Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Effects of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Inhibition on Invasion, Proliferation, and Angiogenesis in Experimental Glioma

Purpose: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signal transduction pathways are implicated in malignant glioma aggressiveness and promote tumor cell invasion, proliferation, and angiogenesis. Nevertheless, response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib (Iressa, ZD1839) has been disappointing in clinical trials. One potential explanation may come from the diversity of molecular alterations seen in gliomas. To validate that hypothesis, we have investigated responses to gefitinib on various tumor parameters in human malignant gliomas that exhibited different molecular alterations. Experimental Design: We used a panel of six human malignant gliomas from established xenografts characterized for their genetic (EGFR, PTEN, TP53, and CDKN2A) and molecular (EGFR, PTEN, ERK, and Akt) alterations. Tumors were treated with gefitinib (1 or 10 μmol/L) for prolonged periods (8 or 16 days) in an organotypic brain slice model that allowed quantification of invasion, proliferation, and angiogenesis. Results: In nontreated tumors, EGFR amplification was associated with profuse tumor cell invasion. After treatment, invasion was inhibited in tumors with EGFR amplification in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment had only antiproliferative effect in two of three tumors with EGFR amplification. Tumors with PTEN loss were resistant to treatment. We did not observe shrinkage of the tumors after treatment. None of the tumors had mutations of the EGFR kinase domain. Gefitinib had similar antiangiogenic effect in all of the tumors. Conclusions: Gefitinib reduces cell invasion in EGFR amplified tumors. PTEN loss of expression seems to be a determinant of resistance. Interestingly, inhibition of angiogenesis by gefitinib seems independent on the EGFR genetic status of the tumors.
Likelihood Ratios for Evaluating DNA Evidence When the Suspect is Found Through a Database Search

Summary. A crime has been committed, and a DNA profile of the perpetrator is obtained from the crime scene. A suspect with a matching profile is found. The problem of evaluating this DNA evidence in a forensic context, when the suspect is found through a database search, is analysed through a likelihood approach. The recommendations of the National Research Council of the U.S. are derived in this setting as the proper way of evaluating the evidence when finiteness of the population of possible perpetrators is not taken into account. When a finite population of possible perpetrators may be assumed, it is possible to take account of the sampling process that resulted in the actual database, so one can deal with the problem where a large proportion of the possible perpetrators belongs to the database in question. It is shown that the last approach does not in general result in a greater weight being assigned to the evidence, though it does when a sufficiently large amount of the possible perpetrators are in the database. The value of the likelihood ratio corresponding to the probable cause setting constitutes an upper bound for this weight, and the upper bound is only attained when all but one of the possible perpetrators are in the database.
Impact of flow on recognition of and attitudes towards in-game brand placements

This study investigates the moderating influences of brand congruence and placement prominence on the impact of game-evoked flow on cognitive and affective outcomes for in-game brand placements. In two studies, the authors demonstrate that experiencing flow while gaming tends to contribute positively to affective outcomes, leading to more positive brand attitudes, but it has no impact on cognitive processing or brand recognition. In particular, brand congruence moderates the impact of flow, leading to more positive brand attitudes and brand recognition. Brand prominence moderates the impact of flow only on brand recognition, not on brand attitudes. These findings offer several implications, limitations and directions for further research.
Critical Involvement of Pneumolysin in Production of Interleukin-1α and Caspase-1-Dependent Cytokines in Infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae In Vitro: a Novel Function of Pneumolysin in Caspase-1 Activation

ABSTRACT Pneumolysin is a pore-forming cytolysin known as a major virulence determinant of Streptococcus pneumoniae. This protein toxin has also been shown to activate the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway. In this study, a mutant S. pneumoniae strain deficient in pneumolysin (Δply) and a recombinant pneumolysin protein (rPLY) were constructed. Upon infection of macrophages in vitro, the ability to induce the production of interleukin-1α (IL-1α), IL-1β, and IL-18 was severely impaired in the Δply mutant, whereas there was no marked difference in the induction of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and IL-12p40 between the wild type and the Δply mutant of S. pneumoniae. When macrophages were stimulated with rPLY, the production of IL-1α, IL-1β, and IL-18 was strongly induced in a TLR4-dependent manner, whereas lipopolysaccharide, a canonical TLR4 agonist, hardly induced these cytokines. In contrast, lipopolysaccharide was more potent than rPLY in inducing the production of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-12p40, the cytokines requiring no caspase activation. Activation of caspase-1 was observed in macrophages stimulated with rPLY but not in those stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, and the level of activation was higher in macrophages infected with wild-type S. pneumoniae than in those infected with the Δply mutant. These results clearly indicate that pneumolysin plays a key role in the host response to S. pneumoniae, particularly in the induction of caspase-1-dependent cytokines.
The Impact of Presidential Statements on Press Editorials Regarding U.S. China Policy, 1950-1984

The mass media have long been a major component in the U.S. foreign policy making process. Less known is the role played by the media in the flow of policy direction. The agenda-setting literature has consistently shown that the mass media are capable of influencing the public agenda, but has left the question of who sets the media agenda largely unanswered. The purpose of this study is to examine the causal relationship between foreign policy makers and media coverage of foreign policy issues in the context of U.S.-China relations from 1950 through 1984. The study predicted that in the making of U.S. China policy, foreign policy makers affected media coverage of the issue, not vice versa. The findings show that there was a positive and significant relationship between government China policy and media coverage of the issue during the study period. Using the Fourier analysis of time series, the study further provides some evidence suggesting that the causal flow, if any, in U.S. China policy making was from the government policy to the mass media.
Evaluation of cholesterol content and impact on antigen exposure in the outer lipid bilayer of adult schistosomes

SUMMARY Developing and adult Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium intact worms do not bind specific antibodies, likely because of structural and biochemical modifications of the outer lipid bilayer. We have estimated the amount of cholesterol in the apical membrane of adult schistosomes via extraction with the membrane-impermeable, cholesterol-binding drug, methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MBCD), followed by filipin staining of the worms, and evaluation of the amount of cholesterol released in the medium by a commercially available, enzymatic colorimetric assay. Positive correlations between amount of released cholesterol, MBCD concentration, and worm number and age provided evidence for the sensitivity and validity of the newly developed method. Treatment with 40 mm MBCD for 2 h at 37°C led to total loss of cholesterol from the worm outer membrane, as assessed by filipin staining, and the released cholesterol values were used to estimate the amount of cholesterol per worm and per an approximate surface area unit. Additionally, total depletion of outer membrane cholesterol was associated with exposure of surface membrane antigens to specific antibody binding in 50% and 70% of S. haematobium and S. mansoni worms, respectively. These findings together suggest that cholesterol is an essential, but not the sole, factor in sequestration of surface membrane antigens in schistosomes.
Inflation, default, and the denomination of sovereign debt

Emerging market countries increasingly issue nominal government debt. At the same time, these countries experience sovereign debt crises with default and high inflation. This paper studies the implications of debt denomination for sovereign default and inflation policies. Using bond-level data on government borrowing, I show that default and inflation rates vary systematically with debt denomination: high nominal debt shares are associated with low inflation and default rates. I then build a monetary model of sovereign debt with lack of commitment, in which differences in debt denomination generate this pattern, and the government inflates more when debt is real. Issuing real instead of nominal debt has two effects in the model. On the one hand, real debt reduces the incentive to create costly inflation because the value of the debt is fixed in real terms. It thus helps mitigate the commitment problem. On the other hand, because the commitment problem is smaller, real debt facilitates more debt accumulation over time, causing the government to resort to the printing press after all to finance the debt burden. In a calibrated version of the model this second effect dominates: As in the data, inflation and default rates are higher on average when debt is real instead of nominal. Default risk helps generate large differences in inflation and default rates across debt regimes as the government optimally inflates in order to avoid default. ∗Latest version available at www.econ.umn.edu/~sund0444. I would like to thank seminar participants at the Minneapolis Fed and members of the Minnesota Trade Workshop, Manuel Amador, Illenin Kondo, Andrea Waddle and David Wiczer for many useful comments, and especially Cristina Arellano, Tim Kehoe and Fabrizio Perri for all the advice and guidance. All errors are mine.
DeepDeSRT: Deep Learning for Detection and Structure Recognition of Tables in Document Images

This paper presents a novel end-to-end system for table understanding in document images called DeepDeSRT. In particular, the contribution of DeepDeSRT is two-fold. First, it presents a deep learning-based solution for table detection in document images. Secondly, it proposes a novel deep learning-based approach for table structure recognition, i.e. identifying rows, columns, and cell positions in the detected tables. In contrast to existing rule-based methods, which rely on heuristics or additional PDF metadata (like, for example, print instructions, character bounding boxes, or line segments), the presented system is data-driven and does not need any heuristics or metadata to detect as well as to recognize tabular structures in document images. Furthermore, in contrast to most existing table detection and structure recognition methods, which are applicable only to PDFs, DeepDeSRT processes document images, which makes it equally suitable for born-digital PDFs (as they can automatically be converted into images) as well as even harder problems, e.g. scanned documents. To gauge the performance of DeepDeSRT, the system is evaluated on the publicly available ICDAR 2013 table competition dataset containing 67 documents with 238 pages overall. Evaluation results reveal that DeepDeSRT outperforms state-of-the-art methods for table detection and structure recognition and achieves F1-measures of 96.77% and 91.44% for table detection and structure recognition, respectively. Additionally, DeepDeSRT is evaluated on a closed dataset from a real use case of a major European aviation company comprising documents which are highly unlike those in ICDAR 2013. Tested on a randomly selected sample from this dataset, DeepDeSRT achieves high detection accuracy for tables which demonstrates the sound generalization capabilities of our system.
Psychotherapy in the United Kingdom: Past, present and future

The 20th century, perhaps 'the age of Freud', has seen the development and growth of psychological therapies. The first half of the century was virtually the province of the psychoanalytic approaches, with the last three decades marking the flowering of many other approaches, and a gradual and general rapprochement between nearly all the major therapies. This history is traced, identifying the major players, including behaviour therapy and humanistic therapies challenging the initially dominant model. The rapid expansion in practitioners and training courses has led to questions of organisation, registration, and relationship between the therapies. The development of UKCP and BCP is examined, examining the size of the constituent elements within these major groupings, their relationship to each other and to counselling and the Independent Practitioners Network. Other developments such as psychotherapeutic studies within universities and the subsequent linking of some psychotherapy trainings to academic qualifications are referred to, while the relationship of British psychotherapy to the European and world scene is briefly described before the author hazards a prediction that it is integrative psychotherapy that will probably expand most in the new century, with counselling asserting its right to be an equal partner in the therapeutic endeavour.
Effective leadership in joint ventures in Vietnam: a cross‐cultural perspective

Effective leadership is a key factor in successful international joint ventures, especially in Vietnam. Compatibility and complementarity of the leadership styles are the foundation for such partnerships. Based on a research study of international managers and their Vietnamese counterparts, an appropriate profile of compatible and complementary leadership characteristics and effective skills and behaviors for successful joint ventures in Vietnam is suggested. A multi‐cultural approach with focus on the mutual understanding of the cultures involved, adapting the styles of the partners and relationship building is necessary for successful joint ventures. Building shared values in the joint venture is critical to performance, to creating an appropriate organizational culture, and to accomplishing effective organizational change.
Structure and predictive power of intraindividual variability in health and activity measures

Intraindividual variability has been shown in many studies to be well structured over time and capable of predicting a wide range of behaviors. This study provides analyses of weekly variations of health and activity measurements in a sample (N = 52) of elderly persons (mean age = 77.5, SD = 7.2). The three main goals and results entailed: 1. Assessing the reliable nature of a health and an activity factor through a metric invariant confirmatory factor model; 2. Assessing the independence of intraindividual variability from level information and showing that the amount of intra-person variability during the first and second half of data collection correlate very highly; 3. Showing that intraindividual variability information of health and activity scores is superior to level information in predicting mortality.
Deciphering the Multifactorial Susceptibility of Mucosal Junction Cells to HPV Infection and Related Carcinogenesis

Human papillomavirus (HPV)-induced neoplasms have long been considered to originate from viral infection of the basal cell layer of the squamous mucosa. However, this paradigm has been recently undermined by accumulating data supporting the critical role of a discrete population of squamo-columnar (SC) junction cells in the pathogenesis of cervical (pre)cancers. The present review summarizes the current knowledge on junctional cells, discusses their high vulnerability to HPV infection, and stresses the potential clinical/translational value of the novel dualistic model of HPV-related carcinogenesis.
Effectiveness of natural and synthetic complexes of porin and O polysaccharide as vaccines against Brucella abortus in mice

A single vaccination of mice with a complex of porin and smooth lipopolysaccharide (porin-S-LPS) extracted from virulent Brucella abortus 2308 provided significant protection (P less than 0.01 to P less than 0.001) against challenge with the same strain, equivalent to that achieved by vaccination with living attenuated B. abortus 19. The porin-S-LPS vaccine given without adjuvant or in several adjuvants (trehalose dimycolate and muramyl dipeptide; the pluronic polymer L-121 and muramyl dipeptide; or complexed with Quil A in immunostimulating complexes) provided equivalent protection. In contrast, one vaccination with porin complexed with rough LPS (porin-R-LPS) from a rough mutant of strain 2308 provided no protection with any adjuvant tested. In one experiment, two inoculations with the porin-R-LPS resulted in a low level of protection, probably owing to priming of the animals for production of O-polysaccharide-specific antibodies. However, one vaccination with rough-strain porin covalently bound to purified O polysaccharide conferred protection equal to that obtained with natural complexes of porin-S-LPS or with living strain 19. A synthetic vaccine containing long chains of O polysaccharide was more effective than one prepared with short chains. Protective vaccines caused the formation of increased concentrations of circulating O-polysaccharide-specific antibodies, although there were individual exceptions to the quantitative association between O-polysaccharide-specific antibodies and protection. Antibodies specific for porin or R-LPS were found in negligible quantities in vaccinated mice. These results provide additional evidence that the O polysaccharide will constitute an essential component of an effective subcellular vaccine against B. abortus and that O-polysaccharide-specific antibodies play an important role in protective immunity in brucellosis.
INTROVERSION‐EXTRAVERSION AND THE EFL PROFICIENCY OF JAPANESE STUDENTS

This study explores the relationship between the introversion-extraversion tendencies of Japanese students and their proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL). It was hypothesized that in an EFL situation, extraverted students would attain a higher proficiency in English because they may take advantage of the few available opportunities to receive input in English and practice the language with native speakers. In order to test the hypothesis that extraverts are more proficient in English, 80 junior college English students and 105 adult school English students took a standardized English test, completed a personality questionnaire, and provided information on a biodata form. In addition, 45 of the junior college students participated in English oral interviews which were then rated for proficiency by two evaluators. The hypothesis that extraverts are more proficient in English was not supported. In fact, statistical analysis revealed that extraversion had a significant negative correlation with pronunciation, a subcomponent of the oral interview test. In addition, introverts tended to have higher scores on the reading and grammar components of the standardized English test. Even though introverts tended to score better on most of the English proficiency measures, it was found that junior college males who had tendencies towards extraversion had higher oral interview scores. Extraversion also correlated positively with length of time spent studying English at the adult school. These findings are discussed with respect to cultural factors predominant in Japanese society and psychological theory.
The development of sex differences in digital formula from infancy in the Fels Longitudinal Study

Relative finger lengths, especially the second-to-fourth finger length ratio, have been proposed as useful markers for prenatal testosterone action. This claim partly depends on an association of relative finger lengths in adults with related sex differences in children and infants. This paper reports the results of a study using serial radiographs to test for both sex differences in the fingers of infants and children and for a relationship between sex differences in the children and infant finger and adult finger length ratios. This is the first study using long-term serial data to evaluate the validity of finger length ratios as markers. We found not only that sex differences in finger length ratios arise prior to puberty, but that sex differences in the fingers of children are highly correlated with adult finger length ratios. Our results strongly encourage the further use of finger length ratios as markers of perinatal testosterone action.
Ethnicity, control appraisal, coping, and adjustment to chronic pain among black and white Americans.

OBJECTIVE To identify similarities and differences among non-Hispanic black and white patients in pain appraisal, beliefs about pain, and ways of coping with pain. We also examined the association between these factors (i.e., appraisals, beliefs, coping) and patient perception or subjective experience of their functioning in each ethnic group. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey of patients with chronic pain at pretreatment assessment. SETTING Integrated pain management program at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Texas. PATIENTS A total of 128 non-Hispanic black Americans and 354 non-Hispanic white Americans completed self-report measures of pain appraisal, coping, and adjustment that included the Multidimensional Pain Inventory, Survey of Pain Attitudes, Coping Strategies Questionnaire, and Chronic Pain Coping Inventory. RESULTS Although the analyses indicated many similarities between the two groups concerning pain-related beliefs and coping, the black patients reported lower perceived control over pain, more external pain-coping strategies, and a stronger belief that others should be solicitous when they experience pain. The black patients also reported significantly higher levels of depression and disability, even after controlling for pain severity. Regression analyses revealed that the coping and appraisal factors predicting physical and psychological functioning were the same for both white and black patients, with ethnicity accounting for a nonsignificant amount of the total variance. CONCLUSIONS The current findings suggest similarities as well as differences between non-Hispanic black and white patients in the ways they view and cope with pain. However, the association between psychological factors (attitudes and beliefs, coping responses) and adjustment to chronic pain was comparable for both ethnic groups. If replicated, the findings suggest that specific tailoring of cognitive behavioral therapies to different racial/ethnic groups may not be needed to maximize treatment outcome.
Server-aided identity-based anonymous broadcast encryption

A broadcast encryption scheme enables a broadcaster to send an encrypted message to the multiple privileged users. In identity-based broadcast encryption schemes, a broadcaster typically encrypts a message by combining public identities of receivers and system parameters, which therefore reveals identities of receivers to the public and raised a concern on user privacy. On the other hand, identity-based systems generally require pairing computations which are computationally costly. It would be desirable if pairing computations could be avoided in resource constrained devices. The aim of this paper is to provide the solutions to these problems by introducing a new concept called server-aided identity-based anonymous broadcast encryption. We formalise the notion of server-aided identity-based anonymous broadcast encryption and present a construction in the random oracle model based on pairings that achieve anonymity under adaptive corruptions in the chosen-plaintext setting. Comparing with other broadcast encryption schemes, our scheme requires less computation cost for encryption and decryption while preserving receiver's privacy.