Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of prostate cancer metastasis in vivo: a comparison of 1,23-dihydroxyvitamin D (calcitriol) and EB1089.

The steroid hormone 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D, also known as calcitriol] is known to inhibit the proliferation and to promote the differentiation of human prostate cancer cells. Additionally, we showed that 1,25(OH)2D markedly inhibits the invasiveness of human prostate cancer cells in vitro (G. G. Schwartz et al., Cancer Epidemiol. Biomark. Prev., 6: 727-732, 1997). These properties support the use of 1,25(OH)2D as differentiation therapy in prostate cancer. However, the use of 1,25(OH)2D in vivo is limited by the risk of hypercalcemia. We therefore compared the effects of 1,25(OH)2D and of EB1089, an analogue of 1,25(OH)2D with reduced calcemic effects, in an in vivo model of androgen-insensitive metastatic prostate cancer, the rat Dunning MAT LyLu prostate cancer model. Tumor growth and metastasis were studied using Copenhagen rats given s.c. injections of MAT LyLu cells. Fifty male rats were divided into five groups of 10 rats each. Four experimental groups received i.p. injections of low and high doses of 1,25(OH)2D and EB1089 (0.5 and 1.0 microg/kg, low and high, respectively). A control group received injections of vehicle only. Tumor volumes were measured three times per week. Rats were weighed weekly. The number of metastases to the lungs and the extent of hypercalcemia were evaluated. Compared with controls, tumor volumes were significantly smaller in all experimental groups. Similarly, the number of lung metastases (number of foci/lung) was reduced markedly by both 1,25(OH)2D and EB1089. Control rats developed 22.7 (+/- 1.98 SE) tumor foci per lung. Rats treated with 1,25(OH)2D and with EB1089 (1.0 microg/kg) developed 10.4 (+/- 2.81) and 7.70 (+/- 1.29) tumor foci, respectively (P < 0.001 and P < 0.0001, respectively; drug versus control). Compared with controls (10.79 +/- 0.1 mg/dl), serum calcium levels were significantly elevated in both 1,25(OH)2D and EB1089-treated rats (P < 0.01). However, EB1089 was significantly less calcemic than 1,25(OH)2D (12.59 +/- 0.21 mg/dl versus 14.47 +/- 0.46 mg/dl; 1.0 microg/kg; P < 0.001). Rats treated with 1,25(OH)2D showed marked weight loss: 20.0 +/- 1.9% and 26.3 +/- 1.7% of their initial weight (low and high doses, respectively, P < 0.001). Weight loss was significantly lower in rats treated with EB1089 at the high dose 8.4 (+/- 2.9) %. Moreover, rats treated with low-dose EB1089 gained 5.2 (+/- 3.7) % of their initial weight. In conclusion, 1,25(OH)2D and EB1089 showed marked and equivalent inhibition of prostate cancer metastasis in vivo. EB1089 was significantly less calcemic than 1,25(OH)2D and did not induce severe weight loss. This is the first report of a vitamin D analogue that significantly inhibits prostate cancer metastasis in vivo and that does so without producing cachexia or unacceptable hypercalcemia.
Using Evolutionary Testing to improve Efficiency and Quality in Software Testing

The development of embedded systems is an essential industrial activity. More than 90% of all electronic components manufactured are used in embedded systems, e.g. in aerospace technology; railway and motor vehicle technology; process and automation technology; communication technology; process and power engineering, as well as in defense electronics. Embedded systems are also used regularly in safety relevant applications. Therefore, the occurrence of errors may endanger human lives or cause costly recalls, for example in the automotive industry. Accordingly, the development of embedded systems must comply with the highest quality requirements and standards. Analytical quality assurance is of central importance to achieving high quality development of embedded systems. In practice, the most important analytical quality assurance measure is dynamic testing. The thorough testing of developed systems is therefore essential for product quality. The aim of testing is to detect errors in the system under test and to convey confidence in the correct functioning of the system if no errors are found during comprehensive testing. The effectiveness and efficiency of the test process can be clearly improved by evolutionary testing. This has been successfully proved in several case studies and industrial applications. Evolutionary Tests thus contribute to quality improvement as well as to the reduction of development costs.
College students’ perceptions of short message service-supported collaborative learning

Interaction is a major success factor that affects collaborative learning. This study examined the perceptions of college students about short message service (SMS) supported collaborative learning. Seventy-five BSc students from three classes were asked to cooperate on group assignments. The participants used their mobile phones to exchange text messages and interact with each other. Data were collected through a questionnaire, three focus group interviews and 19 personal interviews. Our findings showed that participating students felt privileged by having the chance to be part of this learning experience and expressed their desire to continue with this method in other classes. The success determinants of the method included a friendly and relaxed atmosphere in the class, an organised and clear plan of action, a fairly challenging and interesting group assignment, and a free or low-cost SMS service.
Topic Expansiveness and Family Communication Patterns

Conversational topic largely has been studied as an individual's binary decision to engage in disclosure or avoidance. The study complements this work by examining how various topics are engaged in parent-adolescent family communication. Specifically, it examines topical differences in dialogic expansiveness, conceptualized with Bakhtin's dialogism theory as the extent to which all interactants' viewpoints are encouraged and legitimated. Operationalized through topic-specific reports about conversation orientation and conformity orientation provided independently by 122 parents and their late-adolescent children, the study reconceptualized family communication patterns from a traitlike to a state-like feature of communication. Results identified four distinct clusters of topics, two of which were dialogically contractive: the single topical domain of sexual issues and the cluster consisting of the three topics of drinking/drugs/smoking, money matters, and educational progress. Topics related to adolescent friendships and everyday things occupied a dialogic expansive cluster. Four topics emerged with nondescript patterns: adolescent dating, family relationship rules, family relationship concerns, and traditions.
Effect of Different Rennet Type on Physico-Chemical Properties and Bitterness in White Cheese

White cheese is a soft or semi-hard cheese variety of the brined cheeses family which had its origin in the Turkey and other Mediterranean countries. The changes in physico- chemical properties, proteolysis and bitterness of White cheeses made from animal-calf rennet (A) and microbial rennet from Rhizomucor miehei (M) were investigated during a 90 day ripening period. Physico-chemical characteristics were similar for cheeses made with both types of rennet. Phe, Leu - Ile, Gln, Val, Pro and Ala were the principal free amino acids (FAAs) in the White cheeses at all stages of ripening. The differences in the contents of the total bitter tasting amino acids (Phe, Leu - Ile, Val and Pro) were not influenced by the type of rennet.
Vasomotion and Neurovascular Coupling in the Visual Thalamus In Vivo

Spontaneous contraction and relaxation of arteries (and in some instances venules) has been termed vasomotion and has been observed in an extensive variety of tissues and species. However, its functions and underlying mechanisms are still under discussion. We demonstrate that in vivo spectrophotometry, measured simultaneously with extracellular recordings at the same locations in the visual thalamus of the cat, reveals vasomotion, measured as an oscillation (0.14hz) in the recorded oxyhemoglobin (OxyHb) signal, which appears spontaneously in the microcirculation and can last for periods of hours. During some non-oscillatory periods, maintained sensory stimulation evokes vasomotion lasting ∼30s, resembling an adaptive vascular phenomenon. This oscillation in the oxyhaemoblobin signal is sensitive to pharmacological manipulation: it is inducible by chloralose anaesthesia and it can be temporarily blocked by systemic administration of adrenaline or acetylcholine (ACh). During these oscillatory periods, neurovascular coupling (i.e. the relationship between local neural activity and the rate of blood supply to that location) appears significantly altered. This raises important questions with regard to the interpretation of results from studies currently dependent upon a linear relationship between neural activity and blood flow, such as neuroimaging.
Fully Distributed Optimal Channel Assignment for Open Spectrum Access

In this paper, we address the problem of fully distributed assignment of users to sub-bands such that the sum-rate of the system is maximized. We introduce a modified auction algorithm that can be applied in a fully distributed way using an opportunistic CSMA assignment scheme and is ε optimal. We analyze the expected time complexity of the algorithm and suggest a variant to the algorithm that has lower expected complexity. We then show that, in the case of i.i. d. Rayleigh channels, a simple greedy scheme is asymptotically optimal as SNR increases or as the number of users is increased to infinity. We conclude by providing simulated results of the suggested algorithms.
Catecholamine receptors differentially mediate impulsive choice in the medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortex

Impulsivity is characteristic of several mental health disorders and is largely mediated by the prefrontal cortex subregions: the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) are known to modulate activity of the prefrontal cortex, however their direct role in impulsive choice is not known. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of microinjecting DA or NE compounds in the mPFC or OFC on impulsive choice as measured by a delayed reinforcement (DR) task in male Wistar Kyoto rats. Following training in the DR task, rats were pretreated with DA D1 and D2 receptor antagonists (SCH23390 3 μg/side, raclopride 3 or 6 μg/side) or NE α1 and α2 receptor agonists (phenylephrine 0.1 or 0.3 μg/side, guanfacine 1 or 3 μg/side, respectively) into the mPFC or OFC and the effect on impulsive behavior was assessed. Pretreatment with raclopride into the mPFC or OFC significantly increased impulsive choice, however only pretreatment with SCH23390 into the mPFC, and not the OFC, significantly increased impulsive choice. Pretreatment with the NE receptor agonists had no effect on impulsive choice. This study suggests that DA receptors, but not NE receptors, differentially mediate impulsive choice in sub-regions of the prefrontal cortex.
Chemical abundances in LMC stellar populations - I. The inner disk sample

We have used FLAMES (the Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph) at the VLT-UT2 telescope to obtain spectra of a large sample of red giant stars from the inner disk of the LMC, ~2 kpc from the center of the galaxy. We investigate the chemical abundances of key elements to understand the star formation and evolution of the LMC disk: heavy and light [ s-process/Fe] and [ α/Fe] give constraints on the time scales of formation of the stellar population. Cu, Na, Sc, and the iron-peak elements are also studied aiming to better understand the build up of the elements of this population and the origin of these elements. We aim to provide a more complete picture of the LMC's evolution by compiling a large sample of field star abundances. Methods: LTE abundances were derived using line spectrum synthesis or equivalent width analysis. We used OSMARCS model atmospheres and an updated line list. Results: We find that the alpha-elements Ca, Si, and Ti show lower [X/Fe] ratios than Galactic stars at the same [Fe/H], with most [Ca/Fe] being subsolar. The [O/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] ratios are slightly deficient, with Mg showing some overlap with the Galactic distribution, while Sc and Na follow the underabundant behavior of Ca, with subsolar distributions. For the light s-process elements Y and Zr, we find underabundant values compared to their Galactic counterparts. The [La/Fe] ratios are slightly overabundant relative to the galactic pattern showing low scatter, while the [Ba/Fe] are enhanced, with a slight increasing trend for metallicities [ Fe/H] > -1 dex. The [ heavy-s/light-s] ratios are high, showing a slow, increasing trend with metallicity. We were surprised to find an offset for three of the iron-peak elements. We found an offset for the [iron-peak/Fe] ratios of Ni, Cr, and Co, with an underabundant pattern and subsolar values, while Vanadium ratios track the solar value. Copper shows very low abundances in our sample for all metallicities, compatible with those of the Galaxy only for the most metal-poor stars. The overall chemical distributions of this LMC sample indicates a slower star formation history relative to that of the solar neighborhood, with a higher contribution from type Ia supernovae relative to type II supernovae.
I Know What Your Packet Did Last Hop: Using Packet Histories to Troubleshoot Networks

The complexity of networks has outpaced our tools to debug them; today, administrators use manual tools to diagnose problems. In this paper, we show how packet histories--the full stories of every packet's journey through the network--can simplify network diagnosis. To demonstrate the usefulness of packet histories and the practical feasibility of constructing them, we built NetSight, an extensible platform that captures packet histories and enables applications to concisely and flexibly retrieve packet histories of interest. Atop NetSight, we built four applications that illustrate its flexibility: an interactive network debugger, a live invariant monitor, a path-aware history logger, and a hierarchical network profiler. On a single modern multi-core server, NetSight can process packet histories for the traffic of multiple 10 Gb/s links. For larger networks, NetSight scales linearly with additional servers and scales even further with straightforward additions to hardware- and hypervisor-based switches.
Mexican beliefs and attitudes toward menopause and menopausal-related symptoms

Abstract The objective of this study was to explore the beliefs and attitudes toward menopause among young and middle-aged Mexican women and men, as well as the menopausal-related symptoms that middle-aged women report or expect and that other participants think a menopausal woman experiences. The beliefs about and attitudes toward Menopause Questionnaire and the Greene Climacteric Scale were answered by 395 Mexicans between the ages of 20 and 60 years. Comparing middle-aged participants, the most negative attitudes toward menopause were held by surgically menopausal women, and the most positive attitudes by naturally postmenopausal women. Younger participants showed more negative attitudes when compared to those in middle age (with exception of surgically menopausal women). There was a positive correlation between negative attitudes and menopausal-related symptoms either experienced by perimenopausal and naturally postmenopausal women, or expected by young and premenopausal women. No significant correlation was found between attitudes and symptoms in the groups of surgically menopausal women or the men. These findings are discussed in light of differences between genders and age cohorts.
Intrusion and extrusion of water in hydrophobic nanopores

Significance Molecular springs, constituted by nanoporous materials immersed in a nonwetting liquid, are compact, economical, and efficient means of storing energy, owing to their enormous surface area. Surface energy is accumulated during liquid intrusion inside the pores and released by decreasing liquid pressure and thus triggering confined cavitation. State-of-the-art atomistic simulations shed light on the intrusion and extrusion of water in hydrophobic nanopores, revealing conspicuous deviations from macroscopic theories, which include accelerated cavitation, increased intrusion pressure, and reversible intrusion and extrusion processes. Understanding these nanoscale phenomena is the key to a better design of molecular springs as it allows relating the characteristics of the materials to the overall properties of the devices, e.g., their operational pressure and efficiency. Heterogeneous systems composed of hydrophobic nanoporous materials and water are capable, depending on their characteristics, of efficiently dissipating (dampers) or storing (“molecular springs”) energy. However, it is difficult to predict their properties based on macroscopic theories—classical capillarity for intrusion and classical nucleation theory (CNT) for extrusion—because of the peculiar behavior of water in extreme confinement. Here we use advanced molecular dynamics techniques to shed light on these nonclassical effects, which are often difficult to investigate directly via experiments, owing to the reduced dimensions of the pores. The string method in collective variables is used to simulate, without artifacts, the microscopic mechanism of water intrusion and extrusion in the pores, which are thermally activated, rare events. Simulations reveal three important nonclassical effects: the nucleation free-energy barriers are reduced eightfold compared with CNT, the intrusion pressure is increased due to nanoscale confinement, and the intrusion/extrusion hysteresis is practically suppressed for pores with diameters below 1.2 nm. The frequency and size dependence of hysteresis exposed by the present simulations explains several experimental results on nanoporous materials. Understanding physical phenomena peculiar to nanoconfined water paves the way for a better design of nanoporous materials for energy applications; for instance, by decreasing the size of the nanopores alone, it is possible to change their behavior from dampers to molecular springs.
Health, freedom and work in rural Victoria: The impact of labour market casualisation on health and wellbeing

Abstract This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of the impact of casualised and independent contractor work place arrangements on the psycho-social health of 72 workers in regional Victoria. It contributes to our understanding of the crisis in rural Australia in its use of qualitative methods focusing on the impact of work on health and well-being. There is some evidence in the literature that casualised work arrangement enhance the health and well-being of workers by giving them a sense of autonomy and freedom to negotiate their conditions of work. On the other hand, these arrangements may make an already vulnerable group even more vulnerable to uncertain work conditions, poor pay and uncertainty for their future with a significantly negative impact on their health and wellbeing. The results of these interviews support this latter perspective and show that these workers do not experience freedom and autonomy, but rather lowered social status, insecurity and serious limitations to their ability to manage their health, psychological wellbeing and social relations.
Do Socially Anxious Individuals Hold Positive Metacognitive Beliefs About Rumination?

Abstract The Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model of affective dysfunction (Wells & Matthews, 1994) suggests that metacognitive beliefs are important for initiating and maintaining repetitive thought processes in emotional disorders. Rumination is reported by socially anxious individuals, yet it is not known whether this group endorse positive beliefs about the utility of rumination. We predicted that higher levels of social anxiety would be positively associated with stronger positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination. In Study 1 (N = 250 undergraduates), a measure of social anxiety was positively correlated with a measure of positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination, even when controlling for gender and level of depression. Given this result, we then attempted to replicate the finding in another sample, as well as test whether positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination would mediate the relationship between social anxiety and trait rumination. In Study 2 (N = 124 undergraduates), a social anxiety composite measure was positively correlated with a measure of positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination, even when controlling for gender, level of depression and level of rumination. Positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination were also shown to partially mediate the relationship between social anxiety and trait rumination. These results support the S-REF model and provide a potential account of why socially anxious individuals engage in rumination. Implications for the treatment of social anxiety are discussed.
Endurance Swimming, Community Participation and Socioeconomic Factors

Community participation in endurance events, including long-distance swimming races, has grown. To assess the extent to which participants in endurance swims represent all socioeconomic levels of the community, data were collected from the 748 entrants in two major Australian swimming events. The suburbs in which the entrants lived (as listed on the entry forms) were categorised into five groupings by average incomes as reported in the 1986 Australian Census. Analysis showed that, similar to previous findings with runners, competitors from the upper socioeconomic strata were overly represented in the swimming events. Least representation came from the lowest socioeconomic grouping.
Social representations of inclusion and stratification: ethnographic research within two Israeli elementary schools

Based on ‘Social representations theory’, this ethnographic research examines the processes by which two Israeli elementary schools represented some children, but not others, as ‘weak’ students and in need of remedial teaching. This approach differs from most current research regarding children with disabilities, which mainly deals with the opposite process of how to include, as equal school partners, those who have already been represented as in need of some kind of special education. Our findings show that school life is founded on a representational dichotomy: while inclusion is the declared school ideology, daily discourse and school activity mainly serve stratification. This dichotomy is tolerated partly because the meaning of this activity is incorporated within school routine and ignored and partly because it is represented as a response to a supposedly self‐evident reality of the unequal intellectual potential of students.