Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The invasive potential of human melanoma cell lines correlates with their ability to alter fibroblast gene expression in vitro and the stromal microenvironment in vivo

The tumor microenvironment is thought to play an important role in invasion and metastasis. Previously, we have shown that signaling from melanoma cells can alter the gene expression profiles of fibroblasts in vitro and in vivo. To investigate whether the capacity to signal fibroblasts and alter host gene expression profiles is correlated to the invasive potential of specific human melanoma cell lines, we assayed changes in gene expression of fibroblasts when cocultured with the human melanoma cell lines BLM, MV3, A2058, SK‐mel28 and WM164. Results indicated that the gene expression of key chemokines and cytokines, such as IL‐1B, IL‐8, IL‐6 and CCL2/MCP1, was significantly upregulated in fibroblasts cocultured with the invasive melanoma lines BLM and MV3 compared to fibroblasts cocultured with noninvasive WM164 cells. The results were verified by quantitative RT‐PCR as well as by protein assay and supported by immunohistochemistry of human invasive melanoma. Furthermore, a role for fibroblast‐secreted IL‐1B in the invasion of melanoma was demonstrated in vitro, where siRNA silencing of IL‐1B in melanoma‐stimulated fibroblasts resulted in a diminution of melanoma invasion. Although CCL2/MCP1, a chemoattractant for macrophages, was shown to be upregulated in fibroblasts cocultured with metastatic melanoma cell lines, immunohistochemical analysis of human melanoma also indicated CCL2/MCP1 production associated with the melanoma. In summary, these experiments indicate that the invasiveness of melanoma can partly be correlated to its ability to stimulate host stromal fibroblasts to give rise to the secretion of chemokines that generate a microenvironment that is conductive for melanoma invasion and metastasis. © 2009 UICC
Response toward novel stimuli in a group of tufted capuchins (Cebus libidinosus ) in Brasília National Park, Brazil

We investigated responses toward novel foods and novel objects by wild capuchins that routinely exploit visitors' foods in Brasília National Park. Given the capuchins' daily exposure to human foods and objects, we expected them to be more explorative toward novel foods and objects compared to capuchins that are not habituated to visitors. However, since the safety and palatability of potential foods have to be learned, we also expected the capuchins to be cautious about eating novel foods, as has been reported for wild and captive capuchins. Stimuli were presented on a platform in four experimental conditions: familiar food (FF), novel food (NF), familiar food plus novel object (FF+O), and novel food plus novel object (NF+O). Latencies to approach and contact the platform, and to approach and to ingest food did not differ across conditions. Nevertheless, the capuchins were significantly more responsive (measured in terms of interest, manipulation, etc.) toward familiar foods than novel foods, and ate significantly more of the former. In other words, their explorative response toward novel foods led to little consumption. Our results do not support the “readiness to eat” hypothesis, according to which a lower readiness to eat and food neophobia are the consequences of the presence of a distracting novel object. The finding that capuchins explore novel stimuli but remain cautious about eating novel foods supports the view that neophilia and neophobia are motivationally independent responses. Am. J. Primatol. 69:1–14, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Pareto Damaging Behaviors

This paper reports a rigorous experimental test of Pareto-damaging behaviors. We introduce a new graphical representation of dictator games with step-shaped sets of feasible payoffs to persons self and other on which strongly Pareto efficient allocations involve substantial inequality. The non-convexity and sharp nonlinearity of the Pareto frontier allow us systematically to classify Pareto-damaging allocations: as self-damaging or other-damaging and as inequality-increasing or inequality-decreasing. We find that self and other Pareto-damaging behaviors occur frequently even in circumstances - dictator games - that do not implicate reciprocity or strategic interaction. We also find patterns in this behavior, most notably that behavior that Pareto damages self always reduces inequality whereas behavior that Pareto damages other usually increases inequality.
Effect of Methyl Salicylate-Based Lures on Beneficial and Pest Arthropods in Strawberry

ABSTRACT Methyl salicylate (MeSA) is a common herbivore-induced plant volatile that, when applied to crops, has the potential to enhance natural enemy abundance and pest control. The impacts of MeSA in strawberry were unknown and examined in the spring and midsummer period. Strawberry plots contained no lures (control) or two 30-d MeSA lures (Predalure) in the center: one lure 0.61 m aboveground over a sticky trap, and one lure on a plant near the ground. Arthropod abundance was monitored at the point source, 5 m and 10 m away from lures over 31 d with white sticky traps, pitfall traps, and leaf inspection. Twenty-seven and nine comparisons were made among beneficial and pest arthropods, respectively. Overall positive responses were found among Chrysopidae in July–August 2008 and Orius tristicolor (White) in May–June 2009 to MeSA based on sticky traps. Chrysopidae showed attraction to the point source, but not at 5 m and 10 m. Ground-dwelling predators collected in pitfall traps such as Araneae, the carabid beetles, Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger), and Nebria brevicollis (Fabricius) did not respond. Increased abundance of six natural enemy groups appeared on various dates between 3 and 24 d after placement of lures in the field based on leaf inspection and sticky traps. Conversely, fewer Coccinellidae were captured on sticky traps on days 0–3, and fewer natural enemies were observed on leaves on day 28 in MeSA plots. MeSA did not increase nor decrease pest abundance.
Intra‐articular tibiofemoral injection of a nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug has no detrimental effects on joint mechanics in a rat model

Administration of intra‐articular medications, including corticosteroids and analgesics, is common clinical practice for knee pathology and dysfunction. Non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are another category of medication commonly prescribed for their analgesic and anti‐inflammatory properties. Recent studies demonstrated the efficacy of injectable NSAIDs in the treatment of intra‐articular pathology and postoperative analgesia. However, little data exist regarding the safety of intra‐articular injection, despite the increase in its application. Therefore, we investigated the effects of intra‐articular NSAID injection on articular cartilage, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and joint function in the rat. Sixty‐four Sprague‐Dawley rats were divided into either saline (SAL) or ketorolac (NSAID) tibiofemoral single injection treatment groups. Animals were euthanized at 2, 7, 28, and 84 days post‐injection for histological and mechanical analyses. Additionally, a subset of animals underwent longitudinal ambulatory evaluation to determine joint functional properties. We hypothesized that intra‐articular ketorolac injection would result in no detrimental mechanical, histological, or functional changes. No differences were reported between the NSAID and SAL groups in any of the parameters measured at any time point, demonstrating the potential safety of intra‐articular NSAID administration. Therefore, NSAID injection could be further considered for clinical application in humans. © 2014 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 32:1512–1519, 2014.
Matching for Physical Attractiveness in Married Couples

Two samples of married couples, one from the mainland United States and one from Hawaii, show matching for physical attractiveness. The samples include young and recently married, middle-aged, and older couples. When age effects on attractiveness are partialled out, the spouse correlations are . 30 and . 25 for mainland and Hawaiian couples, respectively. These data suggest that the matching phenomenon is stable within and across generations.
Newcomers' personality traits: influence on adjustment

During the early stages of employment, newcomers learn about the new organisation. First impressions are extremely important in determining the course of subsequent attitudes and behaviour. Recently, considerable progress has been made toward understanding the adjustment process; however, newcomer research has been conducted independently of individual newcomer personality differences. The present research examines multiple antecedents, including the Big Five personality traits of newcomers and immediate outcomes of the process of newcomer adjustment. A three-wave longitudinal study of 439 newcomers in seven organisations examined Big Five personality traits as antecedents of proximal adjustment indicators. The results suggest that conscientiousness is positively related to proximal adjustment indicators (task performance, group integration and apolitical knowledge); openness to experience is related to task performance; and group integration is independently related to agreeableness and extroversion. Overall, the results suggest that the Big Five are one of the key determinants of early entry newcomer adjustment.
Identification of a Peptide-Based Neutralizer That Potently Inhibits Both Shiga Toxins 1 and 2 by Targeting Specific Receptor-Binding Regions

ABSTRACT Shiga toxin (Stx) is a major virulence factor of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli that occasionally causes fatal systemic complications. We recently developed a tetravalent peptide (PPP-tet) that neutralizes the cytotoxicity of Stx2 using a multivalent peptide library approach. In this study, we used this technique to identify a series of tetravalent peptides that bound to Stx1, another major Stx family member, with high affinity by targeting one receptor-binding site of the B subunit. One peptide, MMA-tet, markedly inhibited Stx1 and Stx2 cytotoxicity with greater potency than PPP-tet. After forming a complex with Stx1 through its specific receptor-binding region, MMA-tet did not affect vesicular transport of the toxin to the endoplasmic reticulum but substantially rescued inhibition of the protein synthesis induced by Stx1. Oral application of MMA-tet protected mice from a fatal dose of an E. coli O157:H7 strain producing both toxins. MMA-tet may be a promising therapeutic agent against the infection.
Impact of Meditation on Mental Health Outcomes of Female Trauma Survivors of Interpersonal Violence With Co-Occurring Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study was a randomized controlled trial that examined the impact of meditation practice on the mental health outcomes of female trauma survivors of interpersonal violence who have co-occurring disorders. Sixty-three female trauma survivors were randomly assigned to the meditation condition and the control condition. Treatment conditions consisted of a 6-week meditation curriculum that was influenced by Tibetan meditation tradition and focused on breathing, loving kindness, and compassion meditation. Clients in the meditation condition made significant changes in mental health symptoms (t = 5.252, df = 31, p = .000) and trauma symptoms (t = 6.009, df = 31, p = .000) from pre-treatment to post-treatment, whereas non-significant changes were observed among the control condition clients. There were significant group differences between clients in the meditation condition and in the control condition on their mental health symptoms, F(1, 54) = 13.438, p = . 001, and trauma symptoms, F(1, 54) = 13.395, p = . 001, with a generally large effect size of eta squared . 127 and . 146, respectively. In addition, significantly more clients in the meditation condition achieved reliable change in mental health symptoms (35.5% vs. 8.3%) and trauma symptoms (42.3% vs. 4.8%) than clients in the control condition. Significance of the study is discussed with respect to the empirical evidence of meditation practice as a complementary behavioral intervention for treating female trauma survivors of interpersonal violence who have co-occurring disorders.
Dynamics of type 2 diabetes mellitus laboratory remission after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in patients with body mass index lower than 35 kg/m2 and higher than 35 kg/m2 in a 3-year observation period

Introduction Bariatric surgery as treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in morbidly obese patients is becoming common. Although a large number of studies demonstrating high efficacy of bariatric methods in diabetics with body mass index (BMI) < 35 kg/m2 have been published, this promising solution is still not accepted enough even in the era of a diabetes offensive. Aim To analyze the dynamics of T2DM remission in patients with BMI < 35 kg/m2 and > 35 kg/m2 after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Material and methods Data of 30 patients with BMI < 35 kg/m2 and 82 with BMI > 35 kg/m2 who underwent RYGB between 2007 and 2010 were collected from a prospectively designed database. The laboratory resolution of T2DM was determined by fasting plasma glucose (FPG ≤ 100 mg/dl) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c ≤ 6%). Results The T2DM regression was observed in 80% of the patients with BMI < 35 kg/m2 and 83% in a group with BMI > 35 kg/m2 1 year after RYGB and about 80% 2 and 3 years after the operation in both groups. Normalization of average HbA1c and FPG was observed in the BMI > 35 kg/m2 group after 3 months, while in the BMI < 35 kg/m2 group it was reached 6 months postoperatively. Changes in main markers of T2DM were parallel with the BMI decrease 3–12 months after RYGB, but early resolution in some patients was observed independently of weight loss. Conclusions The mid-term observation of patients after RYGB revealed the laboratory remission of T2DM. Ultimate evaluation of T2DM markers 3 years after surgery demonstrates high effectiveness of RYGB in managing T2DM in both groups.
Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease without dementia

Some degree of cognitive impairment appears frequently in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, even at the onset of the disease. However, due to the heterogeneity of the patients and the lack of standardized assessment batteries, it remains unclear which capacities are primarily affected by this disease. Fifty PD patients were assessed with 15 tests including executive functions, attention, temporal and spatial orientation, memory, and language tasks. Their results were compared with those of 42 age‐ and education‐matched healthy seniors. Semantic fluency, along with visual search appeared to be the most discriminant tasks, followed by temporal orientation and face naming, as well as action naming and immediate recall. PD patients studied showed an impairment of frontal‐ to posterior‐dependent capacities. Executive functions, attention, and recall tasks appeared to be significantly impaired in the patients. Nevertheless, significantly poor scores in tasks like action and face naming, as well as semantic fluency, also reveal a mainly semantic deficit. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society
Preparatory Effects of Distractor Suppression: Evidence from Visual Cortex

Spatial selective attention is the mechanism that facilitates the selection of relevant information over irrelevant information in the visual field. The current study investigated whether foreknowledge of the presence or absence of distractors surrounding an impending target stimulus results in preparatory changes in visual cortex. We cued the location of the target and the presence or absence of distractors surrounding the target while changes in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals were measured. In line with prior work, we found that top-down spatial attention resulted in an increased contralateral BOLD response, evoked by the cue throughout early visual cortex (areas V1, V2 and V3). In addition, cues indicating distractor presence evoked a substantial increase in the magnitude of the BOLD signal in visual area V3, but not in V2 or V1. This study shows that prior knowledge concerning the presence of a distractor results in enhanced attentional modulation of visual cortex, in visual areas where neuronal receptive fields are large enough to encompass both targets and distractors. We interpret these findings as evidence that top-down attentional control processes include active preparatory suppression mechanisms for irrelevant, distracting information in the visual scene.
Four frames suffice: A provisional model of vision and space

Abstract This paper presents a general computational treatment of how mammals are able to deal with visual objects and environments. The model tries to cover the entire range from behavior and phenomenological experience to detailed neural encodings in crude but computationally plausible reductive steps. The problems addressed include perceptual constancies, eye movements and the stable visual world, object descriptions, perceptual generalizations, and the representation of extrapersonal space. The entire development is based on an action-oriented notion of perception. The observer is assumed to be continuously sampling the ambient light for information of current value. The central problem of vision is taken to be categorizing and locating objects in the environment. The critical step in this process is the linking of visual information to symbolic object descriptions; this is called indexing, from the analogy of identifying a book from index terms. The system must also identify situations and use this knowledge to guide movement and other actions in the environment. The treatment focuses on the different representations of information used in the visual system. The four representational frames capture information in the following forms: retinotopic, head-based, symbolic, and allocentric. The functional roles of the four frames, the communication among them, and their suggested neurophysiological realization constitute the core of the paper. The model is perforce crude, but appears to be consistent with all relevant findings.
On war.

tarter, liver disorders, Hodgkin’s Disease, hematopoietic diseases, multiple myeloma, neurological defects, auto-immune diseases and disorders, leuke-mia, psychosocial effects, gastrointestinal diseases, birth defects of offspring, malignant melanoma and cancer of the lip, bone, skin, lung, kidney, pancreas, stomach, colon, nasal/pharyngeal/esophageal, prostate, testicle, liver, and brain.
The Signature of a Correlation between Cosmic-Ray Sources above 1019 eV and Large-Scale Structure

We analyze the anisotropy signature expected if the high-energy (>1019 eV) cosmic-ray (CR) sources are extragalactic and trace the distribution of luminous matter on large scales. We investigate the dependence of the anisotropy on both the relative bias between the CR sources and the galaxy distribution and on the (unknown) intrinsic CR source density. We find that the expected anisotropy associated with the large-scale structure (LSS) should be detected once the number of CR events observed above 1019 eV is increased by a factor of ~10. This would require ~30 observation-years with existing experiments, but less than 1 year with the proposed ~5000 km2 Auger detectors. We find that the recently reported concentration of the Haverah Park CR events toward the supergalactic plane is not consistent with the known LSS. If real, the Haverah Park result suggests that the CR sources are much more concentrated toward the supergalactic plane than the known LSS. Our results are not sensitive to the number density of CR sources. We show that once the number of detected events is increased by a factor of ~10, the number density would be strongly constrained by considering the probability of having repeating sources.
Research for praxis: knowing doing

Educational action is a species of praxis in both an Aristotelian sense and a post‐Marxian sense: in the first, it involves the morally informed and committed action of the individual practitioners who practise education; in the second, it helps to shape social formations and conditions for collectivities of people. In this paper, it is argued that, in the context of a profession like education, research into praxis has two main purposes that parallel these two senses of ‘praxis’: (1) to guide the development of educational praxis, and (2) to guide the development of education itself. Some approaches to researching praxis that have emerged in recent years include ‘praxis research’, ‘phronetic research’, ‘praxis‐related research’ and ‘research as practical philosophy’. These approaches are briefly analysed in terms of their ability (or inability) to strengthen and extend praxis. In contrast to earlier approaches to studying practice/praxis, which usually regard practice as an object of study external to the researcher or observer, the practical philosophy approach regards practice and especially praxis as ‘internal’ to the persons and groups whose practice/praxis it is, and as ‘internal’ to the practice traditions which give meaning and significance to a practice like Education. Following this insight, the paper outlines a new view of what it might mean to ‘research’ praxis by studying praxis and practice traditions ‘from within’. It is argued that this can only be achieved by those whose own individual and collective praxis is both their proper work and, at the same time, the focus of their critical investigation. The paper also invites further exploration of the relationships to be found between different kinds of practices and praxes – particularly the relationship between different kinds of research practice/praxis and different kinds of educational practice/praxis.
Testing the gaussian expansion method in exactly solvable matrix models

The gaussian expansion has been developed since early 80s as a powerful analytical method, which enables nonperturbative studies of various systems using `perturbative' calculations. Recently the method has been used to suggest that 4d space-time is generated dynamically in a matrix model formulation of superstring theory. Here we clarify the nature of the method by applying it to exactly solvable one-matrix models with various kinds of potential including the ones unbounded from below and of the double-well type. We also formulate a prescription to include a linear term in the gaussian action in a way consistent with the loop expansion, and test it in some concrete examples. We discuss a case where we obtain two distinct plateaus in the parameter space of the gaussian action, corresponding to different large-N solutions. This clarifies the situation encountered in the dynamical determination of the space-time dimensionality in the previous works.