhancement in comprehension monitoring strategies (measured with the inconsistency-detection paradigm), general reading comprehension, and reading motivation. Results showed that, compared with the control group, fourth graders' inconsistency-detection performance significantly improved after the inconsistency-detection training. Third graders did not show a significant gain. General reading comprehension and reading motivation scores were promising for children receiving the inconsistency-detection training. In summary, our inconsistency-detection training was an effective means to enhance children's use of monitoring strategies required for constructing and updating a coherent situation model and to transfer these strategies to novel texts.
Clinical, Radiographic, Histologic, and Histomorphometric Comparison of PepGen P-15 Particulate and PepGen P-15 Flow in Extraction Sockets: A Same-Mouth Case Study

PurposeAlthough the efficacy of PepGen P-15 particulate has been conclusively demonstrated in two multicenter clinical studies, the effect of a new hydrogel formulation containing PepGen P-15 on bone repair has not been previously demonstrated. Materials and MethodsPepGen P-15 Flow contains PepGen P-15 particulate in a biocompatible hydrogel, which provides spacing between the particles. In this case study, bone repair of both PepGen P-15 particles and PepGen P-15 Flow was compared to natural bone in same-mouth extraction sockets. ResultsThe radiographic, histologic, and histomorphometric evaluations showed enhanced bone formation and faster particle resorption with PepGen P-15 Flow compared to the PepGen P-15 particulate. ConclusionThe accelerated bone formation by PepGen P-15 Flow may provide faster implant placement.
The Role of the Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Social Decision Making

Convergent evidence has revealed that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) is important for social decision making; however, its exact function is still under debate. Studying behavioral performance of patients with VMPFC lesions is one important way of learning about the role of VMPFC in
Causes of Efficiency Change in Transition: Theory and Cross-Country Survey Evidence from Agriculture

Studies on efficiency changes in transition agriculture yield mixed results. This paper develops both a theoretical model and an empirical analysis of how distribution of efficiency scores changes with the various stages of transition. We use a unique set of representative farm survey data to calculate farm level efficiency scores, compare the efficiency distributions of different transition countries and correlate these with various indicators of particular reforms. Our study indicates that, in particular, general institutional reforms and reforms focused on market institutions and on reducing market imperfections in input and output markets have an important positive impact on farm efficiency.
Opus: University of Bath Online Publication Store Brief Report: Suggestibility, Compliance and Psychological Traits in High- Functioning Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently This version is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Abstract Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be over-represented within the criminal justice system; it is therefore important to understand how they fare under police questioning. The present study examined interrogative suggestibility and compliance in individuals with ASD, and whether this is associated with certain psychological traits. Adults with ASD and their typical counterparts completed the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales (GSS), Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS), and measures of state-trait anxiety, self-esteem, fear of negative evaluation by others and paranoia. In contrast to previous research comparison groups on the measure of compliance, and groups also did not differ on any of the GSS measures, despite the ASD group reporting significantly higher paranoia. Findings indicate that individuals with ASD may be no more likely to succumb to interrogative pressures than their typical counterparts.
Can College Students Accurately Assess What Affects Their Learning and Development?

Informal (and sometimes formal) assessments in higher education often ask students how their skills or attitudes have changed as the result of engaging in a particular course or program; however, it is unclear to what extent these self-reports are accurate. Using a longitudinal sample of over 3,000 college students, we found that students were fairly inaccurate when reporting how their experiences with faculty and peers affected their own cognitive and personal development. These findings call into question the use of perceived influence measures, and they add to a growing literature on the validity of self-reported measures of learning and development.
The effects of chemotherapy and long-term gonadotrophin suppression on the ovarian reserve in premenopausal women with breast cancer.

BACKGROUND Reproductive function following cancer treatment is of increasing importance with improving survival rates. We therefore assessed the markers of the ovarian reserve in premenopausal women, to investigate and compare the effects of chemotherapy and long-term gonadotrophin withdrawal on ovarian function. METHODS Fifty premenopausal (age range 28-52 years) women with early breast cancer were recruited. Serum hormone and ovarian ultrasound measurements were taken before treatment and at intervals up to 1 year during chemotherapy or gonadotrophin suppressive therapy. RESULTS Pretreatment samples indicated a fall in anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentration with age before changes in other hormone concentrations. AMH concentration showed a rapid and marked fall during chemotherapy, with undetectable concentrations in many women (P<0.0001). Inhibin B concentration showed a lesser fall (P<0.0001), whereas estradiol (E2) concentrations were maintained. Both antral follicle count (AFC) and ovarian volume fell (P<0.0001 and P<0.05 respectively). Regimens containing taxanes in addition to cyclophosphamide showed increased gonadotoxicity. Gonadotrophin suppression resulted in expected falls in E2 (P<0.05) and inhibin B (P<0.001) levels, but also resulted in a delayed fall in AMH level after 6 months (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS These data confirm the value of AMH concentration as an early indicator of ovarian ageing including assessment of chemotherapy-induced ovarian follicle loss. FSH and AMH concentration measurements may be useful for the comparison of ovarian toxicity of different chemotherapy regimens.
Testing the dark energy consistency with geometry and growth

We perform parametric tests of the consistency of the standard $w$CDM model in the framework of general relativity by carefully separating information between the geometry and growth of structure. We replace each late-universe parameter that describes the behavior of dark energy with two parameters: one describing geometrical information in cosmological probes, and the other controlling the growth of structure. We use data from all principal cosmological probes: of these, Type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, and the peak locations in the cosmic microwave background angular power spectrum constrain the geometry, while the redshift space distortions, weak gravitational lensing and the abundance of galaxy clusters constrain both geometry and growth. Both geometry and growth separately favor the $\Lambda$CDM cosmology with the matter density relative to critical $\Omega_M\simeq 0.3$. When the equation of state is allowed to vary separately for probes of growth and geometry, we find again a good agreement with the $\Lambda$CDM value ($w\simeq -1$), with the major exception of redshift-space distortions which favor less growth than in $\Lambda$CDM at 3-$\sigma$ confidence, favoring the equation of state $w^{\rm grow}\simeq -0.8$. The anomalous growth favored by redshift space distortions has been noted earlier, and is common to all redshift space distortion data sets, but may well be caused by systematics, or be explained by the sum of the neutrino masses higher than that expected from the simplest mass hierarchies, $m_\nu \simeq 0.45$ eV. On the whole, the constraints are tight even in the new, larger parameter space due to impressive complementarity of different cosmological probes.
An Improved Single and Multiple association Approach for Mining Medical Databases

The main aim of data mining is to extract useful patterns from huge amount of data. For this purpose some effective techniques like Apriori algorithm is presented. The major drawback of Apriori algorithm is Generate huge candidate sets:10 4 frequent 1-itemset will generate 10 7 candidate 2-itemsets.To discover a frequent pattern of size 100, e.g., {a1, a2, …, a100}, one needs to generate 2 100 which is approx 10 30 candidates. Candidate Test incur multiple scans of database: each candidate. To remove the above drawback, we present an improved non candidate single and multiple association approach for mining medical databases. The developed approach generates association rules for determining the relationships among the diseases observed synchronously. The generated association rules are too significant for making early diagnosis for the correlated diseases. Some types of diseases can have triggering effects on different kinds of diseases. The symptoms and diseases which have stronger effect on each other can be determined and interpreted by the constructed system and the large and extended databases can be scanned effectively with the pruning property of the developed system.
Deliberative civic education and civil society: a consideration of ideals and actualities in democracy and communication education

Deliberative civic education is broadly conceived as instruction that utilizes varying forms of classroom deliberation and deliberative exercises to enhance the democratic skills of citizenship and to increase understanding of democratic practice. The purpose of this essay is to explore how the contemporary, critical elements of rhetorical study might be applied to the promise of deliberative civic education in college classrooms. I argue for the importance of incorporating critical dimensions of deliberative civic education into the liberal arts curriculum by explicating the tensions that exist between ideal, structured forms of deliberation and the actual practices of democracy. The notion of civil society, understood as both a site of rhetorical activity and a mediator of public life and public issues, affords students an especially productive inquiry into these tensions.
The creative personality: composers of music, their inspirations and working methods

The stereotypical image that many people would picture when they think of a composer is that of the classical musician like Beethoven who was reportedly an introvert, moody and angst-ridden. However, findings in relation to personality traits that correlate with creativity amongst composers of music, paint a much blurrier picture. This paper reports the result of a study in which 40 current students of composition completed a survey about their preferred working methods and several personality measures. Results indicate that high scores in creativity amongst the composers in our sample was associated with valuing individuality, being highly motivated and gaining great satisfaction from seeing compositions performed. Creative composers tended to take inspiration from non-auditory stimuli such as pictures and to have several works in progress at a time. In addition, correlations were also found between creativity and Extraversion on both its sub-facets of Enthusiasm and Assertiveness.
Reflexive Photography as an Alternative Method for the Study of the Freshman Year Experience

This article describes an alternative method for the study of first-year students’ impressions of their first-semester experiences in higher education. Using an innovative, phenomenologically-oriented, individual-environment interaction technique, a sample of undergraduates from a public four-year comprehensive university were asked to take a series of reflexive photographs, representative of their impressions of the university, describe in writing the reasons why the photographs illustrated their experiences, and discuss the various underlying themes of their photographs in subsequent focus-group interviews. This reflexive photography technique breaks the study subjects away from the typical researcher-oriented quantitative technique and allows for a more open and creative analysis of student perceptions. Our research revealed a number of primary themes including perceptions about the university’s physical environment, interactions with faculty, interactions with other students, student support services, and career counseling and preparation for the future with a level of detail and university specificity not available through quantitative techniques alone.
The Influence of Art-Making on Negative Mood States in University Students

This study examined the influence of art-making in a sample of 44 undergraduate students. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group or one of three art-making groups. Students in all groups completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Mini-POMS prior to and after a twenty minute participation in one of the four groups. Individuals in the art-making groups were randomly assigned to participate in coloring a pre-drawn mandala, a pre-drawn plaid design, or coloring free form on blank paper. There were significant reductions in negative mood states within each group, but there were no differences between the activities. In all of the groups, state anxiety declined significantly from pre- to post-test (p<.05). Participants in the plaid condition also exhibited significant reductions in depression (p<.03) and tension (p<.005). The findings suggest that coloring pre-drawn patterns may be useful as a stress reduction technique for university students.
Do we know how to use corticosteroids in acute severe ulcerative colitis?

Options for the treatment of acute severe ulcerative colitis have broadened with the use of ciclosporin and infliximab, but corticosteroids remain first-line treatment. However, an optimum regimen for drug, dose and duration has not been established in the 57 years since Truelove and Witts first reported their value. In the absence of evidenced-based guidance this study sought to discover how gastroenterology units in the UK manage patients with acute severe colitis. In January 2010 a questionnaire was sent to all members of the inflammatory bowel disease section of the British Society of Gastroenterology enquiring about their use of corticosteroids in a typical patient with acute severe colitis. One hundred and two responses were obtained, representing more than 50% of the UK gastroenterology units. No consensus, and a wide variation in practice was found between these units. Over 70% of responders initially treat patients with intravenous hydrocortisone (400 mg/day), although some units prefer methylprednisolone and dexamethasone. On transfer to oral treatment, all units use prednisolone, most starting with 40 mg/day. There are no agreed national or international guidelines on the reducing regimen or duration of oral treatment—the area of greatest variation in our survey. Most units reduce prednisolone by 5 mg/week, but because of variations in the timing and magnitude of dose reduction, total exposure to prednisolone varies by 2.6-fold. To minimise harm from undertreatment or overtreatment of acute severe colitis a controlled study of prednisolone dose and duration is needed.
Sequential lineup presentation: Patterns and policy

Sequential lineups were offered as an alternative to the traditional simultaneous lineup. Sequential lineups reduce incorrect lineup selections; however, the accompanying loss of correct identifications has resulted in controversy regarding adoption of the technique. We discuss the procedure and research relevant to (1) the pattern of results found using sequential versus simultaneous lineups; (2) reasons (theory) for differences in witness responses; (3) two methodological issues; and (4) implications for policy decisions regarding the adoption of sequential lineups.
Extracorporeal methods of blood glutamate scavenging: a novel therapeutic modality

Pathologically elevated glutamate concentrations in the brain’s extracellular fluid are associated with several acute and chronic brain insults. Studies have demonstrated that by decreasing the concentration of glutamate in the blood, thereby increasing the concentration gradient between the brain and the blood, the rate of brain-to-blood glutamate efflux can be increased. Blood glutamate scavengers, pyruvate and oxaloacetate have shown great promise in providing neuroprotection in many animal models of acute brain insults. However, glutamate scavengers’ potential systemic toxicity, side effects and pharmacokinetic properties may limit their use in clinical practice. In contrast, extracorporeal methods of blood glutamate reduction, in which glutamate is filtered from the blood and eliminated, may be an advantageous adjunct in treating acute brain insults. Here, we review the current evidence for the glutamate-lowering effects of hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and hemofiltration. The evidence reviewed here highlights the need for clinical trials.