Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
P-Glycoprotein and Drug Resistance in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are chronic inflammatory disorders of unknown etiology characterized by a wide range of abnormalities of the immune system that may compromise the function of several organs, such as kidney, heart, joints, brain and skin. Corticosteroids (CCS), synthetic and biologic immunosuppressive agents have demonstrated the capacity to improve the course of autoimmune diseases. However, a significant number of patients do not respond or develop resistance to these therapies over time. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is a transmembrane protein that pumps several drugs out of the cell, including CCS and immunosuppressants; thus, its over-expression or hyper-function has been proposed as a possible mechanism of drug resistance in patients with autoimmune disorders. Recently, different authors have demonstrated that P-gp inhibitors, such as cyclosporine A (CsA) and its analogue Tacrolimus, are able to reduce P-gp expression and or function in SLE, RA and PsA patients. These observations suggest that P-gp antagonists could be adopted to revert drug resistance and improve disease outcome. The complex inter-relationship among drug resistance, P-gp expression and autoimmunity still remains elusive.
Incisional procedures and prognosis in malignant melanoma

A total of seventy‐six patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma were analysed with relation to the prognostic influence of incisional biopsies. Of these, sixty‐two underwent primary radical surgery, whereas fourteen patients had an incisional procedure prior to definitive treatment. Multivariate analysis revealed that survival was markedly reduced after incisional procedures. Other important prognostic factors were ulceration, age and sex. We believe that punch or incisional biopsies taken to substantiate the diagnosis of melanoma should be avoided.
Solar Activity Forecasting by Incorporating Prior Knowledge from Nonlinear Dynamics into Neural Networks

This paper presents an efficient approach for the prediction of sunspot-related time series commonly used for monitoring solar activity, namely the Yearly Sunspot Number and the R12 Index. The method consists in matching a "de-rectification" procedure of sunspot data with the use of nonlinear dynamics tools in order to design neural network based predictors with close-to-optimal performance. In fact, whereas the "de-rectification" process allows to obtain time series that can be modeled by neural structures much better than the original datasets, the incorporation of the prior knowledge extracted by using nonlinear dynamics into neural networks generates models able to fully capture the chaotic dynamics of solar activity. The proposed approach produces prediction results that outperform the most accurate methods existing in literature both for short and medium-term forecasting horizons.
The Treatment of Fear of Movement/(Re)injury in Chronic Low Back Pain: Further Evidence on the Effectiveness of Exposure In Vivo

Background and objectiveSeveral cognitive–behavioral factors contribute to the persistence of pain disability in patients with chronic back pain. Fear-avoidance beliefs and fear of movement/(re)injury in particular have been shown to be strong predictors of physical performance and pain disability. Patients reporting substantial pain-related fear might benefit from exposure in vivo to a set of individually tailored, fear-eliciting, and hierarchically ordered physical movements rather than more general graded activity. Patients and interventionsSix consecutive patients with chronic low back pain who reported substantial fear of movement/(re)injury were included in the study. After a no-treatment baseline measurement period, the patients were randomly assigned to one of two interventions. In the first intervention, patients received exposure in vivo first, followed by graded activity. In the second intervention, the sequence of treatment modules was reversed. Before each treatment module, treatment credibility was assessed. Daily measures of pain-related fear, pain catastrophizing, and pain intensity were completed using visual analog scales. In addition, standardized measures of pain disability, pain-related fear, and pain vigilance were taken before and after each treatment module and at the 1-year follow-up. To obtain more objective data on actual activity levels, an ambulatory activity monitor was carried by the patients during 1 week before and after each treatment module. ResultsTime series analysis of the daily measures showed that improvements in pain-related fear and pain catastrophizing occurred only during the exposure in vivo and not during the graded activity, irrespective of the treatment order. Analysis of the pretreatment to post-treatment differences also revealed that decreases in pain-related fear also concurred with decreases in pain disability and pain vigilance and an increase in physical activity levels. All improvements remained at the 1-year follow-up.
On the network to Damascus: Emerging adulthood, social networks, and conversion in American religion

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . v DEDICATION . vii PREFACE . viii LIST OF TABLES . xiv INTRODUCTION. ELEVATING THE COMMUNICATION DIMENSION IN THE STUDY OF RELIGIOUS CONVERSION . 1 Religious Conversion in American History and Religious Culture . 2 Scientific Research Into Conversion: A Brief Overview . 3 Defining the Concept of Conversion . 5 Importance of U.S. Religious Liberty and Religious Culture to the Study of Conversion . 8 CHAPTER ONE. SOCIAL NETWORKS AND CONVERSION IN THE CURRENT AMERICAN RELIGIOUS CULTURE . 11 Making First Contact: The Significance of the Preaffiliation Stage of Conversion . 11 Explaining Conversion: Social Networks Displace Purely Psychological Perspectives . 15 Early Psychological Explanations for Conversion . 15 The Social Network Paradigm in Current Conversion Research . 17 CHAPTER TWO. FAMILY COMMUNICATION PATTERNS, COMMUNICATION MEDIA, AND RELIGIOUS EXPLORATION IN EMERGING ADULTHOOD . 26 Prime Time for Conversion: Emerging Adulthood as a Period of Religious Decisions . 27 Limitations in Existing Research on Religiosity and Spirituality in Emerging Adulthood . 28 The Importance of Emerging Adulthood for Conversion . 29 Changes in an Emerging Adult’s Religious and Spiritual Beliefs and Practices . 31 The Influence of Higher Education on Emerging Adults’ Religiosity and Spirituality . 33 Family Communication and Religious Exploration in Emerging Adulthood . 35
DNA Fountain enables a robust and efficient storage architecture

A reliable and efficient DNA storage architecture DNA has the potential to provide large-capacity information storage. However, current methods have only been able to use a fraction of the theoretical maximum. Erlich and Zielinski present a method, DNA Fountain, which approaches the theoretical maximum for information stored per nucleotide. They demonstrated efficient encoding of information—including a full computer operating system—into DNA that could be retrieved at scale after multiple rounds of polymerase chain reaction. Science, this issue p. 950 A resilient DNA storage strategy enables near-maximal information content per nucleotide. DNA is an attractive medium to store digital information. Here we report a storage strategy, called DNA Fountain, that is highly robust and approaches the information capacity per nucleotide. Using our approach, we stored a full computer operating system, movie, and other files with a total of 2.14 × 106 bytes in DNA oligonucleotides and perfectly retrieved the information from a sequencing coverage equivalent to a single tile of Illumina sequencing. We also tested a process that can allow 2.18 × 1015 retrievals using the original DNA sample and were able to perfectly decode the data. Finally, we explored the limit of our architecture in terms of bytes per molecule and obtained a perfect retrieval from a density of 215 petabytes per gram of DNA, orders of magnitude higher than previous reports.
Phylogeographical autocorrelation of phenotypic evolution in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.)

The analysis of phenotypic divergence among local populations within a species has been traditionally performed in a spatial context, although advances in genetic analysis using mtDNA have permitted a simultaneous evaluation of geographical and historical patterns of variation, so-called phylogeographical analysis. In this paper, we combine these two dimensions of variation (geographical space and phylogenetic history) to evaluate patterns of phenotypic evolution in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Data on 39 phenotypic traits, derived from 417 colonies grouped into 14 subspecies, were analysed using autocorrelation methods. Mantel tests indicated that the relationship between phenotypic divergence, estimated by Euclidean distances among subspecies’ morphological centroids, was significant both when compared to geographical distance (r=0.371; P< 0.01) and to genetic distance (estimated as sequence divergence (%) in a mtDNA region encompassing part of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and isoleucine transfer RNA (r=0.329; P< 0.01)). For the analysis of each trait, the effects of the geographical co-ordinates (latitude and longitude of subspecies geographical range) and of the phylogenetic patterns (defined by eigenvectors of the genetic distance matrix) on phenotypic variation were simultaneously analysed using an extension of a recently developed model, called Phylogenetic Eigenvector Regression (PVR). In general terms, the partial regression slopes indicated that the variation in the characters traditionally associated with adaptive processes, such as body and wing size, were better explained by geographical position. However, characters usually thought to be neutral, such as wing venation angle, were more associated with phylogeny. This is expected because PVR can be interpreted as a partition model, in which adaptive variation tends to be independent of phylogeny (and, in this case, associated with geography). In addition, the first principal component derived from the expected values of the model for each trait, which can be interpreted as the phenotypic variation predicted by phylogeny, is more structured in a north–south cline than are the original data, supporting an adaptive interpretation. The phylogeographical autocorrelation analyses performed in this study show that different traits are more related to one of the two dimensions of variation (geography and phylogeny), and these patterns can furnish insights into the nature of phenotypic evolution in these organisms.
Comparison of the microbiota of supra- and subgingival plaque in health and periodontitis.

BACKGROUND, AIMS The purpose of the present investigation was to compare the microbial composition of supra and subgingival plaque in 22 periodontally healthy (mean age 32+/-16 years) and 23 adult periodontitis subjects (mean age 51+/-14 years). METHODS A total of 2358 supra and separately subgingival plaque samples were collected from the mesial aspect of all teeth excluding 3rd molars in each subject. Samples were examined for the presence and levels of 40 bacterial taxa using whole genomic DNA probes and checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization. Clinical assessments including dichotomous measures of gingival redness, bleeding on probing, plaque accumulation and suppuration, as well as duplicate measures of pocket depth and attachment level, were made at 6 sites per tooth. Mean counts (x10(5), % DNA probe count and % sites colonized for each species were determined separately for supra and subgingival samples in each subject and then averaged across subjects in the 2 clinical groups. Significance of differences between healthy and periodontitis subjects was determined using the Mann-Whitney test and adjusted for multiple comparisons. RESULTS Mean total DNA probe counts (x10(5), +/-SEM) for healthy and periodontitis subjects in supragingival plaque were 72.1+/-11 and 132+/-17.5, respectively (p<0.01), and in subgingival plaque 22.1+/-6.6 and 100.3+/-18.4, (p<0.001). Porphyromonas gingivalis, Bacteroides forsythus and Treponema denticola could be detected in supragingival plaque samples of both healthy and periodontitis subjects. Actinomyces species were the dominant taxa in both supra- and subgingival plaque from healthy and periodontitis subjects. 4 Actinomyces species accounted for 63.2%, of supragingival and 47.2% of subgingival plaque in healthy subjects and 48. % and 37.8% in periodontitis subjects respectively. Increased proportions of P. gingivalis, B. forsythus, and species of Prevotella, Fusobacterium, Campylobacter and Treponema were detected subgingivally in the periodontitis subjects. P. gingivalis, B. forsythus and T. denticola were significantly more prevalent in both supra- and subgingival plaque samples from periodontitis subjects. CONCLUSIONS The main differences between supra and subgingival plaque as well as between health and disease were in the proportions and to some extent levels of Actinomyces, "orange" and "red" complex species.
Multiparty mediation: A more optimistic view

ELIZABETH J. MENNINGA: Multiparty Mediation: A More Optimistic View (Under the direction of Stephen E. Gent.) Mediation is a popular conflict resolution tool used by the international community to limit the duration and damage of civil conflicts. Yet empirical studies of conflict resolution, peace agreements, and the techniques used to influence outcomes, treat all types of mediation efforts as equivalent. This thesis explores how multiparty mediation efforts differ from single-party efforts and how these differences affect the resolution of conflicts and the durability of peace settlements. Arguing that multiparty efforts should lead to a more stable peace than singleparty mediation, these differences are tested using logistic and Cox proportional hazard analyses on a sample of peace agreements resulting from civil conflicts. The results show that multiparty mediation decreases the likelihood of an agreement failing compared to single party mediation efforts in all models, but these results are not consistently statistically significant.
A Sport-Specific Protocol for Diagnosing Exercise-Induced Asthma in Cross-Country Skiers

ObjectiveThis study evaluates a sport-specific protocol to evaluate cross-country skiers for exercise-induced asthma (EIA). Study DesignParticipants completed an asthma symptom questionnaire prior to participation. They were then tested by portable digital spirometer with measurements prior to exercise and at 5-minute increments following a 15-minute cross-country skiing exercise session on a groomed ski trail. SettingAll spirometry measurements were collected indoors at Nordic ski areas in the Duluth, Minnesota, area. Each ski area was groomed for both skating and classical technique. Subjects99 high school skiers, 55 female and 44 male, of various skill levels were tested. All were members of their respective high school cross-country ski team. Testing was open to all ski team members. Skiers from seven different high schools participated. Main Outcome MeasuresBronchial hyperresponsiveness to exercise measured by the change in forced expiratory volume at 1 s (FEV1) following exercise. A result was considered positive if the decrement in FEV1 was greater than 10% in any two of the postexercise test increments in comparison with the preexercise baseline. Results28 of 99 (28%) skiers met the criteria for EIA. No significant differences were found with regards to gender, age, or previous experience. Several individual items on the Asthma Symptom Questionnaire were associated with a positive spirometry test. ConclusionsUsing a simple protocol of pre- and postexercise spirometry with a defined exercise challenge, a large number of athletes were screened objectively for this condition. Both the equipment and protocol worked well in the field environment and could easily be adapted to most any sports environment.
Therapeutic Discovery Determinants of Mitotic Catastrophe on Abrogation of the G 2 DNA Damage Checkpoint by UCN-01

Genotoxic stress such as ionizing radiation halts entry into mitosis by activation of the G2 DNA damage checkpoint. The CHK1 inhibitor 7-hydroxystaurosporine (UCN-01) can bypass the checkpoint and induce unscheduled mitosis in irradiated cells. Precisely, how cells behave following checkpoint abrogation remains to be defined. In this study, we tracked the fates of individual cells after checkpoint abrogation, focusing in particular on whether they undergo mitotic catastrophe. Surprisingly, while a subset of UCN-01–treated cells were immediately eliminated during the first mitosis after checkpoint abrogation, about half remained viable and progressed into G1. Both the delay of mitotic entry and the level of mitotic catastrophewere dependent on the dose of radiation. Although the level of mitotic catastrophe was specific for different cell lines, it could be promoted by extending the mitosis. In supporting this idea, weakening of the spindle-assembly checkpoint, by either depleting MAD2 or overexpressing the MAD2-binding protein p31, suppressed mitotic catastrophe. Conversely, delaying of mitotic exit by depleting either p31 or CDC20 tipped the balance toward mitotic catastrophe. These results underscore the interplay between the level of DNA damage and the effectiveness of the spindle-assembly checkpoint in determining whether checkpoint-abrogated cells are eliminated during mitosis. Mol Cancer Ther; 10(5); 784–94. 2011 AACR.
Toward Finding Semantic Relations not Written in a Single Sentence: An Inference Method using Auto-Discovered Rules

Recent advances in automatic knowledge acquisition methods have enabled us to construct massive knowledge bases of semantic relations. Most previous work has focused on semantic relations explicitly expressed in single sentences. Our goal in this work is to obtain valid non-single sentence relation instances, which are not written in any single sentence and may not be even written in a large corpus. We develop a method to infer new semantic relation instances by applying auto-discovered inference rules, and show that our method inferred a considerable number of valid instances that were not written in single sentences even in 600 million Web pages.
The chase: Career of the compulsive gambler

In many barrooms, poolrooms, bowling alleys, and casinos, and at many golf courses and race tracks, there are groups of men who engage in seemingly illogical behavior. They "chase. " That is, they gamble and lose yet continue to gamble some more in order to "get even. " The more money that is lost, the more intense the "chase. " Another name for the "chase" is compulsive gambling. Compulsive gamblers are those people who through the chase become trapped in a selfenclosed system of option usage and involvement. Publisher Anchor Press Doi http://dx.doi. org/10.11575/PRISM/9795 Uri http://hdl.handle. net/1880/41342 Collections The chase: Career of the compulsive gambler LIBRARIES AND CULTURAL RESOURCES 
Lexical Heads, Phrase Structure and the Induction of Grammar

Acquiring linguistically plausible phrase-structure grammars from ordinary text has proven difficult for standard induction techniques, and researchers have turned to supervised training from bracketed corpora. We examine why previous approaches have failed to acquire desired grammars, concentrating our analysis on the inside-outside algorithm (Baker, 1979), and propose that with a representation of phrase structure centered on head relations such supervision may not be necessary.
Can Pulp Fibroblasts Kill Cariogenic Bacteria? Role of Complement Activation

Complement system activation has been shown to be involved in inflammation and regeneration processes that can be observed within the dental pulp after moderate carious decay. Studies simulating carious injuries in vitro have shown that when human pulp fibroblasts are stimulated by lipoteichoic acid (LTA), they synthetize all complement components. Complement activation leads to the formation of the membrane attack complex (MAC), which is known for its bacterial lytic effect. This work was designed to find out whether human pulp fibroblasts can kill Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguinis via complement activation. First, histological staining of carious tooth sections showed that the presence of S. mutans correlated with an intense MAC staining. Next, to simulate bacterial infection in vitro, human pulp fibroblasts were incubated in serum-free medium with LTA. Quantification by an enzymatic assay showed a significant increase of MAC formation on bacteria grown in this LTA-conditioned medium. To determine whether the MAC produced by pulp fibroblasts was functional, bacteria sensitivity to LTA-conditioned medium was evaluated using agar well diffusion assay and succinyl dehydrogenase (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide [MTT]) assay. Both assays showed that S. mutans and S. sanguinis were sensitive to LTA-conditioned medium. Finally, to evaluate whether MAC formation on cariogenic bacteria, by pulp fibroblasts, can be directly induced by the presence of these bacteria, a specific coculture model of human pulp fibroblasts and bacteria was developed. Immunofluorescence revealed an intense MAC labeling on bacteria after direct contact with pulp fibroblasts. The observed MAC formation and its lethal effects were significantly reduced when CD59, an inhibitor of MAC formation, was added. Our findings demonstrate that the MAC produced by LTA-stimulated pulp fibroblasts is functional and can kill S. mutans and S. sanguinis. Taken together, these data clearly highlight the function of pulp fibroblasts in destroying cariogenic bacteria.
Novel kidney cancer immunotherapy based on the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and carbonic anhydrase IX fusion gene.

PURPOSE We investigated the ability of the fusion protein granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and carbonic anhydrase IX (GMCA-9)(1) to induce an immune response in vitro and in vivo for the development of a GMCA-9-based kidney cancer vaccine. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Human dendritic cells (DCs) were transduced with a recombinant adenovirus containing the GMCA-9 gene and tested for their capacity to induce CA9-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in vitro. Tumor growth was studied in severe compromised immunodeficiency disease (SCID) mice s.c. injected with R11-GMCA-9, a human renal cell carcinoma cell line stably transfected with the GMCA-9 gene. Involvement of natural killer (NK) cells in the antitumor activity of GMCA-9 was determined in SCID mice treated with the NK-blocking agent anti-asialoGM-1. RESULTS DC and R11 cells transduced with GMCA-9 produced a GMCA-9 protein that is targeted to the cell membrane and partially processed to granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor- and CA9-like products. Furthermore, GMCA-9 was capable of inducing DC maturation, as well as CA9-specific cytotoxic lymphocytes in vitro. Tumor growth of R11 cells in SCID mice was significantly inhibited after transfection with the GMCA-9 fusion gene (P < 0.01). In mice treated with anti-asialoGM-1, R11-GMCA-9 tumors grew significantly faster than those of control mice (P < 0.05), suggesting an involvement of NK cells. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that the fusion protein GMCA-9 is capable of generating an immune response both in vitro and in vivo. Additional studies will confirm the utility of ex vivo GMCA-9-transduced DCs as a kidney cancer vaccine.