Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Zinc-α2-Glycoprotein: Is There Association between This New Adipokine and Body Composition in Hemodialysis Patients?

Peptides involved in the regulation of body composition are of interest in hemodialysis (HD) patients because protein wasting associated with high fat mass (FM) is present in these patients. Zinc-α2-glycoprotein (ZAG), a new adipokine, is involved in the regulation of lipid metabolism, adiposity, and energy balance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate ZAG levels and its relationship with body composition and dietary intake in HD patients. Forty-nine HD patients (28 men, 53.1 ± 12.5 years, and BMI 24.0 ± 4.3 kg/m2) were studied and compared with 20 healthy subjects (9 men, 49.5 ± 15.2 years, and BMI 25.6 ± 4.1 kg/m2). Plasma ZAG levels were measured using the ELISA methods and body composition was evaluated through anthropometric data. Dietary intake was assessed 3 days by 24-hour food recall. Although most of the HD patients (59.2%) were eutrophic according to BMI, 92.3% presented high percentage of body fat (BF), and 43.5%, reduced fat-free mass according to midarm muscle circumference values. ZAG levels were ∼2.5-fold higher in HD patients (135.9 ± 40.9 mg/L) compared with healthy individuals (54.6 ± 23.0 mg/L) (p < 0.0001). Circulating ZAG was not associated with dietary intake; however, this peptide was negatively correlated with %BF and, for each 1% reduction in BF, ZAG levels increased by 2.4 mg/L (p = 0.02). In summary, circulating ZAG is increased and inversely correlated with adiposity in HD patients; however, in spite of its higher plasma levels, the majority of HD patients did not show low BF.
Suppression of Regional Cerebral Blood during Emotional versus Higher Cognitive Implications for Interactions between Emotion and Cognition

Brain mapping studies using dynamic imaging methods demonstrate areas regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) decreases, as well as areas where increases, during performance of various experimental tasks. Task holds for both sets of cerebral blood flow changes (CBF), providing the opportunity to investigate areas that become and “activated” in the experimental condition relative to control state. Such data yield the intriguing observation that in areas in emotional processing, such as the amygdala, the posteromedial cortex, and the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, although flow as expected during specific emotion-related tasks, flow decreases performance of some attentionally demanding, cognitive tasks. Conversely, in some of the areas that appear to subserve cognitive functions, as the dorsal anterior cingulate and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, increases while performing attentionally demanding cognitive tasks, but during some experimentally induced and pathological emotional Although the specific .
Family Functioning and Adolescent Career Development

Family systems propositions as applied to career development theory were tested in a cross-sectional survey examining the relationship between family members' perceptions of family functioning and adolescent career development measures. Results of the analysis showed that family functioning dimensions as evaluated by 11th-grade students and their parents were more frequent and stronger predictors of career development than gender, socioeconomic status, and educational achievement.
American Public Opinion and U.S. Immigration Policy

American attitudes toward both legal and illegal immigration tended to be highly restrictionist during the first half of the twentieth century. Both legislative and executive-branch policy supported this restrictionist outlook up until the 1940s, when a gradual liberalization of immigration policy toward refugees began to occur because of foreign policy requirements and the onset of the cold war. Although only a very small percentage of Americans have advocated increasing the number of immigrants, the percentage who felt that the numbers should be decreased began to decline during the 1950s and 1960s. Liberalization of public opinion and governmental policy occurred. During the past 15 years, however, public opinion and government policy began to diverge. Because of economic and other problems, Americans became more restrictionist toward immigrants, at least when surveyed by public opinion polls. But the government has difficulty implementing a more restrictionist policy for a variety of reasons, among them the strong lobbying efforts of pro-alien activist groups combined with American ambivalence toward the plight of immigrants as individuals.
Quantum probability from decision theory?

In a recent paper, Deutsch claims to derive the ‘probabilistic predictions of quantum theory’ from the ‘non–probabilistic axioms of quantum theory’ and the ‘nonprobabilistic part of classical decision theory. ’ We show that his derivation includes a crucial hidden assumption that vitiates the force of his argument. Furthermore, we point out that in classical decision theory a standard set of non–probabilistic axioms is already sufficient to endow possible outcomes with a natural probability structure. Within that context we argue that Gleason's theorem, relying on fewer assumptions than Deutsch, provides a compelling derivation of the quantum probability law.
Developing moral values in children : observations from a preschool

Moral education typically refers to teaching pupils the difference between right and wrong. The study attempted to identify and understand how moral values of preschool children are developed. Four teachers (2males, 2 females) in 2 kindergarten classes in Bawku participated in the study. Each teacher was observed for 3 hours a day for three consecutive days resulting in 36 hours of videotaped data. The teachers were also interviewed. There were 284 incidents in which teachers engaged in some form of moral or deductive instructions. The study established that teachers perceived themselves as moral educators. In addition, moral values such as right and wrong as well as honesty were being transmitted to the children through methods such as individual education, group education, opportunity education and storytelling. Results indicated that the teachers transmitted moral values once in a while but more socialization skills were transmitted frequently. The implications of these findings were discussed.
Student Attitudes Towards Physical Education: A Multicultural Study

If physical education is going to be responsive to the needs of each child, it should reflect the culture in which it is practiced. Students come to our classrooms with various backgrounds, reflecting differences in social, ethnic, and economic environments; individual and family values; demands and responsibilities placed on them; and exposure to physical education and sports programs. Children learn and respond to different values about the place of sport in society and their own role within that setting (Greendorfer, 1983). While learners experience these personal changes, so do our schools. Our communities are marked for major changes in the coming century (Smith, 1991) as American society becomes more culturally diverse with an ever-increasing ethnic population. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 1995 the school age population will be composed of 30% ethnic minorities (Cooper, 1988). Physical education programs are challenged by the needs of youth in a changing environment. Traditional curricula must integrate social change while discovering ways to motivate youth to develop life-long physical activity habits. Before this goal can be achieved we, as physical educators, must be conscious of how young people within various cultures perceive physical education and sport. This study was conducted to provide some insight into the attitudes of middle and high school youth toward physical education and sport from a multicultural perspective.
Risk Havens: Offshore Financial Centres, Insurance Cycles, the ‘Litigation Explosion’ and a Social Democratic Alternative

Risk havens in offshore financial centres play an increasingly important role in capitalist risk management. They gain strength from cycles in the insurance industry (during hard markets) and from the mystified notion of a ‘litigation explosion’ that is used to reduce the rights of injured plaintiffs, particularly in times when insurers experience low income from investments. The captive insurance company (which has become the most prominent in Bermuda) and the asset protection trust (pioneered in the Cook Islands) have become important instruments through which the wealthy increase their own security and reduce the compensation that they pay for misfortunes that befall the general population. While risk havens promote laissez-faire, the article concludes that democratic socialism provides the most equitable and efficient solution to the problems of risk and insurance. democratic socialist perspective, risk havens are not part of the solution. They are part of the problem.
2 Wealth Effects in the Consumption Function of an Emerging Economy : Argentina 1980-2000 1

The effects of wealth on consumers ́ expenditure have been widely studied since a long time ago, but a recent literature has suggested that consumers ́ decisions respond to “wealth perception”. This work models aggregate consumption of Argentina trying to identify such effects over a period of great macroeconomic variability. The results show that national disposable income is the only long-run determinant of private consumption and two proxies for adjusting wealth are adopted by the consumers in the short-run: a measure of real exchange rate and an effect from last peak income. Other determinants are also discussed.
A Randomized Control Study of Responsive Teaching With Young Turkish Children and Their Mothers

A randomized control study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of responsive teaching (RT) with a sample of 19 Turkish preschool-age children with disabilities and their mothers over a 6-months period. RT is an early intervention curriculum that attempts to promote children’s development by encouraging parents to engage in highly responsive interactions with them. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment conditions: The control group consisted of standard preschool classroom services and the RT group received biweekly RT parent–child sessions in addition to standard services. Compared with the control group, RT mothers made significantly greater increases in Responsiveness and Affect, whereas their children made greater changes in their engagement or pivotal behavior. There were also significant group differences in children’s developmental outcomes. Children in the RT group improved their developmental quotient scores by an average of 42% compared with 7% for children in the control group.
Reshaping teacher education through the professional continuum

The current policy gaze on teacher quality is resulting in significant shifts in how teacher education is conceptualized, designed and delivered. Traditional approaches to teacher preparation and continuing professional development (CPD) are being challenged, and often displaced, by new models that expedite the process and experience of becoming a teacher, relocate teacher preparation from universities directly to schools and widen the pool of teacher education providers. This “reshaping” of teacher education and leadership development is at a critical point of reform in a number of systems, driven by the need to align with curriculum and wider education reform and the effect of the dual exposure of international comparative tests and economic performance. As a consequence the practice of teacher education, by which we mean the pedagogies, programmes and places through which and where teachers are prepared, must adapt to become more responsive to demands from government to deliver high quality teaching that is developed and sustained throughout a teacher’s career. This means reconceptualizing teacher and leadership development as a career-long process developed by and through the professional continuum. It requires the redesign of the practice of teacher education, necessitating new thinking and fresh approaches to the rich pedagogies that must underpin professional learning programmes, the sites of professional learning and new partnership arrangements. Crucially it also involves widening the pool of teacher educators so that all teachers and school leaders are recognized as teacher educators.
Effect of genre on the generalizability of writing scores

In the present study, aspects of the measurement of writing are disentangled in order to investigate the validity of inferences made on the basis of writing performance and to describe implications for the assessment of writing. To include genre as a facet in the measurement, we obtained writing scores of 12 texts in four different genres for each participating student. Results indicate that across raters, tasks and genres, only 10% of the variance in writing scores is related to individual writing skill. In order to draw conclusions about writing proficiency, students should therefore write at least three different texts in each of four genres rated by at least two raters. Moreover, when writing scores are obtained through highly similar tasks, generalization across genres is not warranted. Inferences based on text quality scores should, in this case, be limited to genre-specific writing. These findings replicate the large task variance in writing assessment as consistently found in earlier research and emphasize the effect of genre on the generalizability of writing scores. This research has important implications for writing research and writing education, in which writing proficiency is quite often assessed by only one task rated by one rater.
Isolation, Characterization, and Transduction of Endometrial Decidual Tissue Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells from Menstrual Blood

Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) reveal progenitor cells-like features including proliferation and differentiation capacities. One of the most historically recognized sources of MSC has been the bone marrow, while other sources recently include adipose tissue, teeth, bone, muscle, placenta, liver, pancreas, umbilical cord, and cord blood. Frequently, progenitor isolation requires traumatic procedures that are poorly feasible and associated with patient discomfort. In the attempt to identify a more approachable MSC source, we focused on endometrial decidual tissue (EDT) found within menstrual blood. Based also on recent literature findings, we hypothesized that EDT may contain heterogeneous populations including some having MSC-like features. Thus, we here sought to isolate EDT-MSC processing menstrual samples from multiple donors. Cytofluorimetric analyses revealed that resulting adherent cells were expressing mesenchymal surface markers, including CD56, CD73, CD90, CD105 and CD146, and pluripotency markers such as SSEA-4. Moreover, EDT-MSC showed a robust clonogenic potential and could be largely expanded in vitro as fibroblastoid elements. In addition, differentiation assays drove these cells towards osteogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic lineages. Finally, for the first time, we were able to gene modify these progenitors by a retroviral vector carrying the green fluorescent protein. From these data, we suggest that EDT-MSC could represent a new promising tool having potential within cell and gene therapy applications.
The New York City Community Outreach Study: biomedical and mental health status among a community sample of urban Hispanics.

OBJECTIVE This report provides a snapshot of health behavior and risk in one low-income, urban, Latino community. As part of a community health and education program, 200 adult residents were asked about their health status and behavior and screened for conditions known to constitute significant health risk. DESIGN A random sample of 10 buildings around a large community-based organization (CBO) service area was selected to receive personal invitation and/or door-to-door flyers announcing several days of free health screening and education at the CBO. All individuals age > or = 18 years were eligible. Those who received screening were mailed lay descriptions of their results along with recommendations and locations for follow-up, if appropriate. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Participants were adult residents of an economically and medically under-served district in New York City, where Latinos make up approximately 75% of the population. Free screening for high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and depression was provided. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The clinical outcomes of the aforementioned tests constitute the main outcomes of this report. RESULTS Compared to national estimates for Hispanics, health risk was quite high in this sample, particularly with regard to diabetes and cholesterol. Moreover, participants were much less likely to have insurance or to have a regular source of health care than reported in national studies of Hispanics. CONCLUSIONS Though site specific, these data provide critical information to local CBOs and can be used as a tool for comparison with national data and Healthy People 2010 goals.
Critical role of parathyroid hormone (PTH) receptor-1 phosphorylation in regulating acute responses to PTH

Agonist-induced phosphorylation of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) receptor 1 (PTHR1) regulates receptor signaling in vitro, but the role of this phosphorylation in vivo is uncertain. We investigated this role by injecting “knock-in” mice expressing a phosphorylation-deficient (PD) PTHR1 with PTH ligands and assessing acute biologic responses. Following injection with PTH (1–34), or with a unique, long-acting PTH analog, PD mice, compared with WT mice, exhibited enhanced increases in cAMP levels in the blood, as well as enhanced cAMP production and gene expression responses in bone and kidney tissue. Surprisingly, however, the hallmark hypercalcemic and hypophosphatemic responses were markedly absent in the PD mice, such that paradoxical hypocalcemic and hyperphosphatemic responses were observed, quite strikingly with the long-acting PTH analog. Spot urine analyses revealed a marked defect in the capacity of the PD mice to excrete phosphate, as well as cAMP, into the urine in response to PTH injection. This defect in renal excretion was associated with a severe, PTH-induced impairment in glomerular filtration, as assessed by the rate of FITC-inulin clearance from the blood, which, in turn, was explainable by an overly exuberant systemic hypotensive response. The overall findings demonstrate the importance in vivo of PTH-induced phosphorylation of the PTHR1 in regulating acute ligand responses, and they serve to focus attention on mechanisms that underlie the acute calcemic response to PTH and factors, such as blood phosphate levels, that influence it.
The Neurological Correlates of Pathological Consciousness in the Group of Schizophrenias

On the basis of clinical observation, we have previously suggested (Grant, 2002) that schizophrenia or at least some common types of it, can be accurately and usefully conceptualized as a form of pathological consciousness in which conscious experiences which belong to the subjective self are mistaken for conscious perceptions of or from external objects. In this paper we trace the neurological sensory pathways mediating both consciousness of objects and subjective self-consciousness to their meeting point in what we have called the common sensory pathway (the extended amygdala, the nucleus accumbens, the globus pallidus, and the dorsomedial thalamic nucleus). Having defined this common sensory pathway, it became possible for us to formulate a neurological hypothesis to complement our pathological consciousness hypothesis of some types of schizophrenia. Our neurological hypothesis is that in schizophrenia exhibiting the pathological consciousness (mistaking self for other) we have described (Grant, 2002), we should find pathological changes in the structures of the common sensory pathway. The paper is developed in several steps. (1) We examine the history of the idea of pathological consciousness in schizophrenia. (2) We trace the neurological pathways of consciousness of external objects and subjective self-consciousness to their meeting point in what we have called the common sensory pathway. (3) We examine neuroscience studies of the structures of this common sensory pathway in patients with schizophrenia, looking for evidence of pathological changes. (4) We discuss the implication for our pathological consciousness and common sensory pathway hypotheses of some studies that have found brain pathologies outside of the common sensory pathway in patients with schizophrenia. Our conclusion, which can only be tentative at the present stage of knowledge, is that there is sufficient consistency between our pathological consciousness and common sensory-pathway hypotheses and the neuroscience data in schizophrenia studies to warrant further research.
Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union

In this paper we address the ongoing debate on the democratic quality and the legitimacy of the European Union. We focus on the recent argument that at least in the foreseeable future the European Union will not be able to develop an inputoriented legitimisation due to a lack of a ‘thick’ collective identity and therefore should be satisfied with an output-oriented legitimisation. We raise several question with regard to this debate. First, we address the empirical implications of this argument. Output-oriented legitimisation supposes both a common perception across the European Union of the most important problems to be solved and a common understanding that these problems should be solved at the European level. Secondly, we take issue with the argument that a well developed democratic political system at the European level requires a thick collective identity. The concept of a ‘demos’ is not identical to the concept of a ‘people’ (Volk) in its sociological meaning. Also, we express our doubts about the democratic quality of a democracy only based on government for the people. We argue that once political decisions are taken at the European level, there is every reason to apply the same normative democratic principles to the European Union that are applicable to its member states. In modern politics democracy almost by definition means representative democracy and representative democracy supposes a competitive party system. Therefore, we address the question to what extent a competitive party system at the European level would be feasible.
Enclaves de la transición y democracia chilena

Some of the difficulties of Michelle Bachelet Government and the more generalized crisis of Chile’s governing Concertacion coalition have increasingly been tied to leadership variables, the exhaustion of the coalition with respect to its core ideals, or the need for various types of institutional reform. This paper considers the possibility that the very model of transition which has been lauded as so successful might actually be at the root of the difficulties that today plague both the Concertacion and Chilean democracy more generally. This paper argues that the interaction of the electoral system and the structure of post-authoritarian competition have forced an elitist form of politics that helps to explain the current difficulties plaguing the Concertacion coalition and fueled a generalized crisis of representation. To make this argument it builds on the work of Manuel Antonio Garreton concerning authoritarian enclaves, arguing that there are certain enclaves of the transition that get in the way of the development of a high quality representative democracy. These transitional enclaves include: el cuoteo, elite control of candidate selection and electoral politics, party dominated politics, elitist and extra-institutional policymaking, and the untouchability of the economic model inherited from the Pinochet government.