Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Gingival Fibroblasts Rescue Butyric Acid-Induced T-Cell Apoptosis

ABSTRACT We previously demonstrated that butyric acid, an extracellular metabolite from periodontopathic bacteria, induces cytotoxicity and apoptosis in murine thymocytes, splenic T cells, and human Jurkat T cells. In this study, we used a cell-to-cell interaction system to examine the contribution of gingival fibroblasts to the regulation of T-cell death induced by butyric acid. Butyric acid slightly suppressed fibroblast viability in a concentration-dependent fashion. However, DNA fragmentation assays indicated that butyric acid did not induce apoptosis for up to 21 h in human gingival fibroblasts (Gin 1, F41-G, and H. pulp cells). The culture supernatants were assayed for interleukin 1α (IL-1α), IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-11, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and transforming growth factor β, but only the IL-6, IL-8, and IL-11 levels were significantly increased by addition of butyric acid. Butyric acid- or Fas-induced Jurkat-cell apoptosis was attenuated when Jurkat cells were cocultured with either F41-G or Gin 1 cells that had been preincubated for 6 h with butyric acid. IL-8 slightly stimulated butyric acid- or Fas-induced Jurkat-cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner, although a low dose of IL-8 had a mildly inhibitory effect on apoptosis. In contrast, IL-6 and IL-11 significantly suppressed butyric acid- or Fas-induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent fashion. Furthermore, the addition of monoclonal antibodies against human IL-6 and IL-11 to cocultures of gingival fibroblasts and Jurkat cells partially eliminated T-cell recovery. These results suggest that the proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and IL-11, produced in fibroblasts stimulated with butyric acid, are involved in the attenuation of T-cell apoptosis by gingival fibroblasts.
Genetic basis of glaucoma

The application of molecular genetic techniques to the study of glaucoma has accelerated greatly during the past few years. In addition to localizing and identifying genes for specific types of glaucoma, researchers have begun to characterize the gene products and investigate molecular mechanisms involved in glaucoma. Much research has been focused on the gene expression, protein processing, and mutations of MYOC/TIGR, which is associated with both juvenile-and adult-onset primary open angle glaucoma. Investigations of other glaucoma-related genes, such as PITX2, FOXC1, and CYP1B1, are enabling a better understanding of anterior segment development and its relation to glaucoma.
Review: Eradication of H. pylori infection: the challenge is on if standard therapy fails

The recommended standard triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori infection, consisting of a proton pump inhibitor, clarithromycin and amoxicillin or metronidazole, can reach eradication rates in over 90%. However, in recent years resistance to antibiotics has increased and eradication rates have declined. Approximately one in five patients need a second-line therapy because eradication therapy fails. Second-line treatment with a bismuth-based quadruple therapy leads to satisfactory eradication rates, but bismuth is not available in many countries. Modern second- and third-line treatments can only be successful if they are adapted to the current resistance situation and they need to evolve continuously. Moreover, pharmacodynamic effects due to polymorphisms of the cytochrome P450 system are important. Because therapy adherence is significantly associated with therapy success, modern regimens if possible should be easy to take and well tolerated. In recent years, various novel salvage-therapy regimens have been investigated that significantly improve treatment options.
Adult learners and professional development: peer‐to‐peer learning in a networked community

This paper analyses how adult learners on a professional development course learn and develop through online dialogue. The research uses Wenger’s community of practice framework, and assesses whether the concept of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ is useful in relation to this specific case study in which the students are practitioners and parents of individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The study focuses on peer‐to‐peer learning and analyses a sample of asynchronous online discussions from three separate online tutorial groups. The first part of the study combines quantitative analysis of distribution patterns, with qualitative discourse analysis that measures central concepts associated with communities of practice. The second part of the study addresses whether the concept of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ is useful in this context. The contribution of one key individual in each group is analysed in order to provide a narrative about how that person communicates with the others, shares values and repertoires with them and gradually becomes a central member of the community. The data supports the notion that these forms of interaction and approaches to learning can favour the construction of knowledge and help to develop reflective skills and a sense of ‘togetherness’ in the group through sharing stories with one another, developing identity through the discussions and through this enabling the development of community. The findings indicate that the learners are provided with opportunities to consider the strengths and weaknesses of ideas from multiple perspectives and that key students play a role in enabling other students to move from a position of legitimate peripheral participation to becoming full members of the community.
Using Concepts from Interpersonal Neurobiology in Revisiting Psychodynamic Theory

This article discusses major concepts of developmental theory in terms of their concurrence with neurobiological information. Regulation theory is used to summarize the development and functions of the right hemisphere, the workings of two distinct memory systems, and right-brain involvement in attachment functions. The clinical relevance of interpersonal neurobiology to transference and countertransference is illustrated with a clinical case example.
Efficient Multiplexing for Multichannel Data Dissemination with Delay Guarantees in Wireless Sensor Networks

Infrastructure creation and data dissemination in WSN have traditionally been treated as independent problems. We argue that the two are tightly coupled; the former can expose key structural elements which can be exploited by the latter. This paper proposes the algorithm pair iGroup-iSpread that achieves fast and message-efficient operation by treating the two problems in integrated fashion. Nodes use iGroup to form cellular infrastructure, agree on channel usage and determine time slots in localized, deterministic and lightweight fashion. iSpread exploits this structure to disseminate information with guaranteed delivery and delay bounds using spatial and temporal multiplexing.
Matchplay and Firesetting in Children: Relationship to Parent, Marital, and Family Dysfunction

Extends prior work suggesting a relationship between childhood firesetting and parental and family dysfunction. Children recruited from nonpatient, outpatient, and inpatient populations were classified into firesetter (n = 198), matchplayer (n = 40), or no fire (n = 239) groups. Parents of firesetters reported more psychological distress, marital disagreement, and exposure to stressful life events, and less child acceptance, monitoring, discipline, and involvement in activities that enhance the child's personal development and family relationships, than nonfiresetters. Firesetting children characterized their parents' child rearing practices as involving lax discipline, nonenforcement, and anxiety induction. The scores for matchplayers generally fell between those of the other two groups.
From secondary school blues to lifelong learning? - aspects of the retrospective re-evaluation of formative educational experience by adults

An introductory section traces the connections between published autobiographical accounts of education in childhood, as seen in retrospect, and the construction of hypotheses for more formal research into the continuing influences of formative educational experience for adult learners and educationists. The reported research relates to the re-evaluation of aspects of primary and secondary schooling by 21 adults, seven each from the UK, Germany and Denmark. The results reflect a cross-cultural unanimity of perspective on certain key aspects of formative education, notably the generally positive view which subjects took of their own progress in both primary education and post-compulsory secondary education. Subjects in all three national groups independently expressed more reservations about their progress in schooling in early secondary education. The qualitative interview data failed to support the theory that educational progress in this period compromised by the intrusion of developmental factors relat.
Detection and classification of peer-to-peer traffic: A survey

The emergence of new Internet paradigms has changed the common properties of network data, increasing the bandwidth consumption and balancing traffic in both directions. These facts raise important challenges, making it necessary to devise effective solutions for managing network traffic. Since traditional methods are rather ineffective and easily bypassed, particular attention has been paid to the development of new approaches for traffic classification. This article surveys the studies on peer-to-peer traffic detection and classification, making an extended review of the literature. Furthermore, it provides a comprehensive analysis of the concepts and strategies for network monitoring.
Roles in Sociological Field Observations

Following the location of a major steel plant in a rural Utah county, thousands of new people came into the area to seek industrial employment and many more people living in the county migrated occupation-wise into industry. From previous studies in the field of labor mobility, a series of hypotheses were set up and tested to see if this situation showed trends in agreement with other such situations. 1. It was found in this study that the majority of industrial workers came from the local labor market within the county. Following this, workers migrated into the county from contiguous counties in the state. While most of the workers were from Utah, some were from out of state and, contrary to expectations, the majority of workers did not come from contiguous states. Evidently recruiting policies and other factors drew workers to Utah from more distant states than from adjoining states. 2. While it is generally true that it is the younger men who migrate, and this study indicated that only ten percent of immigrant workers were over 45, there was no direct inverse correlation between age and distance of migration. In this case instead of age decreasing as distance increased, there was a positive correlation between age and distance. 3. It was also hypothesized that labor turnover is a function of migratory tendencies, age, and education. It was found as expected that those workers with previous records of termination were most likely to terminate their employment and move on. Also as expected the younger workers had a higher termination record than older workers. In the case of education, three studies had found that the more educated were more likely to be occupationally mobile. This study found that the terminated workers had less education on the average than those who continued their employment. 4. As workers migrated into the industrial area, the trend was to seek residence on accessible roads to the work plant in communities close to the plant with adequate community services. This is in agreement with other studies. It was also evident that workers in the county formerly living in rural areas moved into closer urban communities as they obtained employment in the steel plant. 5. Within the rural county itself there was a marked shift in population composition from rural to urban and a decided change in occupational trends from agriculture to industry. We would expect now the trend of behavior in most activities in the county to be more consistent with urban than with rural life.
The Mechanical Properties of the Cell Surface

1. Measurements with the cell elastimeter on the stiffness of the cell membrane of fertilized sea-urchin eggs show the following general features. There is a sudden rise at fertilization, followed by a fall during the early sperm aster stage to the lowest value reached during development (a Young's modulus of about 0.58 x 104 dynes/cm.2). The stiffness rises slowly until metaphase, after which it rises rapidly to reach a maximum during late anaphase and early cleavage (6.81 x 104 dynes/cm.2). During the later stages of cleavage the stiffness falls again and reaches a value in the second interphase which is about twice as high as in the first interphase. Masurements on naked eggs in calcium-free sea water indicate that the slow rise in metaphase is due to the development of the hyaline layer. 2. Measurements on swollen and shrunken eggs at cleavage indicate that there is no interal pressure in the eggs at this stage, but similar experiments with eggs at the sperm aster stage yield anomalous results. Observations on the wrinkling point in shrunken eggs show that the maximum possible internal pressure is 19 dynes/cm.2 for sperm aster eggs and 500 dynes/cm.2 for cleaving eggs. 3. The bearing of these results on various theories of the mechanism of cleavage is briefly discussed. The rise in Young's modulus of the whole cell surface at cleavage argues against theories depending on the action of the spindle and asters, and against theories proposing a contractile ring in the surface. The rise is, however, what might be expected on the basis of the expanding membrane theory.
PREDICTORS OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING IN AN EASTERN MUSLIM CULTURE

Abstract The majority of the studies addressing human happiness have been conducted with Western Judeo-Christian cultures; other countries with different sociocultural milieus are underrepresented in research investigating this issue. The present work was undertaken to determine the prevalence and predictors of personal well-being in an Eastern Muslim culture, Pakistan. The study also aimed to compare the current ratings of subjective well-being with those obtained from other areas of the world. To make this survey representative of the vast majority of Pakistani people, a total of 1,000 people, with an age range of 16–80, living in diverse areas of Lahore (the provincial capital) were contacted. Ten localities ranging from upper-class areas to congested inner-city locations and to Kacchi Abadies (temporary houses built in caravan) were visited. Apart from demographic information, responses of the survey subjects were collected on multiple dimensions: personality traits, self-esteem, work satisfaction, ma.
The Role of Carbohydrate Response Element Binding Protein in Intestinal and Hepatic Fructose Metabolism

Many articles have discussed the relationship between fructose consumption and the incidence of obesity and related diseases. Fructose is absorbed in the intestine and metabolized in the liver to glucose, lactate, glycogen, and, to a lesser extent, lipids. Unabsorbed fructose causes bacterial fermentation, resulting in irritable bowl syndrome. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying intestinal and hepatic fructose metabolism is important for the treatment of metabolic syndrome and fructose malabsorption. Carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP) is a glucose-activated transcription factor that controls approximately 50% of de novo lipogenesis in the liver. ChREBP target genes are involved in glycolysis (Glut2, liver pyruvate kinase), fructolysis (Glut5, ketohexokinase), and lipogenesis (acetyl CoA carboxylase, fatty acid synthase). ChREBP gene deletion protects against high sucrose diet-induced and leptin-deficient obesity, because Chrebp−/− mice cannot consume fructose or sucrose. Moreover, ChREBP contributes to some of the physiological effects of fructose on sweet taste preference and glucose production through regulation of ChREBP target genes, such as fibroblast growth factor-21 and glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunits. Thus, ChREBP might play roles in fructose metabolism. Restriction of excess fructose intake will be beneficial for preventing not only metabolic syndrome but also irritable bowl syndrome.
Contested Secularities: Religious Minorities and Secular Progressivism in the Netherlands

In this paper, we propose to analyze ideas, practices, institutionalizations, and public controversies related to the religious-secular divide in the Netherlands in terms of contested formations of secularity. We introduce the concept of ‘multiple secularities’ and use it as an interpretive device for an analysis of the historical emergence and transformation of Dutch secularity. After that we show how historically shaped notions of secularity operated within the parliamentary debates on blasphemy, freedom of speech, and religion that unfolded between 2004 and 2009. We argue that long-standing notions of secularity as a means for balancing religious and ideological diversity are challenged by and give way to a new preponderance of secular progressivism. By secular progressivism we mean the idea that within an ‘immanent frame’ in which the secular ontologically embodies the ‘real’ and constitutes the ground for normative universalism, religion turns into a historical vestige whose protection must be subordinated to universalistic notions of civic liberties. However, this development is still contested in the Netherlands.
The galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity-gravitational mass relation in the light of the WMAP 3rd year data

Context. The 3rd year WMAP results mark a shift in best fit values of cosmological parameters compared to the 1st year data and the concordance cosmological model. Aims. We test the consistency of the new results with previous constraints on cosmological parameters from the HIFLUGCS galaxy cluster sample and the impact of this shift on the X-ray luminosity‐gravitational mass relation. Methods. The measured X-ray luminosity function combined with the observed luminosity‐mass relation are compared to mass functions predicted for given cosmological parameter values. Results. The luminosity function and luminosity‐mass relation derived previously from HIFLUGCS are in perfect agreement with mass functions predicted using the best fit parameter values from the 3rd year WMAP data ( m = 0:238; 8 = 0:74) and inconsistent with the concordance cosmological model ( m = 0:3; 8 = 0:9), assuming a flat Universe. Trying to force consistency with the concordance model requires artificially decreasing the normalization of the luminosity‐mass relation by a factor of 2. Conclusions. The shift in best fit values for m and 8 has a significant impact on predictions of cluster abundances. The new WMAP results are now in perfect agreement with previous results on the m‐ 8 relation determined from the mass function of HIFLUGCS clusters and other X-ray cluster samples (the “low cluster normalization”). We conclude that ‐ unless the true values of m and 8 di er significantly from the 3rd year WMAP results ‐ the luminosity‐mass relation is well described by their previous determination from X-ray observations of clusters, with a conservative upper limit on the bias factor of 1.5. These conclusions are currently being tested directly in a complete follow-up program of all HIFLUGCS clusters with Chandra and XMM-Newton.
Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Development Among Kindergarteners With Different Ability Levels

Our goal was to investigate the growth of vocabulary and morphological awareness over time in the context of an intervention for kindergartners with different ability levels in these skills. Participants in this exploratory study were 108 children from schools serving socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Results indicated that children significantly improved their morphological awareness skills and vocabulary over a period of 4 months ( η p 2 = .61 for morphological awareness and η p 2 = .53 for vocabulary), with the greatest gains made by children who were initially low on these measures. Morphological awareness and vocabulary skills were reciprocally related; each made a unique contribution to growth in the other. The results suggest that it may be beneficial to combine instruction in vocabulary and morphological awareness and that kindergarten teachers can successfully do so with guidance.
Secondary Students' Perceptions of School Life with Regard to Alienation: The Effects of Disability, Gender and Race

Student alienation is a major cause of dropping out of school, gang activity and poor peer, school-student, and teacher-student relationships. A considerable amount of research has focused on factors that distinguish between students who are engaged in the learning process and those who are not. This study examined the relationship between students and their perceptions of school life. A survey was distributed to over 200 students at two high schools in a large, urban school district in the southern United States. Results suggest that gender, race/ethnicity, and placement in special education are all strong factors in influencing whether students perceive school and/or life in general as alienating. The limitations of the study as well as future research directions and implications for practice are discussed.
Spontaneous Cervicovaginal Lesions and Immune Cell Infiltrates in Nonhuman Primates

Nonhuman primates, particularly rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), provide important model systems for studying human reproductive infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus, human papillomavirus, and Chlamydia spp. An understanding of the spectrum of spontaneous cervical disease provides essential context for interpreting experimental disease outcomes in the female reproductive tract. This retrospective study characterizes the incidence of inflammatory and/or proliferative cervicovaginal lesions seen over a 14-year period in a multispecies nonhuman primate colony, focusing on rhesus macaques. The most common observations included a spectrum of lymphocytic accumulation from within normal limits to lymphoplasmacytic cervicitis, and suppurative inflammation with occasional squamous metaplasia or polyp formation. These inflammatory spectra frequently occurred in the context of immunosuppression following experimental simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection. Cervical neoplasias were uncommon and included leiomyomas and carcinomas. Cervical sections from 13 representative cases, with an emphasis on proliferative and dysplastic lesions, were surveyed for leukocyte infiltration, abnormal epithelial proliferation, and the presence of papillomavirus antigens. Proliferative lesions showed sporadic evidence of spontaneous papillomavirus infection and variable immune cell responses. These results underscore the importance of pre screening potential experimental animals for the presence of preexisting reproductive tract disease, and the consideration of normal variability within cycling reproductive tracts in interpretation of cervical lesions.
itc . it MBP : A MODEL BASED

The Model Based Planner ( MBP) is a system for planning in non-deterministic domains. It can generate plans automatically to solve various planning problems, like conformant planning, planning under partial observability, and planning for temporally extended goals.MBP is based on Symbolic Model Checking techniques, and Binary Decision Diagrams ( BDDs), that provide a pratical solution to the problem of dealing with the large size of realistic planning problems, and especially of problems in non-deterministic domains.