Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The drivers of month-of-birth differences in children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills

Previous research has found that children who are born later in the academic year have lower educational attainment, on average, than children who are born earlier in the year, especially at younger ages; much less is known about the mechanisms that drive this inequality. The paper uses two complementary identification strategies to estimate an upper bound of the effect of age at test by using rich data from two UK birth cohorts. We find that differences in the age at which cognitive skills are tested accounts for the vast majority of the difference in these outcomes between children who are born at different times of the year, whereas the combined effect of the other factors (age of starting school, length of schooling and relative age) is close to zero. This suggests that applying an age adjustment to national achievement test scores may be an appropriate policy response to overcome the penalty that is associated with being born later in the academic year. Age at test does not, however, explain all of the difference in children's view of their own scholastic competence. Age adjusting national achievement test scores may help to overcome differences in ability beliefs between children who are born at different times of the year, but our results suggest that additional policy responses may be required.
Prolonged elevations in haemostatic and rheological responses following psychological stress in low socioeconomic status men and women

Summary Low socioeconomic status (SES) and psychological stress are associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease, and both may influence haemostatic responses. Von Willebrand factor (vWF), Factor VIII, plasma viscosity, haematocrit, blood viscosity, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and fibrin D-dimer were measured at rest and following stressful tasks in 238 middle-aged British civil servants. SES was defined by grade of employment. Lower SES was associated with higher resting vWF, Factor VIII and plasma viscosity. Psychological stress stimulated increases in haemostatic and rheological factors. Initial stress responses did not vary with SES, but Factor VIII, plasma viscosity and blood viscosity remained more elevated 45 minutes post-stress in lower SES participants. High blood pressure stress reactivity was also associated with greater haemostatic responses. We conclude that lower SES is characterised by more prolonged elevations in procoagulant responses following psychological stress, and that these processes might contribute to increased cardiac risk.
New taxa in Aspergillus section Usti

Based on phylogenetic analysis of sequence data, Aspergillus section Usti includes 21 species, inclucing two teleomorphic species Aspergillus heterothallicus (= Emericella heterothallica) and Fennellia monodii. Aspergillus germanicus sp. nov. was isolated from indoor air in Germany. This species has identical ITS sequences with A. insuetus CBS 119.27, but is clearly distinct from that species based on β-tubulin and calmodulin sequence data. This species is unable to grow at 37 °C, similarly to A. keveii and A. insuetus. Aspergillus carlsbadensis sp. nov. was isolated from the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. This taxon is related to, but distinct from a clade including A. calidoustus, A. pseudodeflectus, A. insuetus and A. keveii on all trees. This species is also unable to grow at 37 °C, and acid production was not observed on CREA. Aspergillus californicus sp. nov. is proposed for an isolate from chamise chaparral (Adenostoma fasciculatum) in California. It is related to a clade including A. subsessilis and A. kassunensis on all trees. This species grew well at 37 °C, and acid production was not observed on CREA. The strain CBS 504.65 from soil in Turkey showed to be clearly distinct from the A. deflectus ex-type strain, indicating that this isolate represents a distinct species in this section. We propose the name A. turkensis sp. nov. for this taxon. This species grew, although rather restrictedly at 37 °C, and acid production was not observed on CREA. Isolates from stored maize, South Africa, as a culture contaminant of Bipolaris sorokiniana from indoor air in Finland proved to be related to, but different from A. ustus and A. puniceus. The taxon is proposed as the new species A. pseudoustus. Although supported only by low bootstrap values, F. monodii was found to belong to section Usti based on phylogenetic analysis of either loci BLAST searches to the GenBank database also resulted in closest hits from section Usti. This species obviously does not belong to the Fennellia genus, instead it is a member of the Emericella genus. However, in accordance with the guidelines of the Amsterdam Declaration on fungal nomenclature (Hawksworth et al. 2011), and based on phylogenetic and physiological evidence, we propose the new combination Aspergillus monodii comb. nov. for this taxon. Species assigned to section Usti can be assigned to three chemical groups based on the extrolites. Aspergillus ustus, A. granulosus and A. puniceus produced ustic acid, while A. ustus and A. puniceus also produced austocystins and versicolorins. In the second chemical group, A. pseudodeflectus produced drimans in common with the other species in this group, and also several unique unknown compounds. Aspergillus calidoustus isolates produced drimans and ophiobolins in common with A. insuetus and A. keveii, but also produced austins. Aspergillus insuetus isolates also produced pergillin while A. keveii isolates produced nidulol. In the third chemical group, E. heterothallica has been reported to produce emethallicins, 5'-hydroxyaveranthin, emeheterone, emesterones, 5'-hydroxyaveranthin.
Zero-metallicity stars - II. Evolution of very massive objects with mass loss

We present evolutionary models of zero-metallicity very massive objects, with initial masses in the range 120 $M_{\odot}$–1000 $M_{\odot}$, covering their quiescent evolution up to central carbon ignition. In the attempt of exploring the possible occurrence of mass loss by stellar winds, calculations are carried out with recently-developed formalisms for the mass-loss rates driven by radiation pressure (Kudritzki 2002) and stellar rotation (Maeder & Meynet 2000). The study completes the previous analysis by Marigo et al. (2001) on the constant-mass evolution of primordial stars. Our results indicate that radiation pressure (assuming a minimum metallicity $Z = 10^{-4}\times Z_{\odot}$) is not an efficient driving force of mass loss, except for very massive stars with $M \ga 750 \, M_{\odot}$. On the other hand, stellar rotation might play a crucial role in triggering powerful stellar winds, once the $\Omega\Gamma$-limit is approached. However, this critical condition of intense mass loss can be maintained just for short, as the loss of angular momentum due to mass ejection quickly leads to the spinning down of the star. As by-product to the present work, the wind chemical yields from massive zero-metallicity stars are presented. The helium and metal enrichments, and the resulting $\Delta Y/\Delta Z$ ratio are briefly discussed.
Different Diabetogenic Potential of Autoaggressive CD8+ Clones Associated with IFN-γ-Inducible Protein 10 (CXC Chemokine Ligand 10) Production but Not Cytokine Expression, Cytolytic Activity, or Homing Characteristics1

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease characterized by T cell-mediated destruction of the insulin-producing β cells in the islets of Langerhans. From studies in animal models, CD8+ T cells recognizing autoantigens such as islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic subunit-related protein, insulin, or glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) are believed to play important roles in both the early and late phases of β cell destruction. In this study, we investigated the factors governing the diabetogenic potential of autoreactive CD8+ clones isolated from spleens of NOD mice that had been immunized with GAD65515–524 or insulin B-chain15–23 peptides. Although these two clones were identical in most phenotypic and functional aspects, for example cytokine production and killing of autologous β cells, they differed in the expression of IFN-γ-inducible protein-10, which was only produced at high levels by the insulin-specific clone, but not by the GAD65-specific clone, and other autoantigen-specific nonpathogenic CD8 T cell clones. Interestingly, upon i.p. injection into neonatal mice, only the insulin B-chain15–23-reactive CD8+ T clone accelerated diabetes in all recipients after 4 wk, although both insulin- and GAD-reactive clones homed to pancreas and pancreatic lymph nodes with similar kinetics. Diabetes was associated with increased pancreatic T cell infiltration and, in particular, recruitment of macrophages. Thus, secretion of IFN-γ-inducible protein-10 by autoaggressive CD8+ lymphocytes might determine their diabetogenic capacity by affecting recruitment of cells to the insulitic lesion.
Proteasome inhibitors block VCAM‐1 and ICAM‐1 gene expression in endothelial cells without affecting nuclear translocation of nuclear factor‐ϰB

Endothelial cells play a major role in recruiting leukocytes to sites of inflammation. This is accomplished, at least in part, by up‐regulation of cell surface adhesion molecules, including VCAM‐1 and ICAM‐1, in response to cytokines. In this report, we investigated the role of the proteasome complex in mediating the interleukin (IL)‐1β induction of VCAM‐1 and ICAM‐1 gene expression in human endothelial cells. We present evidence that a proteasome inhibitor, n‐acetyl‐leucinyl‐leucinyl‐norleucinal (norLEU), as well as specific protease inhibitors, n‐tosyl‐Lys‐chloromethylketone and n‐tosyl‐Phe‐chloromethylketone, blocked IL‐1β induction of VCAM‐1 and ICAM‐1 promoter‐driven reporter gene expression in stably transfected endothelial cells. These inhibitors also blocked cytokine induced cell surface expression of VCAM‐1 and ICAM‐1 by human umbilical vein endothelial cells. As expected, the protease inhibitors blocked the activation of nuclear factor (NF)‐ϰB in response to IL‐1β stimulation. In contrast, norLEU did not prevent IL‐1β‐induced nuclear translocation of NF‐ϰB. The effects of norLEU were specific because it did not inhibit the IL‐1β induction of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 gene expression. This study demonstrates that inhibition of the proteolytic activity of the proteasome blocks IL‐1β induction of VCAM‐1 and ICAM‐1 gene expression in human endothelial cells.
Involvement of DNA methylation in memory processing in the honey bee

DNA methylation, an important and evolutionarily conserved epigenetic mechanism, is implicated in learning and memory processes in vertebrates, but its role in behaviour in invertebrates is unknown. We examined the role of DNA methylation in memory in the honey bee using an appetitive Pavlovian olfactory discrimination task, and by assessing the expression of DNA methyltransferase3, a key driver of epigenetic reprogramming. Here we report that DNA methyltransferase inhibition reduces acquisition retention and alters the extinction depending on treatment time, and DNA methyltransferase3 is upregulated after training. Our findings add to the understanding of epigenetic mechanisms in learning and memory, extending known roles of DNA methylation to appetitive and extinction memory, and for the first time implicate DNA methylation in memory in invertebrates.
Asymmetric production of surface-dividing and non-surface-dividing cortical progenitor cells

Mature neocortical layers all derive from the cortical plate (CP), a transient zone in the dorsal telencephalon into which young neurons are continuously delivered. To understand cytogenetic and histogenetic events that trigger the emergence of the CP, we have used a slice culture technique. Most divisions at the ventricular surface generated paired cycling daughters (P/P divisions) and the majority of the P/P divisions were asymmetric in daughter cell behavior; they frequently sent one daughter cell to a non-surface (NS) position, the subventricular zone (SVZ), within a single cell-cycle length while keeping the other mitotic daughter for division at the surface. The NS-dividing cells were mostly Hu+ and their daughters were also Hu+, suggesting their commitment to the neuronal lineage and supply of early neurons at a position much closer to their destiny than from the ventricular surface. The release of a cycling daughter cell to SVZ was achieved by collapse of the ventricular process of the cell, followed by its NS division. Neurogenin2 (Ngn2) was immunohistochemically detected in a certain cycling population during G1 phase and was further restricted during G2-M phases to the SVZ-directed population. Its retroviral introduction converted surface divisions to NS divisions. The asymmetric P/P division may therefore contribute to efficient neuron/progenitor segregation required for CP initiation through cell cycle-dependent and lineage-restricted expression of Ngn2.
The effect of summer vacation on bilingual preschoolers' language development

The purpose of the investigation was to examine the developmental trajectories of bilingual preschoolers' comprehension of Spanish and English and to determine whether a lengthy summer vacation impacted children's development during the preschool years. Participants included 83 bilingual children who were followed over a 2‐year period during which time children attended a federally funded preschool programme for children from low‐income homes living in the US. Children were divided into two groups based on whether their scores on receptive language measures increased or decreased during their first year of Head Start. Results revealed that children whose scores increased experienced positive growth in their language comprehension in Spanish and English over the 2‐year period, whereas children whose scores decreased during the first year continued to experience a negative developmental trajectory in their second year. Additionally, it was found that a lengthy summer vacation had a differential effect on children's development. Summer vacation had a negative effect on the developmental trajectories of children who experienced gains in their comprehension of English and Spanish and a positive impact on children whose scores declined during the school year. Clinical implications suggest that children may require differential support during the school year and summer vacation depending upon their developmental trajectories during the first year in preschool.
Augmented Cerebral Activation by Lumbar Mechanical Stimulus in Chronic Low Back Pain Patients: An fMRI Study

Study Design. Cerebral activation by lumbar mechanical stimulus was investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy subjects and patients with chronic low back pain (LBP). Objectives. To characterize the cerebral substrates of LBP, and to explore a possible pathologic pattern of cerebral activation in chronic LBP patients. Summary of Background Data. The cerebral substrates of LBP have been poorly defined in contrast to those of cutaneous somatic pain. Methods. Eight healthy volunteers and 6 patients with idiopathic, chronic LBP were recruited. Each subject was placed in the prone position on a 3 Tesla MRI scanner, and stimulated by manual pressure with the tail of an air-filled, 20-mL syringe at 5 cm left of the fourth-fifth lumbar spinal interspace. Three blocks of 30-second painful stimulus, calibrated at either 3 or 5 on the 10-cm visual analog scale (VAS), were applied with intervening 30-second rest conditions during whole-brain echo-planar imaging. VAS of pain intensity and unpleasantness were evaluated after each session. Functional imaging was analyzed using a multisubject general linear model with Bonferroni multiple comparisons at P < 0.05. Results. Pain thresholds were smaller (P < 0.05) and VAS of unpleasantness was larger in LBP patients than in healthy subjects. Activation was observed at the prefrontal, insular, posterior cingulate cortices (PCC), supplementary motor, and premotor areas predominantly in the right hemisphere, but not at the somatosensory cortices. LBP patients showed augmented activation compared with healthy volunteers specifically at the right insula, supplementary motor, and PCC. Conclusion. Chronic LBP patients showed increased tenderness at the lower back, higher aversive reaction to pain, and augmented LBP-related cerebral activation. The LBP-related activation is characterized by the absence of sensory-discriminative component and the involvement of PCC.
Perception Survey of Employees Participation in Decision Making and Organizational Productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria PLC Bonny Island

The paper is a perception survey of employees’ participation in decision making and organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island. It defines employees’ participation in decision making as a process of sharing influence in decision making among individuals who are otherwise hierarchically unequal. It assumes that involvement of employees in decision making increases their commitment and organizational productivity. The research question addressed the extent of the relationship between employees’ participation in decision making and increased employees commitment and organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island. The place of study is Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island while the duration of study is between May 2012 and June 2013. A descriptive research design was used in executing the study using 200 randomly selected respondents from a population of 2000 employees for questionnaire administration. The sample size of 200 was judgmentally determined from 10% of the population size. The core aspect of the study is the use of cross-sectional Original Research Article British Journal of Economics, Management & Trade, 4(4): 620-637, 2014 621 survey research design in generating the required primary data. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results from the data analysis indicated that significant relationship exists between employees’ participation in decision making and increased employees commitment and organizational productivity. The research therefore concludes that significant relationship exists between employees’ participation in decision making and organizational productivity in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Bonny Island and recommends among others: encouragement of work teams, training and re-training of employees, improvement of reward system and improvement of internal communication channels.
A hardware mechanism for dynamic extraction and relayout of program hot spots

This paper presents a new mechanism for collecting and deploying runtime optimized code. The code-collecting component resides in the instruction retirement stage and lays out hot execution paths to improve instruction fetch rate as well as enable further code optimization. The code deployment component uses an extension to the Branch Target Buffer to migrate execution into the new code without modifying the original code. No significant delay is added to the total execution of the program due to these components. The code collection scheme enables safe runtime optimization along paths that span function boundaries. This technique provides a better platform for runtime optimization than trace caches, because the traces are longer and persist in main memory across context switches. Additionally, these traces are not as susceptible to transient behavior because they are restricted to frequently executed code. Empirical results show that on average this mechanism can achieve better instruction fetch rates using only 12 KB of hardware than a trace cache requiring 15 KB of hardware, while producing long, persistent traces more suited to optimization.
Detecting conflicts in a role-based delegation model

The RBAC96 access control model has been the basis for extensive work on role-based constraint specification and role-based delegation. However these practical extensions can also lead to conflicts at compile and run-time. We demonstrate, following a role-based, declarative approach, how conflicts between specified separation of duty constraints and delegation activities can be detected. This approach also demonstrates the general suitability of Prolog as an executable specification language for the simulation and analysis of role-based systems. Using an extended definition of a role we show how at least one of the conflicts can be resolved and discuss the impacts of this extension on the specified constraints.
Cell signal mechanisms, conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) and anti-tumorigenesis.

Fats have been adversely implicated in the aetiology of many forms of cancer yet evidence is accumulating that certain types of fatty acids have anticancer properties. This is well documented for fish-oil fatty acids of the n-3 family. Recently, fatty acids found to occur naturally in ruminant-derived food products were found to have anticancer properties. These fatty acids were identified as conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) derived from the parent linoleic acid by its partial hydrogenation by rumen bacteria. Studies with tumour-bearing animals have shown that consumption of CLAs particularly with regard to breast and prostate cancer is beneficial. Studies with cancer cells have also shown that these fatty acids can inhibit cell proliferation and induce cell death. However, little is known regarding the mechanisms of action of these CLAs. In particular, which cellular signal mechanisms are regulated by CLAs which can explain their anticancer properties. We have shown that CLAs specifically up-regulate cell signal systems at the level of gene expression (mRNA, protein) in human breast and prostate cancer cells which are responsible for the induction of apoptosis or programmed cell death. These findings support the anticancer effects of CLA found in animal models and indicate similar effects could occur in man.
The impact of gelotophobia, gelotophilia and katagelasticism on creativity

Abstract A number of studies have found that humor has a positive short-term effect in terms of enhancing creativity, but few have examined its long-term effects, and few have considered different personality traits when exploring this connection. The present study seeks to address this gap by examining the relationship between creativity and dispositions towards ridicule and being laughed at. We conceptualized humor-induced mirth as a positive emotion within the framework of broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson 1998), with the potential to foster an individual's disposition towards creative behavior. We hypothesized that this potential would depend on different dispositions towards ridicule and being laughed at. Path analysis was then used to explore the impact of gelotophobia, gelotophilia and katagelasticism on creative performance, with creative disposition as a mediating variable. Gelotophobia, the fear of being laughed at, was found to correlate negatively with creative disposition, and may also exert an indirect negative influence on creative performance through its association with creative disposition. Gelotophilia, the joy of being laughed at, on the other hand, appears to have a partially mediated influence on creativity, exhibiting both a direct and an indirect positive relation through its positive association with creative disposition. No significant relation was observed between katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others) and creativity.