Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Control of dopaminergic neuron survival by the unfolded protein response transcription factor XBP1

Significance The selective loss of dopaminergic neurons is characteristic of Parkinson disease (PD). Protein folding stress is a salient feature of PD. This study uncovers a previously undefined function of a major unfolded protein response (UPR) transcription factor (XBP1) in supporting the survival of nigral dopaminergic neurons at basal levels and under pathological conditions. Our results reveal an important role for a canonical UPR pathway in the maintenance of dopaminergic neuron proteostasis, which also could be relevant to understand the selective neuronal vulnerability observed in Parkinson disease. Parkinson disease (PD) is characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Although growing evidence indicates that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is a hallmark of PD, its exact contribution to the disease process is not well understood. Here we report that developmental ablation of X-Box binding protein 1 (XBP1) in the nervous system, a key regulator of the unfolded protein response (UPR), protects dopaminergic neurons against a PD-inducing neurotoxin. This survival effect was associated with a preconditioning condition that resulted from induction of an adaptive ER stress response in dopaminergic neurons of the SNpc, but not in other brain regions. In contrast, silencing XBP1 in adult animals triggered chronic ER stress and dopaminergic neuron degeneration. Supporting this finding, gene therapy to deliver an active form of XBP1 provided neuroprotection and reduced striatal denervation in animals injected with 6-hydroxydopamine. Our results reveal a physiological role of the UPR in the maintenance of protein homeostasis in dopaminergic neurons that may help explain the differential neuronal vulnerability observed in PD.
Changes in Adipokines following Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery in Chinese Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and BMI of 22–30 kg·m−2

Aims. Although altered endocrine changes following bariatric surgery in morbidly obese patients with diabetes have been demonstrated by previous studies, little is known about their effects on low BMI patients of T2DM. We investigated the changes in adipokines and sICAM-1 in Chinese subjects with low BMI and T2DM after LRYGB and explored their relationship with postsurgical insulin sensitivity. Methods. Plasma levels of adiponectin, sICAM-1, fasting glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and fasting insulin and serum levels of visfatin were measured before and at three months after LRYGB in 33 T2DM patients with BMI of 22–30 kg·m−2. Results. Significant reductions in anthropometric measurements and indicators of glucose and lipid metabolism and moderate reductions in insulin resistance and fasting insulin were observed at three months after LRYGB. Postoperative adiponectin level (P < 0.001) was increased compared to the preoperative level, whereas visfatin (P < 0.001) and sICAM-1 (P < 0.001) were lower than that before surgery. Serum adiponectin negatively correlated with HOMA-IR and FIns both preoperatively and at three months after surgery, and visfatin positively correlated with HOMA-IR and FIns both preoperatively and postoperatively. Conclusion. Changes in adipokines were related to an improvement in postsurgical insulin sensitivity, which was predicted by weight loss after LRYGB even in low BMI patients with T2DM.
A Continuous Spinal Cord Stimulation Model Attenuates Pain‐Related Behavior In Vivo Following Induction of a Peripheral Nerve Injury

Models that simulate clinical conditions are needed to gain an understanding of the mechanism involved during spinal cord stimulation (SCS) treatment of chronic neuropathic pain. An animal model has been developed for continuous SCS in which animals that have been injured to develop neuropathic pain behavior were allowed to carry on with regular daily activities while being stimulated for 72 hours.
Concurrent Validity of Office Discipline Referrals and Cut Points Used in Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support

Office discipline referrals (ODRs) are commonly used by school teams implementing schoolwide positive behavior support to indicate individual student need for additional behavior support. However, little is known about the technical adequacy of ODRs when used in this manner. In this study, the authors assessed (a) the concurrent validity of number of ODRs received with a contemporary standardized behavior rating scale (the BASC-2 Teacher Report Form) and (b) the validity of common cut points to determine level of support needed (i.e., 0 to 1, 2 to 5, and 6 or more ODRs). Results indicated strong correlations between ODRs and rating of externalizing behavior and statistically and clinically significant differences in behavior ratings based on existing ODR cut points, but there was no significant relation between ODRs and ratings of internalizing problems. Results are discussed in terms of recommended use of ODRs as a screening measure to indicate level of behavior support required.
Distal Attribution and Distance Perception in Sensory Substitution

In sensory substitution, the user may be directly aware of distal objects, as in everyday perception, or make explicit cognitive inferences based on an awareness of the proximal stimulation. Anecdotal evidence supports the experience of distal attribution, but so far there have been few rigorous experimental tests of the claim. In this study, blindfolded participants observed a target light using a device consisting of a finger-mounted photodiode that drives tactile vibration on the back. With the blindfold off and the target removed, participants moved a reference object to match the perceived egocentric distance of the target. Participants who were instructed to attend to the distal target improved significantly during 2 h of practice, whereas those instructed to attend to proximal variables showed no improvement. Unsigned error increased with ratings of proximal attention, but decreased with ratings of target object solidity, consistent with distal attribution. Performance transferred to the non-dominant arm and to a rotated body orientation, demonstrating that learning did not depend on a joint-specific sensorimotor relationship between target distance and arm configuration. The results experimentally confirm that distal attribution can occur in sensory substitution, based on a perceptual strategy rather than an explicit cognitive strategy. Moreover, they suggest that the informational basis for distal attribution is not a joint-specific sensorimotor relation, but a more abstract spatial invariant.
Expression of survivin protein in human colorectal carcinogenesis.

AIM To identify the role of survivin in colorectal carcinogenesis and the relationship between Survivin and histological differentiation grade of colorectal carcinoma. METHODS Immunohistochemical staining of survivin by using the monoclonal antibody was performed by the standard streptavidin-peroxidase (SP) technique for the 188 paraffin sections which included 30 normal colorectal mucosas, 41 adenomas with low grade dysplasia, 30 adenomas with high grade dysplasia, and 87 colorectal carcinomas which were classified as high, middle and low differentiated subgroups which included 33, 28, 26 cases respectively. RESULTS Expression of survivin was observed in the cytoplasm of adenoma with dysplasia and colorectal carcinoma cells. No immunoreactivity of survivin was seen in normal mucosas. The positive rate of survivin increased in the transition from normal mucosas to adenomas with low grade dysplasia to high grade dysplasia/ carcinomas (0.0 %, 31.7 %, 56.7 % and 63.2% respectively). But the difference between high grade dysplasia and carcinomas had no statistical significance. Positive rate was not related to histological differentiation grade of colorectal carcinoma. Moreover, there was no correlation between histological differentiation grade of colorectal carcinoma and immunoreactive intensity of survivin. CONCLUSION The expression of survivin is the essential event in the early stage of colorectal carcinogenesis and plays an important role in the transition sequence and it is not related to histological differentiation grade of colorectal carcinoma. It thus may provide a new diagnostic and therapeutic target in colorectal cancer.
MILD: Multiple-Instance Learning via Disambiguation

In multiple-instance learning (MIL), an individual example is called an instance and a bag contains a single or multiple instances. The class labels available in the training set are associated with bags rather than instances. A bag is labeled positive if at least one of its instances is positive; otherwise, the bag is labeled negative. Since a positive bag may contain some negative instances in addition to one or more positive instances, the true labels for the instances in a positive bag may or may not be the same as the corresponding bag label and, consequently, the instance labels are inherently ambiguous. In this paper, we propose a very efficient and robust MIL method, called Multiple-Instance Learning via Disambiguation (MILD), for general MIL problems. First, we propose a novel disambiguation method to identify the true positive instances in the positive bags. Second, we propose two feature representation schemes, one for instance-level classification and the other for bag-level classification, to convert the MIL problem into a standard single-instance learning (SIL) problem that can be solved by well-known SIL algorithms, such as support vector machine. Third, an inductive semi-supervised learning method is proposed for MIL. We evaluate our methods extensively on several challenging MIL applications to demonstrate their promising efficiency, robustness, and accuracy.
Extending the Real-Time Maude Semantics of Ptolemy to Hierarchical DE Models

This paper extends our Real-Time Maude formalization of the semantics of flat Ptolemy II discreteevent (DE) models to hierarchical models, including modal models. This is a challenging task that requires combining synchronous fixed-point computations with hierarchical structure. The synthesis of a Real-Time Maude verification model from a Ptolemy II DE model, and the formal verification of the synthesized model in Real-Time Maude, have been integrated into Ptolemy II, enabling a modelengineering process that combines the convenience of Ptolemy II DE modeling and simulation with formal verification in Real-Time Maude.
Patent Protection, Complementary Assets, and Firms' Incentives for Technology Licensing

This paper analyzes the relationship between technology licensing and the effectiveness of patent protection. Using the 1994 Carnegie Mellon survey on industrial research and development (R&D) in the United States, we develop and test a simple structural model in which the patenting and licensing decisions are jointly determined. We find that increases in the effectiveness of patent protection increases licensing propensity, but only when the firm lacks specialized complementary assets required to commercialize new technologies. In contrast, for firms with specialized complementary assets, increases in patent effectiveness increase patenting propensity but reduce the propensity to license. We present systematic cross-industry empirical support for the proposition that intellectual property protection is a key determinant of the vertical boundaries of the firm and the market for technology but that its impact is mediated by a firms ownership of specialized complementary assets.
Studies on the Inclusion Complexes of Daidzein with β-Cyclodextrin and Derivatives

The inclusion complexes between daidzein and three cyclodextrins (CDs), namely β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), methyl-β-cyclodextrin (Me-β-CD, DS = 12.5) and (2-hydroxy)propyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD, DS = 4.2) were prepared. The effects of the inclusion behavior of daidzein with three kinds of cyclodextrins were investigated in both solution and solid state by methods of phase-solubility, XRD, DSC, SEM, 1H-NMR and 2D ROESY methods. Furthermore, the antioxidant activities of daidzein and daidzein-CDs inclusion complexes were determined by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) method. The results showed that daidzein formed a 1:1 stoichiometric inclusion complex with β-CD, Me-β-CD and HP-β-CD. The results also showed that the solubility of daidzein was improved after encapsulating by CDs. 1H-NMR and 2D ROESY analyses show that the B ring of daidzein was the part of the molecule that was most likely inserted into the cavity of CDs, thus forming an inclusion complex. Antioxidant activity studies showed that the antioxidant performance of the inclusion complexes was enhanced in comparison to the native daidzein. It could be a potentially promising way to develop a new formulation of daidzein for herbal medicine or healthcare products.
Preoperative Brain Injury in Transposition of the Great Arteries Is Associated With Oxygenation and Time to Surgery, Not Balloon Atrial Septostomy

Background— Preoperative brain injury is an increasingly recognized phenomenon in neonates with complex congenital heart disease. Recently, reports have been published that associate preoperative brain injury in neonates with transposition of the great arteries with the performance of balloon atrial septostomy (BAS), a procedure that improves systemic oxygenation preoperatively. It is unclear whether BAS is the cause of brain injury or is a confounder, because neonates who require BAS are typically more hypoxemic. We sought to determine the relationship between preoperative brain injury in neonates with transposition of the great arteries and the performance of BAS. We hypothesized that brain injury results from hypoxic injury, not from the BAS itself. Methods and Results— Infants with transposition of the great arteries (n=26) were retrospectively included from a larger cohort of infants with congenital heart disease who underwent preoperative brain MRI as part of 2 separate prospective studies. Data collected included all preoperative pulse oximetry recordings, all values from preoperative arterial blood gas measurements, and BAS procedure data. MRI scans were performed on the day of surgery, before the surgical repair. Of the 26 neonates, 14 underwent BAS. No stroke was seen in the entire cohort, whereas 10 (38%) of 26 patients were found to have hypoxic brain injury in the form of periventricular leukomalacia. Periventricular leukomalacia was not associated with BAS; however, neonates with periventricular leukomalacia had lower preoperative oxygenation (P=0.026) and a longer time to surgery (P=0.028) than those without periventricular leukomalacia. Conclusions— Preoperative brain injury in neonates with transposition of the great arteries is associated with hypoxemia and longer time to surgery. We found no association between BAS and brain injury.
Nonextendibility of D(-1)-triples of the form {1, 10, c}

We prove that there do not exist different positive integers 1$" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3. org/1998/Math/MathML"> c , d > 1 such that the product of any two distinct elements of the set { 1 , 10 , c , d } diminished by 1 is a perfect square.
Changes in Ocular Manifestations of Behçet Disease in Korean Patients over Time: A Single-center Experience in the 1990s and 2000s

Abstract Purpose: To analyze chronological changes in ocular manifestations of Behçet’s disease (BD) in Korean patients. Methods: Ocular findings were retrospectively analyzed from medical records of patients diagnosed with BD between 1994 and 2010 and divided into two groups according to the date of their first visit to our ophthalmology department. Group A began care between 1994 and 2000, and Group B between 2004 and 2010. Results: Fifty-six patients (83 eyes) were included in analyses. There was a significant decrease in the number of complete BD cases in Group B compared to Group A, and fewer patients had genital lesions in Group B. Mean visual acuity was better, and more patients had good vision in Group B than in Group A at the one and two year follow-up. Conclusions: The severity of BD has decreased over the past two decades, allowing BD patients with ocular involvement to have better visual prognoses.
Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times

In this pathbreaking work, Jasbir K. Puar argues that configurations of sexuality, race, gender, nation, class, and ethnicity are realigning in relation to contemporary forces of securitization, counterterrorism, and nationalism. She examines how liberal politics incorporate certain queer subjects into the fold of the nation-state, through developments including the legal recognition inherent in the overturning of anti-sodomy laws and the proliferation of more mainstream representation. These incorporations have shifted many queers from their construction as figures of death (via the AIDS epidemic) to subjects tied to ideas of life and productivity (gay marriage and reproductive kinship). Puar contends, however, that this tenuous inclusion of some queer subjects depends on the production of populations of Orientalized terrorist bodies. Heteronormative ideologies that the U.S. nation-state has long relied on are now accompanied by homonormative ideologies that replicate narrow racial, class, gender, and national ideals. These “homonationalisms” are deployed to distinguish upright “properly hetero,” and now “properly homo,” U.S. patriots from perversely sexualized and racialized terrorist look-a-likes—especially Sikhs, Muslims, and Arabs—who are cordoned off for detention and deportation. Puar combines transnational feminist and queer theory, Foucauldian biopolitics, Deleuzian philosophy, and technoscience criticism, and draws from an extraordinary range of sources, including governmental texts, legal decisions, films, television, ethnographic data, queer media, and activist organizing materials and manifestos. Looking at various cultural events and phenomena, she highlights troublesome links between terrorism and sexuality: in feminist and queer responses to the Abu Ghraib photographs, in the triumphal responses to the Supreme Court’s Lawrence decision repealing anti-sodomy laws, in the measures Sikh Americans and South Asian diasporic queers take to avoid being profiled as terrorists, and in what Puar argues is a growing Islamophobia within global queer organizing.
Obesity, Shame, and Depression in School-Aged Children: A Population-Based Study

Objectives. To investigate whether there is an association between adolescent obesity and depression in a nonclinical population and whether psychosocial and economic status and subjective experiences of shame (defined as experiences of being degraded or ridiculed by others) may account for such an association. Method.We examined associations between self-reported body mass index (BMI) and depression, controlling for gender, shame, parental employment, parental separation, and economy. The study was performed on a sample of 4703 adolescents (71% of the target population of 15- and 17-year-old students in 1 Swedish County) who answered the Survey of Adolescent Life in Vestmanland 2004. Results.Obesity was significantly related to depression and depressive symptoms among 15- and 17-year-olds. Obesity was also significantly related to experiences of shame. All significant association between BMI grouping and depression according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition disappeared when shaming experiences, parental employment, and parental separation were controlled for. Adolescents who reported many experiences of shame had an increased risk (odds ratio: 11.3; confidence interval: 8.3–14.9) for being depressed. Conclusions.There is a significant statistical association between adolescent obesity and depression. Effects of experiences of shame, parental separation, and parental employment explain this association. These results suggest that clinical treatment of obesity may sometimes not just be a matter of diet and exercise but also of dealing with issues of shame and social isolation.
Effects of Food Components That Activate TRPA1 Receptors on Mucosal Ion Transport in the Mouse Intestine

TRPA1 is a ligand-activated cation channel found in the intestine and other tissues. Components of food that stimulate TRPA1 receptors (phytonutrients) include allyl isothiocyanate, cinnamaldehyde and linalool, but these may also act at other receptors. Cells lining the intestinal mucosa are immunoreactive for TRPA1 and Trpa1 mRNA occurs in mucosal extracts, suggesting that the TRPA1 receptor is the target for these agonists. However, in situ hybridisation reveals Trpa1 expression in 5-HT containing enteroendocrine cells, not enterocytes. TRPA1 agonists evoke mucosal secretion, which may be indirect (through release of 5-HT) or direct by activation of enterocytes. We investigated effects of the phytonutrients on transmucosal ion currents in mouse duodenum and colon, and the specificity of the phytonutrients in cells transfected with Trpa1, and in Trpa1-deficient mice. The phytonutrients increased currents in the duodenum with the relative potencies: allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) > cinnamaldehyde > linalool (0.1 to 300 μM). The rank order was similar in the colon, but linalool was ineffective. Responses to AITC were reduced by the TRPA1 antagonist HC-030031 (100 μM), and were greatly diminished in Trpa1−/− duodenum and colon. Responses were not reduced by tetrodotoxin, 5-HT receptor antagonists, or atropine, but inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis reduced responses. Thus, functional TRPA1 channels are expressed by enterocytes of the duodenum and colon. Activation of enterocyte TRPA1 by food components has the potential to facilitate nutrient absorption.
Exploring the antecedents of technical exchanges and technology transfer in supply chains: A research-in-progress

Knowledge sharing has been recognized as a key enhancement of supply chain performance. However, the sharing of knowledge may not take place easily and automatically among the supply chain partners. This study attempts to shed some light on the mechanisms underlying knowledge sharing in supply chains. In particular, we focus on knowledge sharing in a dyadic buyer-supplier relationship. We posit that trust and power are two important antecedents of two types of knowledge sharing between a buyer and its supplier, namely technical exchanges and technology transfer. A large scale mail survey was conducted in Singapore to test our research model.
Commonly used simulation tools for cloud computing research

Cloud computing delivers computing resources as services rather than products over a network. As an emerging trend, it is quite necessary to evaluate working performances and security issues that cloud computing deals with. This paper is a review of existing results on modeling and simulation technology which are powerful tools to deal with security issues [32]. Reiteriating the basic concepts and security issues that cloud computing confronts and thereby, reviewing the currently available modeling and simulation technology. Furthermore, elucidating the two types of existing cloud computing simulators, i.e, Simulators based on software and next, simulators based on both software and hardware. Recapitulating with the comparision of existing cloud computing simulators.