Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Higher homocysteine levels in young Indian adults: Impact of vitamin B12 & folate deficiencies

Sir, An article by Gupta and colleagues1 on the role of homocysteine and MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism as risk factors for coronary artery disease in young Indians, published recently provides information about the risk factors of coronary artery disease; high levels of homocysteine, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and low levels of HDL cholesterol and smoking as an independent predictors in young Indians. There are certain issues which need to be clarified: First, the blood homocyteine levels were used as one of the main parameters measured in the cases and controls. As the authors also emphasized, mean blood homocysteine levels were found higher than the normal range in both cases and controls. They explained this state, the possible result of dietary deficiency of vitamin B6, B12 and folic acid as seen in Indian population2,3. Thus the reason for higher homocysteine levels observed in both the groups due to either MTHFR mutations or dietary vitamin deficiencies could not be assessed clearly. They did not measure blood folate and vitamin B12 levels to evaluate these deficiencies. The effect of vitamin deficiencies on the results of this study might be as a confounding factor. It could be suggested that measuring blood levels of vitamin B12 and folate might lead to a better evaluation of study groups according to their deficiency states. Assessment of groups separately would enable to interpret the effects of vitamin B12 and folic acid administration more precisely. Second, according to Table III which shows the mean levels of cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, triglycerides levels, the mean total cholesterol level (154 mg/dl) is lower than LDL cholesterol level (157 mg/dl) in the control group. Since total cholesterol level could not be lower than LDL-C concentrations, there appears to be a possible typographic error in the value of mean LDL-C levels of controls group.
Friendships between men across sexual orientation: The management of sexual difference through humour

Drawing upon qualitative interview data examining friendships between men across sexual orientation, this article contributes to our understanding of the management of sexual difference within interpersonal relationships. In seeming contradistinction to substantial bodies of research that emphasise the significance of maintaining boundaries between homosocial and homosexual desire within male friendship relations, research participants commonly subverted socially constructed distinctions between romantic and platonic relationships as a form of humour. While these joking behaviours seemingly challenged the conventional norms and practices of same-sex male friendship, this article contends that they paradoxically expressed and reinforced fixed sexual identities.
Sex Differences in Preferences for Humor: A Replication, Modification, and Extension

Evolutionary-minded scientists have proposed that humor is a sexually selected trait in men that signals mate quality. Indeed, women tend to prefer men who make them laugh and men tend to prefer women who laugh at their jokes. However, it is unclear how robust this pattern is. Here we report a replication of one of the first studies (Bressler, Martin, and Balshine, 2006) to examine the sex differences in preferences for humor receptivity versus humor production. We replicate Bressler et al.'s (2006) findings that men prefer women who are receptive to their humor whereas women prefer men who produce humor. These findings held even after we modified Bressler et al.'s questionnaire for better conceptual validity. Furthermore, using a separate measure designed to assess trade-offs, we found that men viewed humor receptivity as a necessity and humor production as a luxury when they were asked to create an ideal long-term partner. For women, it was just the opposite. These results bolster the claim that sexual selection has shaped sex differences regarding preferences for a prospective mate's sense of humor and that what one means by “sense of humor” can vary.
The Continuing Consequences of Segregation: Family Stress and College Academic Performance*

We seek to determine whether the high levels of African-American residential segregation experienced have continuing academic consequences. Because segregation works to concentrate poverty and the social problems associated with it, the friends and relatives of African-American students face an elevated risk of stressful life events, which undermine grade performance. Copyright (c) 2004 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.
AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MOTIVATED STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING QUESTIONNAIRE AND THE LEARNING PROCESS QUESTIONNAIRE

The relationship between the scales of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ) was examined using an integrated data approach (Skinner, 1977, 1978) that combined features of multiple regression analysis, canonical correlation, and multiple-set factor analysis. Results based on a Hong Kong sample of upper primary and lower secondary students generally agreed with expectations of how the scales in these two instruments would be associated. The LPQ surface scale paired with the MSLQ test anxiety scale, while the LPQ deep scale paired with the MSLQ intrinsic value scale and the LPQ achieving scale paired with the self-efficacy scale. However, contrary to expectations, the MSLQ cognitive strategy-use scale paired with the LPQ deep scale, while the MSLQ self-regulation scale paired with the LPQ achieving scale. It is suggested that the MSLQ self-regulation scale is a measure of efficient study strategies characteristically used by achieving oriented students. In contrast, it is argued that students adopting a deep approach to learning need the requisite cognitive skills for this approach to be self-motivating.
Core structure re-examined using new teleseismic data recorded in Antarctica: evidence for, at most, weak cylindrical seismic anisotropy in the inner core

We present a significant addition to the data set of traveltimes of seismic PKP waves that sample the Earth's lowermost mantle and core along the Earth's rotation axis. Recorded at permanent Global Seismic Network (GSN) and temporary SSCUA deployment broad-band seismographic stations in Antarctica, the new data improve the previously poor and biased coverage that underlies the seismic constraints on recent models of inner core structure and anisotropy. On the one hand, new differential PKP traveltime measurements improve the sampling of predominantly the eastern inner core hemisphere. PKPab-df and PKPbc-df differential traveltime residuals, with respect to the spherically symmetric model ak135, are consistently smaller than two seconds along the north–south paths sampled. Axially symmetric models of inner core seismic anisotropy with fast axis parallel to the Earth's rotation axis require a weak anisotropy of (0.7 ± 0.1) per cent to be consistent with our PKPbc-df observations. PKPbc-df residuals from the quasi-eastern hemisphere indicate (0.4 ± 0.1) per cent anisotropy. If only PKPbc-df observations from the top 200 km of this hemisphere are considered, this is reduced to (0.1 ± 0.2) per cent, consistent with an isotropic layer. On the other hand, new absolute PKP traveltime measurements add to the sampling of both hemispheres of the inner core, but it is difficult to use them with more confidence to assess structure of the core since they are affected by crustal and mantle structure and source uncertainties. The newly collected data set also increases constraints on D" structure beneath the South Pole. In contrast to previous inferences based on data from northern stations, we find no evidence of a velocity heterogeneity in the outer core near the inner core boundary associated with the cylinder tangent to the inner core in the southern hemisphere.
Duration and Context Effects on the Perception of English /r/ and /l/: A Comparison of Cantonese and Japanese Speakers.

This study examines the role that duration plays in the perception of a new phonemic contrast, namely English /r/-/I/, by Cantonese speakers. Previous research with Japanese speakers by Dissosway-Huff, Port and Pisoni (1982) suggested that greater accuracy of perception of this new contrast correlates with greater duration of the acoustic signal. The results of our study show that increased duration of the acoustic signal is not sufficient to facilitate perception of English liquids by Cantonese speakers. Thus, our results provide no support for the Duration Hypothesis. We also show that differences in the perception of /r/ and /I/ by Japanese and Cantonese speakers can be explained in part by differences in their native language phonological constraints. Finally, we discuss possible causes for the perceptual difficulty that both types of speakers have with consonant clusters.
Getting the word out on Twitter: the role of influentials, information brokers and strong ties in building word-of-mouth for brands

Using a sample of over 5300 tweets from top global brands, this study investigated how different types of users can influence brand content diffusion via retweets. Twitter users who influenced followers to retweet brand content were categorized as (1) influentials, because of their above average ability to influence others to retweet their tweets (in general), (2) information brokers, because of their position connecting groups of users or (3) having strong ties, because of their high percentage of friends in common and a mutual friend–follower relationship with the influenced follower. The results indicate that influentials and information brokers are associated with larger number of retweets for brand content. In addition, although information brokers have a larger overall influence on retweeting, they are more prone to do so when influentials are mentioned in the brand tweet, providing support for the strategy that aims to associate the brand with influential users.
Inequalities in the provision of sexual health information for young people

Background Sexual health has been emphasised in national and regional strategies as a target for health and social well-being. In Northern Ireland (NI), the Sexual Health Promotion Strategy concentrates on reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), reducing the number of unplanned births to teenage mothers, providing appropriate, effective and equitable sexual health information, and facilitating access to sexual health services. This article reports on a study carried out within NI and explores young people's knowledge and sources of sexual health information. Methods School pupils aged 14–18 years (n = 414) participated in the study and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results Whilst approximately half of the respondents reported being sexually active, only 68.2% always used some form of contraception. In fact, 40.8% of sexually active females had used the 'morning-after pill', with 37.5% of these respondents using this method more than once. The results also indicated that students receive varying amounts of sexual health information from schools resulting in inequalities with regard to sources of information. Students from a Roman Catholic religious background were more likely to receive information on sexual health from informal sources such as friends, books/magazines or television/radio than from within the school environment compared with their Protestant counterparts. Conclusions The provision of standard and accurate information appropriate to the target population is necessary in order to reduce the increasing rates of STIs and help the Government reach their target of halving the teenage pregnancy rate by the year 2010.
'The Leningrad Affair': Remembering the 'Communist Alternative' in the Second Capital

Abstract The article looks at the so-called 'Leningrad Affair', the political purge carried out on local Party leaders between February 1949 and March 1953. It argues that there is little evidence for a systematic policy of discrimination against Leningrad as a city or indeed for Stalin's hatred of Leningrad as a place, or resentment of the city's war effort. Rather than a purge against a rebellious city, the 'Leningrad Affair' was a purge against imaginary rebels in the Leningrad Party hierarchy. The article traces the development of the most common interpretation of the Affair and shows how it became intertwined with the most important narrative of 'traumatic memory' relating to the city of Leningrad – commemoration of the blockade. The prevailing explanation of the Affair can be seen as a major strand in the creation of a new, postStalinist, locally-based mythology of Leningrad separatism. Today, the victims of the Affair are seen, paradoxically, as both innocent (they were not rebels against Stalin) and as representing an alternative (which in Stalinist terms would have made them traitors).
The Effects of Leadership Styles and Use of Performance Measures on Managerial Work-Related Attitudes

In this paper we investigate the effects of superiors’ performance evaluation behaviors on subordinates’ work-related attitudes. In response to critique on the multidimensional nature of the ‘supervisory style’ construct in the RAPM literature, we argue that the two dominant dimensions underlying this construct are leadership style and performance measure use. We develop and test a path model that allows us to disentangle the effects of leadership style (initiating structure and consideration) and performance measure use (objective and subjective measures) on managerial work-related attitudes (goal clarity and evaluation fairness). We test our hypotheses using survey data from 196 middle-level managers in 11 organizations. Results show that an initiating structure leadership style affects subordinates’ work-related attitudes through the use of objective performance measures. Consideration leadership behavior instead only has a direct impact on work-related attitudes. These findings have important implications for management accounting research on superiors’ use of performance measures, and provide an explanation of some of the problematic findings in the literature.
Beyond the `Sexualization of Culture' Thesis: An Intersectional Analysis of `Sixpacks',`Midriffs' and `Hot Lesbians' in Advertising

This article argues that the notion of the `sexualization of culture' is too general to be a useful conceptual tool. The article has two main objectives. First, it seeks to interrogate the notion of `sexualization' as a way of understanding the proliferation of sexually explicit imagery within contemporary advertising. Rather than taking up a position `for' or `against' `sexualization' (in the familiar way), it seeks to open up the notion in order to explore the diverse practices that are commonly grouped together under this heading. Using advertising as an example, it argues that `sexualization' is far from being a singular or homogenous process, that different people are `sexualized' in different ways and with different meanings — and indeed that many remain excluded from what has been called the `democratization of desire' operating in visual culture. Secondly, the article develops a feminist intersectional analysis to critically read some of the different ways in which advertising might be said to be sexualized. It looks at three different and contrasting, but easily recognizable `figures' within contemporary advertising: the good-looking male `sixpack', the sexually agentic heterosexual `midriff' and the `hot lesbian', usually intertwined with her beautiful double or Other. The aim is to highlight the point that sexualization does not operate outside of processes of gendering, radicalization and classing, and works within a visual economy that remains profoundly ageist and heteronormative. The article argues that an attention to differences is crucial to understanding the phenomena, practices and scopic regimes that are often lumped together under the heading `equalization of culture'.
The business of learning: Parents as full, unwilling or sleeping partners

The concept of a partnership between parents and schools or parents and teachers has, for almost two decades, been written into policy documents such as home-school agreements and homework programmes without the term being adequately questioned. As a 'condensation symbol', partnership is persistent and is used to drive ideological initiatives at the expense of those whom it suggests it serves. This article proposes that the partnership metaphor has been inappropriately invoked from a business lexicon and, with little to tie it into the school and home-school context, potentially does damage to those it claims to involve.
Glycinergic Transmission in the Mammalian Retina

Glycine and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are the major inhibitory neurotransmitters in the retina. Approximately half of the amacrine cells release glycine at their synapses with bipolar, other amacrine, and ganglion cells. Glycinergic amacrine cells are small-field amacrine cells with vertically oriented dendrites and comprise more than 10 different morphological types. The retinal distributions of glycine receptor (GlyR) α1, α2, α3 and α4 subtypes have been mapped with subunit-specific antibodies. GlyRs were clustered at postsynaptic hot spots which showed selective distributions for the different subunits. As a rule, only one α subunit was expressed at a given postsynaptic site. The kinetic properties of GlyRs were measured by recording spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) from identified retinal neurons in wild-type, Glra1spd-ot, Glra2 and Glra3 knockout mice. From observed differences of sIPSCs in wild-type and mutant mice, the cell-type specific subunit composition of GlyRs could be defined. OFF-cone bipolar cells and A-type ganglion cells receive prominent glycinergic input with fast kinetics that is mainly mediated by α1β GlyRs (decay time constant τ ∼ 5 ms). By contrast, AII amacrine cells express α3β GlyRs with medium fast kinetics (τ ∼ 11 ms). Narrow-field (NF) and wide-field amacrine cells contain predominantly α2β GlyRs with slow kinetics (τ ∼ 27 ms). Lastly, ON-starburst, narrow-field and wide-field amacrine cells in Glra2 knockout mice express α4β GlyRs with very slow kinetics (τ ∼ 70 ms).
Alteration of the Redox State with Reactive Oxygen Species for 5-Fluorouracil-Induced Oral Mucositis in Hamsters

Oral mucositis is often induced in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy treatment. It has been reported that oral mucositis can reduce quality of life, as well as increasing the incidence of mortality. The participation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the pathogenesis of oral mucositis is well known, but no report has actually demonstrated the presence of ROS. Thus, the purpose of this study was thus to demonstrate the involvement of ROS and the alteration of the redox state in oral mucositis using an in vivo L-band electron spin resonance (ESR) technique. An oral mucositis animal model induced by treatment of 5-fluorouracil with 10% acetic acid in hamster cheek pouch was used. Lipid peroxidation was measured as the level of malondialdehyde determined by the thiobarbituric acid reaction. The rate constants of the signal decay of nitroxyl compounds using in vivo L-band ESR were calculated from the signal decay curves. Firstly, we established the oral mucositis animal model induced by treatment of 5-fluorouracil with acetic acid in hamster cheek pouch. An increased level of lipid peroxidation in oral mucositis was found by measuring malondialdehyde using isolated hamster cheek pouch ulcer. In addition, as a result of in vivo L-band ESR measurements using our model animals, the decay rate constants of carbamoyl-PROXYL, which is a reagent for detecting the redox balance in tissue, were decreased. These results suggest that a redox imbalance might occur by excessive generation of ROS at an early stage of oral mucositis and the consumption of large quantities of antioxidants including glutathione in the locality of oral mucositis. These findings support the presence of ROS involved in the pathogenesis of oral mucositis with anti-cancer therapy, and is useful for the development of novel therapies drugs for oral mucositis.
Academics and Wikipedia: Reframing Web 2.0+ as a Disruptor of Traditional Academic Power-Knowledge Arrangements.

Purpose – There is much hype about academics' attitude to Wikipedia. This paper seeks to go beyond anecdotal evidence by drawing on empirical research to ascertain how academics respond to Wikipedia and the implications these responses have for the take‐up of Web 2.0+. It aims to test the hypothesis that Web 2.0+, as a platform built around the socially constructed nature of knowledge, is inimical to conventional power‐knowledge arrangements in which academics are traditionally positioned as the key gatekeepers to knowledge.Design/methodology/approach – The research relies on quantitative and qualitative data to provide an evidence‐based analysis of the attitudes of academics towards the student use of Wikipedia and towards Web 2.0+. These data were provided via an online survey made available to a number of universities in Australia and abroad. As well as the statistical analysis of quantitative data, qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis using relational coding.Findings – The data by and .
Equality and Opportunity in Education: Evidence from the 1958 and 1970 birth cohort studies

There is controversy about whether inequalities and educational outcomes are increasing or decreasing. Using longitudinal data collected in two birth cohort studies started in 1970 and 1958 respectively, the paper examines the evidence in relation to two outcomes, probability of leaving school at 16 and highest qualification achieved. Multi-variate analysis (logistic and OLS regression) was used to model the relationships of these educational outcomes to family social class, taking account of a wide range of early life variables, including living in an urban as opposed to rural location. It is concluded that the impact of social class on educational achievement has not changed across the 12 years covered by the two studies, a result that applies in both rural and urban areas of Britain.
Placental and Fetal Hemodynamics After Labetalol or Pindolol in a Sheep Model of Increased Placental Vascular Resistance and Maternal Hypertension

We investigated the effects of labetalol and pindolol on uterine, placental, and fetal hemodynamics following norepinephrine-induced maternal hypertension in a sheep model of increased placental vascular resistance. Also, we examined fetal and placental hemodynamic responses to acute hypoxemia after antihypertensive medication. Norepinephrine increased maternal heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and uterine vascular resistance (RUtA), and decreased uterine volume blood flow (QUtA). Both labetalol and pindolol decreased maternal HR, MAP, and RUtA, but did not restore QUtA. Fetal MAP was unaffected while fetal HR and placental volume blood flow (QUA) decreased and placental vascular resistance increased. During hypoxemia, which was induced by decreasing maternal inspiratory oxygen fraction, all these parameters remained unchanged in the labetalol group while fetal HR increased and QUA further decreased in the pindolol group. We conclude that labetalol and pindolol may compromise uterine and placental hemodynamics. Hypoxemic stress provokes divergent hemodynamic responses in fetuses exposed to these differently acting adrenoceptor antagonists.