Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Probiotics as an Adjuvant Therapy in Major Depressive Disorder

Background Major depressive disorder is a common, debilitating psychiatric disorder, which originates from the interaction of susceptibility genes and noxious environmental events, in particular stressful events. It has been shown that dysregulation of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, imbalance between anti- and pro-inflammatory cytokines, depletion of neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine and/or dopamine) in the central nervous system, altered glutamatergic and GABAergic transmission have an important role in the pathogenesis of depression. Due to numerous diverse biological events included in the pathophysiology of depression a large number of antidepressant drugs exerting distinct pharmacological effects have been developed. Nevertheless, clinical needs are still not solved. Results Relatively new research strategies advanced the understanding of psychiatric illness and their connections with disturbances in gastrointestinal tract. The existence of bidirectional communication between the brain and the gut has been proven, and an increasing body of evidence supports the hypothesis that cognitive and emotional processes are influenced through the brain-gut axis. On the other hand, microbiome may influence brain function and even behavior giving to the specific microorganisms a psychobiotic potential. Conclusions In this review we discuss the possibilities of classical antidepressant drug treatment being supported with the psychobiotics/probiotic bacteria in patients suffering from major depressive disorder.
Plants as Reef Fish: Fitting the Functional Form of Seedling Recruitment

The life histories of many species depend first on dispersal to local sites and then on establishment. After dispersal, density‐independent and density‐dependent mortalities modify propagule supply, determining the number of individuals that establish. Because multiple factors influence recruitment, the dichotomy of propagule versus establishment limitation is best viewed as a continuum along which the strength of propagule or establishment limitation changes with propagule input. To evaluate the relative importance of seed and establishment limitation for plants, we (1) describe the shape of the recruitment function and (2) use limitation and elasticity analyses to quantify the sensitivity of recruitment to perturbations in seed limitation and density‐independent and density‐dependent mortality. Using 36 seed augmentation studies for 18 species, we tested four recruitment functions against one another. Although the linear model (accounting for seed limitation and density‐independent mortality) fitted the largest number of studies, the nonlinear Beverton‐Holt model (accounting for density‐dependent mortality) performed better at high densities of seed augmentation. For the 18 species, seed limitation constrained population size more than other sources of limitation at ambient conditions. Seedling density reached saturation with increasing seed density in many studies, but at such high densities that seedling density was primarily limited by seed availability rather than microsite availability or density dependence.
Peak-Experiences Among Americans in Midlife

Though much attention, professionally and in popular American culture, has been accorded to midlife angst and turmoil, no published research has been conducted on peak-experiences during this major lifespan period. In this study, 153 people aged 40 to 65 years in the United States responded to a questionnaire asking them to describe a recent joyful experience and its subsequent impact on their outlook on life. They were also asked to rate it numerically on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Their qualitative reports were subsequently coded into 13 categories. Peaks involving interpersonal joy were reported significantly most frequently, more than all other categories combined. These were followed in frequency by those comprising respectively external achievement and personal growth. Small percentages involved religious peaks in either institutional or noninstitutional settings, recovery from illness/accident, nature, skill mastery, philosophical musing, developmental landmark, homecoming, nostalgia, and serenity. The implications for better understanding and optimizing midlife functioning are discussed, and future research avenues are highlighted.
What Precipitates Change in Cultural Diversity Awareness during a Multicultural Course

Teacher educators embrace the messages that “classroom teachers must be multicultural” and “teacher educators are charged with nurturing multicultural tenets. ” However, most teacher educators indicate that student resistance substantially impedes the success of both. This study investigated the relationship between instructional methodology and changes in resistance to cultural diversity sensitivity among Caucasian teacher education students in a required junior-level cultural diversity course. Both empirical and qualitative instruments were used to examine the importance of instructional methodology. The Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory (CDAI) was used as a pretest and posttest empirical measure; and reflective journals, field experience reports, and research projects were examined to investigate incremental changes. The study results indicated that the message can precipitate some change in cultural diversity sensitivity, but the methodology used to reduce resistance and nurture and reinforce the message has a greater influence.
Addressing children's alternative frameworks of the Moon's phases and eclipses

In this study we conducted an analysis of a project based, space science curriculum designed to support elementary school students in understanding complex, inter-related astronomy concepts. The curriculum, rather than directly addressing students' alternative frameworks, focused on supporting students in identifying their own existing understanding and reflecting on how their understanding evolves over time. To assess student conceptual change, we conducted pre and post interviews, examined student work, and had students complete a pre- and post-astronomy conceptual survey. Our results suggest that elementary school students can develop sophisticated understandings of astronomy concepts. In addition, our results also suggest that the direct engagement of students' alternative frameworks may not be necessary if the students are immersed in learning activities that afford students opportunities to examine and reflect on their understanding. These findings point out the need that instruction respect students' pre-existing ideas and supports their reflection and discussion of their ideas.
Formoterol as relief medication in asthma: a worldwide safety and effectiveness trial

The aim of the study was to compare the safety and effectiveness of as-needed formoterol with salbutamol in a large international real-life asthma study. Children and adults (n=18,124) were randomised to 6 months as-needed treatment with open-label formoterol 4.5 µg Turbuhaler® or salbutamol 200 µg pressurised metered dose inhaler or equivalent. Primary safety variables were asthma-related and nonasthma-related serious adverse events (SAE)s and adverse events (AE)s resulting in discontinuation (DAE)s. The primary efficacy variable was time to first asthma exacerbation. The incidences of AEs, SAEs and DAEs arising from SAEs were not significantly different between treatments. DAEs for nonserious AEs were higher with formoterol. Asthma-related AEs decreased with formoterol (1,098 (12.3%) versus 1,206 (13.5%)), asthma-related SAEs were similar (108 (1.2%) versus 121 (1.4%)) but more asthma-related DAEs occurred in the formoterol group (89 (1.0%) versus 48 (0.5%)). Time to first exacerbation was prolonged (hazard ratio 0.86) and less as-needed and maintenance medication was used with formoterol. Reductions of exacerbations with as-needed formoterol versus salbutamol increased with increasing age and asthma medication level. This real-life study demonstrates that formoterol as-needed has a similar safety profile to salbutamol, and its use as a reliever therapy is associated with fewer asthma symptoms and exacerbations.
Cognitive and neural underpinnings of syntactic complexity

Based on a review of the neuroimaging literature, I argue that the resources allocated for processing syntactically complex sentences (i.e., object-extracted relative clauses) are domain-general. Overlapping brain areas are activated by OR clauses and by effortful executive tasks, such as storing information in verbal working memory, resolving conflict among competing representations, and switching one’s mindset. A re-conceptualization of ‘syntactic complexity’ in terms of executive functions provides a useful framework in which to explore its links to relational complexity and to cognitive neuroscience, in general. As such, this approach should prove useful to linguists and cognitive scientists alike.
A Review of Success Factors and Challenges of Public Sector BPR Implementations

Pressures to cut budgets and increase efficiency while maintaining performance prompted public managers to turn to the private sector for solutions. As a means of rightsizing government, cutting red tape, and reducing bureaucracy, the idea of BPR found its way into the realm of public organizations. The differing characteristics of private and public organizations introduce various challenges when transferring BPR methodologies between the sectors. With this research paper we consolidate the ample literature on BPR success from the private and public sector. We identify the relevant success factors and show that a surprising similarity exists between private and public BPR related success factors. In addition, we determine the specific characteristics and requirements of the public sector highlighting gaps in current literature. Finally, we structure the research gap in five propositions and provide directions for further research.
Acute sodium fluoride poisoning.

Severe acute sodium fluoride poisoning occurred in a man following the ingestion of 120 gm of sodium fluoride (NaF). Toxic reactions included tetany, multiple episodes of ventricular fibrillation, and esophageal stricture. The management of this case resulted in the patient's survival. To our knowledge, no similar case has been found in the literature.
Can Mitochondrial Clocks Keep Time?

EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGYFor more than two decades, biologists have used mitochondrial DNA to peer into the past, to time the divergences of organisms from each other, and to map human migrations. Now a wash of sequence data reveals that in many cases, the main assumption underlying this "molecular clock" doesn't hold up: The clock ticks at different rates in different lineages and at different times. This casts into question results ranging from the notion that animals evolved hundreds of millions of years before their first fossils, to "mitochondrial Eve," a human female ancestor who lived about 200,000 years ago in Africa. But even as scientists cast a newly critical eye on the clock results, they are proposing and applying sophisticated statistical methods to deal with the clock's idiosyncrasies.
Collection and Processing of Data from Wrist Wearable Devices in Heterogeneous and Multiple-User Scenarios

Over recent years, we have witnessed the development of mobile and wearable technologies to collect data from human vital signs and activities. Nowadays, wrist wearables including sensors (e.g., heart rate, accelerometer, pedometer) that provide valuable data are common in market. We are working on the analytic exploitation of this kind of data towards the support of learners and teachers in educational contexts. More precisely, sleep and stress indicators are defined to assist teachers and learners on the regulation of their activities. During this development, we have identified interoperability challenges related to the collection and processing of data from wearable devices. Different vendors adopt specific approaches about the way data can be collected from wearables into third-party systems. This hinders such developments as the one that we are carrying out. This paper contributes to identifying key interoperability issues in this kind of scenario and proposes guidelines to solve them. Taking into account these topics, this work is situated in the context of the standardization activities being carried out in the Internet of Things and Machine to Machine domains.
Strain-Dependent Host Transcriptional Responses to Toxoplasma Infection Are Largely Conserved in Mammalian and Avian Hosts

Toxoplasma gondii has a remarkable ability to infect an enormous variety of mammalian and avian species. Given this, it is surprising that three strains (Types I/II/III) account for the majority of isolates from Europe/North America. The selective pressures that have driven the emergence of these particular strains, however, remain enigmatic. We hypothesized that strain selection might be partially driven by adaptation of strains for mammalian versus avian hosts. To test this, we examine in vitro, strain-dependent host responses in fibroblasts of a representative avian host, the chicken (Gallus gallus). Using gene expression profiling of infected chicken embryonic fibroblasts and pathway analysis to assess host response, we show here that chicken cells respond with distinct transcriptional profiles upon infection with Type II versus III strains that are reminiscent of profiles observed in mammalian cells. To identify the parasite drivers of these differences, chicken fibroblasts were infected with individual F1 progeny of a Type II x III cross and host gene expression was assessed for each by microarray. QTL mapping of transcriptional differences suggested, and deletion strains confirmed, that, as in mammalian cells, the polymorphic rhoptry kinase ROP16 is the major driver of strain-specific responses. We originally hypothesized that comparing avian versus mammalian host response might reveal an inversion in parasite strain-dependent phenotypes; specifically, for polymorphic effectors like ROP16, we hypothesized that the allele with most activity in mammalian cells might be less active in avian cells. Instead, we found that activity of ROP16 alleles appears to be conserved across host species; moreover, additional parasite loci that were previously mapped for strain-specific effects on mammalian response showed similar strain-specific effects in chicken cells. These results indicate that if different hosts select for different parasite genotypes, the selection operates downstream of the signaling occurring during the beginning of the host's immune response.
Public Diplomacy

This article discusses public diplomacy as practiced via the medium of television current affairs programs. Examples from recent years show how effective this format can be for U.S. politicians to communicate with the German public. The article stems from the remarks made by the author at a panel session in Dresden, Germany, on “Media and Transatlantic Relations,” sponsored by The Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning.
Embedding a Learning Management System Into an Undergraduate Medical Informatics Course in Saudi Arabia: Lessons Learned

Background Public universities in Saudi Arabia today are making substantial investments in e-learning as part of their educational system, especially in the implementation of learning management systems (LMS). To our knowledge, this is the first study conducted in Saudi Arabia exploring medical students’ experience with an LMS, particularly as part of a medical informatics course. Objective This study investigates students’ use of various features of the LMS embedded in a recently implemented medical informatics course. Methods A mixed methodology approach was employed. Survey questionnaires were distributed to all third year medical informatics students at the end of the course. In addition, two focus group sessions were conducted with twelve students. A thematic analysis of the focus group was performed. Results A total of 265 third year medical student surveys (167/265, 63% male and 98/265, 37% female) were completed and analyzed. Overall, 50.6% (134/265) of the students agreed that the course was well planned and up-to-date, had clearly stated objectives and clear evaluation methods, appropriate course assignment, and that the LMS offered easy navigation. Most of the students rated the course as good/fair overall. In general, females were 10.4% more likely to prefer the LMS, as revealed by higher odd ratios (odds ratio [OR] 1.104, 95% CI 0.86-1.42) compared to males. Survey results showed that students’ use of LMS tools increased after taking the course compared to before taking the course. The full model containing all items were statistically significant (χ2 25=69.52, P<.001, n=243), indicating that the model was able to distinguish between students who had positive attitudes towards LMS and those who did not. The focus group, however, revealed that the students used social networking for general use rather than learning purposes, but they were using other Internet resources and mobile devices for learning. Male students showed a higher preference for using technology in general to enhance learning activities. Overall, medical student attitudes towards the LMS were generally positive. Students also wanted a reminder and notification tool to help them stay updated with course events. Interestingly, a subset of students had been running a parallel LMS of their own that has features worth exploring and could be integrated with an official LMS in the future. Conclusions To our knowledge, this was the first time that an LMS was used in a medical informatics course. Students showed interest in adapting various LMS tools to enhance their learning and gained more knowledge through familiarity with the tool. Researching an official LMS also revealed the existence of a parallel student-created LMS. This could allow teacher-led and student-led platforms to be integrated in the future for an enhanced student-centered experience.
Visualisation of morphological interaction of diamond and silver nanoparticles with Salmonella Enteritidis and Listeria monocytogenes.

Currently, medicine intensively searches for methods to transport drugs to a target (sick) point within the body. The objective of the present investigation was to evaluate morphological characteristics of the assembles of silver or diamond nanoparticles with Salmonella Enteritidis (G-) or Listeria monocytogenes (G+), to reveal possibilities of constructing nanoparticle-bacteria vehicles. Diamond nanoparticles (nano-D) were produced by the detonation method. Hydrocolloids of silver nanoparticles (nano-Ag) were produced by electric non-explosive patented method. Hydrocolloids of nanoparticles (200 microl) were added to bacteria suspension (200 microl) in the following order: nano-D + Salmonella E. ; nano-D + Listeria monocytogenes; nano-Ag + Salmonella E; nano-Ag + Listeria monocytogenes. Samples were inspected by transmission electron microscopy. Visualisation of nanoparticles and bacteria interaction showed harmful effects of both nanoparticles on bacteria morphology. The most spectacular effect of nano-D were strong links between nano-D packages and the flagella of Salmonella E. Nano-Ag were closely attached to Listeria monocytogenes but not to Salmonella E. There was no evidence of entering nano-Ag inside Listeria monocytogenes but smaller particles were placed inside Salmonella E. The ability of nano-D to attach to the flagella and the ability of nano-Ag to penetrate inside bacteria cells can be utilized to design nano-bacteria vehicles, being carriers for active substances attached to nanoparticles.
Frequent expression of the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)‐induced gene, EBI3, an IL‐12 p40‐related cytokine, in Hodgkin and Reed–Sternberg cells

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)‐associated Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) usually occur in patients without clinically manifest deficiencies in anti‐viral immunity. In spite of expressing viral proteins, both tumours are apparently able to escape EBV‐specific immunity in vivo. EBI3 is an EBV‐induced cytokine homologous to the interleukin (IL)‐12 p40 subunit and can heterodimerize with IL‐12 p35. It has been suggested that EBI3 may function to antagonize IL‐12 and to inhibit the development of a Th1 immune response. EBI3 expression has been studied in tumour entities frequently associated with EBV infection to examine if EBI3 might contribute to local modulation of the immune response. It is shown that EBI3 is strongly expressed in Hodgkin and Reed–Sternberg cells in 32 of 33 HL cases, independently of the EBV status of the tumour cells. Furthermore, EBI3 expression was detected in the epithelial tumour cells of six of 40 NPC biopsies but not in Burkitt lymphomas. The results suggest that EBI3 may be an additional component of the repertoire employed by Hodgkin and Reed–Sternberg cells to inhibit an effective anti‐tumour or anti‐viral immune response. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Equilibrium and Dynamic Osmotic Behaviour of Aqueous Solutions with Varied Concentration at Constant and Variable Volume

Osmosis is essential for the living organisms. In biological systems the process usually occurs in confined volumes and may express specific features. The osmotic pressure in aqueous solutions was studied here experimentally as a function of solute concentration (0.05–0.5 M) in two different regimes: of constant and variable solution volume. Sucrose, a biologically active substance, was chosen as a reference solute for the complex tests. A custom made osmotic cell was used. A novel operative experimental approach, employing limited variation of the solution volume, was developed and applied for the purpose. The established equilibrium values of the osmotic pressure are in agreement with the theoretical expectations and do not exhibit any evident differences for both regimes. In contrast, the obtained kinetic dependences reveal striking divergence in the rates of the process at constant and varied solution volume for the respective solute concentrations. The rise of pressure is much faster at constant solution volume, while the solvent influx is many times greater in the regime of variable volume. The results obtained suggest a feasible mechanism for the way in which the living cells rapidly achieve osmotic equilibrium upon changes in the environment.
Marxist approaches to the study of urban politics

Get article commence en mettant l'accent sur le debat entre Lojkine et Poulantzas pour identifier les divergences (ainsi que certaines convergences) au sein de la theorie politique marxiste. Ceci permet de passer a un examen critique de deux etudes recentes majeures sur la politique urbaine en France partant d'une perspective marxiste—celles de Lojkine et de Biarez et al. II est montre que les points forts et les points faibles de ces etudes concretes relevent des demarches theoriques qu'elles adoptent. La mise au jour de ces points est destine a developper les etudes subsequentes dans ce domaine.
Grouping and Assimilation in Perception, Memory, and Conditioning

A group-assimilation theory hypothesizes that a Gestalt-like group is associated with assimilation among the parts of the group. Assimilation is an increase in the perceived or sensed similarity of 1 part to a 2nd part. Assimilation occurs for traditional parts such as color but also occurs for salience. The theory accounts for key outcomes in perception, memory, and conditioning. An important hypothesis is that traditional assimilation and salience assimilation tend to have opposing effects on identification. The traditional assimilation of a target to a 2nd part frequently impairs the target's identification. In contrast, the assimilation of a less salient target to a more salient 2nd part increases the salience of the target and thus improves the target's identification. The corresponding hypothesis that 2 groups are associated with contrast between those parts that belong to different groups is also considered.