Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Regulatory Effects of Long Noncoding RNA-ANCR on Dental Tissue-Derived Stem Cells

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) have been recognized as important regulators in diverse biological processes, such as transcriptional regulation, stem cell proliferation, and differentiation. Previous study has demonstrated that lncRNA-ANCR (antidifferentiation ncRNA) plays a key role in regulating the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs). However, little is known about the role of ANCR in regulating other types of dental tissue-derived stem cells (DTSCs) behaviours (including proliferation and multiple-potential of differentiation). In this study, we investigated the regulatory effects of lncRNA-ANCR on the proliferation and differentiation (including osteogenic, adipogenic, and neurogenic differentiation) of DTSCs, including dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), PDLSCs, and stem cells from the apical papilla (SCAP) by downregulation of lncRNA-ANCR. We found that downregulation of ANCR exerted little effect on proliferation of DPSCs and SCAP but promoted the osteogenic, adipogenic, and neurogenic differentiation of DTSCs. These data provide an insight into the regulatory effects of long noncoding RNA-ANCR on DTSCs and indicate that ANCR is a very important regulatory factor in stem cell differentiation.
Understanding Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation : Age Differences and Links to Children ’ s Beliefs and Goals

We examined the relationships among intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations, achievement goals, and intelligence beliefs for 202 3rdthrough 8th-grade children from K-8 schools. Analyses of age differences revealed substantial declines in intrinsic – but not extrinsic – motivation with increasing grade level. Intrinsic motivation was associated with mastery goals but unrelated to performance goals for both elementary (3rd-5th) and adolescent (6th-8th) subgroups. The extrinsic desire for easy work was associated with performance-avoid goals and entity beliefs for the elementary subgroup, and school performance goals for both age groups. The extrinsic desire to please others was associated with performance-approach goals, ability-validation goals, and entity beliefs for the elementary subgroup, but only school performance goals for the adolescent subgroup. Overall, the elementary subgroup appeared extrinsically motivated in order to protect or prove competence, whereas the adolescent subgroup appeared extrinsically motivated in order to successfully navigate a performance-oriented environment.
Appraisal of seven critical reading strategies employed by teachers in Ogun State senior secondary schools to teach reading comprehension

Basic to success in every academic venture is the ability of the learner to be able to read in the language of instruction. The deterioration in reading ability of most Nigerians senior secondary school students is a source of worry. This is because underachievement in reading comprehension has denied them the opportunity to continue their studies beyond the secondary school level as most of them could not pass the various internal and external examinations required of them to further their academic. One of the factors pencilled down to be responsible for dismal performances in reading is the strategies being employed by teachers to effect the teaching of reading the Nigerian secondary schools. Thus in this study, an attempt was made to investigate how the secondary school teachers in Egba, Ijebu, Remo and Yewa dialectical zones of Ogun State, Nigeria adopt the use of previewing, contextualising, questioning, reflecting, outlining / summarising, evaluating / argument / comparing / contrasting strategies to teach reading comprehension classes. Four teachers were observed teaching reading comprehension in four different classrooms, one each from the four dialectical zones by the researcher and the frequency of occurrences of each of the strategies was analysed. The results showed that the strategy most frequently used to teach reading of the seven strategies above was the questioning strategy and that most of the other strategies emanated as a result of the teachers’ ability to engage the students in skilful and well- framed questions. Recommendations were made to the teachers to be more dexterous and resourceful in their teaching of reading comprehension.
High-molecular-weight protein 2 of Yersinia enterocolitica is homologous to AngR of Vibrio anguillarum and belongs to a family of proteins involved in nonribosomal peptide synthesis

The iron-regulated irp2 gene is specific for the highly pathogenic Yersinia species and encodes high-molecular-weight protein 2 (HMWP2). Despite the established correlation between the presence of HMWP2 and virulence, the role of this protein is still unknown. To gain insight into the function of HMWP2, the entire coding sequence and the promoter of irp2 were sequenced. Two putative -35 and -10 promoter sequences were identified upstream of a large open reading frame, and two potential Fur-binding sites were found overlapping the second -35 box. The large open reading frame is composed of 6,126 nucleotides and may encode a protein of 2,035 amino acids (ca. 228 kDa) with a pI of 5.81. A signal sequence was not present at the N terminus of the protein. Despite the existence of 30 cysteine residues, carboxymethylation prevented the formation of most if not all disulfide bonds that otherwise occurred when the cells were sonicated. The protein was composed of three main domains: a central region of ca. 850 residues, bordered on each side by a repeat of 550 residues. A high degree of identity (44.5%) was found between HMWP2 and the protein AngR of Vibrio anguillarum. The central part of HMWP2 (after removal of a loop of 337 residues) also displayed significant homology with proteins belonging to the superfamily of adenylate-forming enzymes and, like them, possessed a putative ATP-binding motif that is also present in AngR. In addition, HMWP2 shared with the group of antibiotic and enterochelin synthetases a potential amino acid-binding site. Six consensus sequences defining the superfamily and four defining the family of synthetases were derived from the multiple alignment of the 30 sequences of proteins or repeated domains. A phylogenetic tree that was constructed showed that HMWP2 and AngR are in a family composed of Lys2, EntF, and the tyrocidine, gramicidin, and Beta-lactam synthetases. This finding suggests that HMWP2 may participate in the nonribosomal synthesis of small biologically active peptides.
Early results of a European multicentre experience with a new self‐anchoring adjustable transobturator system for treatment of stress urinary incontinence in men

Surgical treatment options for male stress urinary incontinence (SUI) include collagen injection, artificial urinary sphincter, or male sling placement. In recent years, various minimally invasive sling systems have been investigated as treatment options for post‐prostatectomy SUI. One of the drawbacks of using male slings is the lack of ability to make postoperative adjustments. To overcome the challenges associated with peri‐ and postoperative adjustment of male sling systems, the adjustable transobturator male system (ATOMS®) was introduced. Our initial European multicentre experience with this device treatment shows a significant improvement in the severity of incontinence and mean pad use as well as quality‐of‐life scores. Our data suggest that the ability at any time to make adjustments in male sling systems should be considered as a prerequisite when managing men with SUI.
Effects of the FSH-β-subunit promoter polymorphism -211G->T on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis in normally cycling women indicate a gender-specific regulation of gonadotropin secretion.

CONTEXT A polymorphism in the FSHB promoter (-211G→T, rs10835638) was found to be associated with decreased FSH, elevated LH, reduced testosterone, and oligozoospermia in males. Although FSH is pivotal for ovarian function, no data on consequences of FSHB -211G→T are available in females. OBJECTIVE We studied the effects of FSHB -211G→T on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis in women. DESIGN AND SETTING In a university-based in vitro fertilization unit, women undergoing standardized diagnostics were genotyped and compared with a fertile control group. PATIENTS The study group consisted of 365 thoroughly characterized women with normal menstrual cycle intervals and proven ovulation, with predominantly male-factor infertility. The independently recruited control group included 438 women with proven fertility and no history of abortions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Distribution of alleles and genotypes were compared between the study group and controls. In the study group, associations of endocrine parameters with FSHB -211G→T were assessed. RESULTS Allele and genotype frequencies were not significantly different between the study population and controls (T-allele: 14.4 vs. 16.6%; TT-homozygotes: 2.5 vs. 3.2%). The FSHB -211G→T TT-genotype was strongly associated with elevated FSH (TT-homozygosity effect 2.05 U/liter, P = 0.003). LH increased with the number of T-alleles (1.30 U/liter per T-allele, P < 0.001). Additionally, FSHB -211G→T was associated with reduced progesterone (-1.96 ng/ml per T-allele, P = 0.047). CONCLUSIONS This is a report on phenotypic consequences of FSHB -211G→T on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis in women. The findings, partially contradictory to those in men, point to a gender-specific compensatory mechanism of gonadotropin secretion, probably involving progesterone.
The Successful Laggards: Bulgaria and Romania's Accession to the EU

The article examines the power as well as the limits of the EU's leverage on domestic governance in candidate countries from Eastern Europe through the cases of Bulgaria and Romania. It argues that the reasons for Bulgaria and Romania's lagging behind in meeting the EU accession criteria have to do with a set of domestic factors. Powerful veto players and institutional structures embedded in the domestic sociopolitical context have obstructed reform in the sectors most susceptible to political influence and least likely to be reformed without external pressure. The EU's leverage helps explain why the two laggards did succeed in breaking the vicious circle of semireforms and in ultimately qualifying for EU membership. The EU conditionality has tilted the political balance in favour of a consensus on pro-EU reforms, but before these reforms can take root, they need to generate further demand `from below. '
Cross-Validation of DSRC Radio Testbed and NS-2 Simulation Platform for Vehicular Safety Communications

One of the most important challenges for DSRC deployment is maintaining high performance under heavy channel load. The study of congestion control mechanisms will be impractical if it requires hundreds of physical radios deployed on vehicles. In this paper we demonstrate two important results that together suggest a strategy for investigating congestion control. First, we show that the NS-2 simulator accurately models the MAC and PHY associated with an IEEE 802.11 hardware implementation. This opens the door to using simulation as the primary investigative tool. Second, we show that a technique in which one radio emulates N vehicles can produce results quite similar to the case in which a larger number of distinct vehicles exist. This will allow selective validation tests with tens of physical radios emulating hundreds of vehicles. The means by which we demonstrate these results is a cross-validation technique. We show that three test approaches produce consistently similar results: physical radios with emulation, NS-2 with emulation, and NS-2 without emulation. The close agreement among these results validates both the radio emulation technique and the NS-2 implementation of the 802.11 MAC and PHY protocols. We use this cross-validation technique to compare results for a wide variety of transmit power, message rate, data rate, channel bandwidth, message size and EDCA settings.
Origins of the brain networks for advanced mathematics in expert mathematicians

Significance Our work addresses the long-standing issue of the relationship between mathematics and language. By scanning professional mathematicians, we show that high-level mathematical reasoning rests on a set of brain areas that do not overlap with the classical left-hemisphere regions involved in language processing or verbal semantics. Instead, all domains of mathematics we tested (algebra, analysis, geometry, and topology) recruit a bilateral network, of prefrontal, parietal, and inferior temporal regions, which is also activated when mathematicians or nonmathematicians recognize and manipulate numbers mentally. Our results suggest that high-level mathematical thinking makes minimal use of language areas and instead recruits circuits initially involved in space and number. This result may explain why knowledge of number and space, during early childhood, predicts mathematical achievement. The origins of human abilities for mathematics are debated: Some theories suggest that they are founded upon evolutionarily ancient brain circuits for number and space and others that they are grounded in language competence. To evaluate what brain systems underlie higher mathematics, we scanned professional mathematicians and mathematically naive subjects of equal academic standing as they evaluated the truth of advanced mathematical and nonmathematical statements. In professional mathematicians only, mathematical statements, whether in algebra, analysis, topology or geometry, activated a reproducible set of bilateral frontal, Intraparietal, and ventrolateral temporal regions. Crucially, these activations spared areas related to language and to general-knowledge semantics. Rather, mathematical judgments were related to an amplification of brain activity at sites that are activated by numbers and formulas in nonmathematicians, with a corresponding reduction in nearby face responses. The evidence suggests that high-level mathematical expertise and basic number sense share common roots in a nonlinguistic brain circuit.
Constructing the New Political Criminology: Power, Authority, and the Post-Liberal State

The purpose of this paper is to make a case for a new political criminology—that is, to argue that a meaningful and coherent intellectual enterprise is developing across disciplinary lines. This new political criminology is distinctive in three ways: • It is criminology in that it is rooted in conceptions of, and concerns about, the ramifications of street crime. • It is political in that its focus is on the way crime control strategies both reflect and influence the distribution of power within the polity. • It is new in that it is influenced by postmodern understandings of, and disillusionment with, the liberal state.
Functional training reduces body fat and improves functional fitness and cholesterol levels in postmenopausal women: a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND This randomized clinical trial with concealed allocations, and blinding of the assessors and the data analyst, was aimed at determining the effects of 16 weeks of functional training on the body composition, functional fitness and lipid profiles in postmenopausal women. METHODS The study began with 64 subjects (N.=32 functional training and N.=32 control group) and ended with 50 subjects (N.=28 functional training and N.=22 control group). The exercise was conducted in circuit training format with 8 stations related to the development of muscular strength (using elastic bands for resistance) plus 3 stations focused on balance, coordination, and agility. The training session also incorporated an 18 to 30 minute walk. The control group did not participate in the exercise programs during the period of study. The participants were evaluated before and after the training period as regards their body composition (fat and lean mass), functional fitness, abdominal strength and blood chemistry variables. RESULTS Significant reductions were observed in all body composition variables related to fat (FM= -3.4 and Android FM= -7.7%) (P<0.05). The functional fitness components had significant improvements in coordination (-33.3%), strength (66.5%), agility (-19.5%) and aerobic capacity (-7%), and significant improvement in abdominal strength (188.2%). We observed significant improvements in total cholesterol (-4.4%) and HDL (-9.9%). CONCLUSIONS The observed data lead us to conclude that functional training utilizing with elastic bands and unstable bases causes significantly improved in body composition, functional fitness and lipid profiles.
Modelling and simulation of complex sociotechnical systems: envisioning and analysing work environments

Accurate comprehension and analysis of complex sociotechnical systems is a daunting task. Empirically examining, or simply envisioning the structure and behaviour of such systems challenges traditional analytic and experimental approaches as well as our everyday cognitive capabilities. Computer-based models and simulations afford potentially useful means of accomplishing sociotechnical system design and analysis objectives. From a design perspective, they can provide a basis for a common mental model among stakeholders, thereby facilitating accurate comprehension of factors impacting system performance and potential effects of system modifications. From a research perspective, models and simulations afford the means to study aspects of sociotechnical system design and operation, including the potential impact of modifications to structural and dynamic system properties, in ways not feasible with traditional experimental approaches. This paper describes issues involved in the design and use of such models and simulations and describes a proposed path forward to their development and implementation. Practitioner Summary: The size and complexity of real-world sociotechnical systems can present significant barriers to their design, comprehension and empirical analysis. This article describes the potential advantages of computer-based models and simulations for understanding factors that impact sociotechnical system design and operation, particularly with respect to process and occupational safety.
The Development and Evaluation of the Brief Depression Screen in Medically Ill Disability Claimants

Objective: There is literature demonstrating elevated prevalence of depression in primary care. Yet there remains a need for a brief depression screen designed and evaluated specifically for use among medically ill patients. Our objective was to develop and validate a brief, unobtrusive screen for depression among severely medically ill long-term disability claimants. Methods: The study sample consisted of 480 long-term disability claimants, less than 55 years of age, with one of the following illnesses: cancer, diabetes, myocardial infarction, rheumatoid arthritis, stroke, or multiple sclerosis. Each subject completed a questionnaire that included 26 potential screening items. A subset of subjects was administered the SCID, which served as the gold standard for the DSM-IV depression and dysthymia diagnoses. Results: The Brief Depression Screen, a three-item screen for major depressive disorder and dysthymia, was developed. About 34 percent of the sample met criteria for major depressive disorder or dysthymia. The Brief Depression Screen detected 75 percent of those subjects in this sample. Furthermore, nearly half of the subjects with positive screen results met criteria for depression or dysthymia. These results are comparable to those of the eight-item Burnam screen, but not as sensitive as the more widely used, twenty item CES-D. Conclusion: The Brief Depression Screen was developed and evaluated for use with severely ill long-term disability claimants. In practice, a positive screen for depression is to be followed with a comprehensive diagnostic assessment that could be conducted by a trained clinician. Further research is warranted to determine whether the identification and treatment of depression in disability claimants with non-psychiatric medical illnesses will facilitate return to work, even in the presence of comorbid medical illnesses.
Ar/O2 Argon-Based Round Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Jet on Sterilizing Bacteria and Endospores

In this paper, we want to develop and characterize a round argon-based nonthermal atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ) with an application of sterilization. We measured the basic properties of APPJ by an alcohol thermometer, an optical emission spectrometer (OES), a high-voltage probe and a Rogowski coil. The plasma jet temperature at the tube exit is lower than 37°C, which will not induce damage to living tissue. The plasma absorbed power is about 2.7 W. The OES data indicate that this APPJ has a relatively high intensity of hydroxyl radicals (OH) in postdischarge region. Furthermore, we applied this device to inactivate the bacteria (E. coli and B. subtilis) and endospore (B. subtilis endospore). In addition, the trace amount of oxygen addition (0.04%) into working gas can not only enhance the OH radicals but also speed up the killing of bacteria and endospore. The results of D value and scanning electron microscope images show its great potential for the use of general sterilization in the future.
Non-coherent multi-user detection based on quantum search

3G and 4G mobile systems are based on CDMA technology. In order to increase the efficiency of CDMA receivers a large amount of effort is invested to develop suitable multi-user detector techniques. However, at this moment there are only suboptimal solutions available because of the rather high complexity of optimal detectors. One of the possible receiver technologies can be the quantum assisted computing devices which allows high level parallelism in computation. The first commercial devices are estimated by 2004, which meets the advent of 3G and 4G systems. We introduce a novel quantum computation based quantum multi-user detection (QMUD), employing Grover's (see Bell Labs, April 1999)search algorithm, which provides optimal solution. The proposed algorithm is robust to any kind of noise/suboptimal solutions.
High School Sports Participation and Substance Use: Differences by Sport, Race, and Gender

Drawing on data gathered in the 2009 Monitoring the Future study of American youth, and controlling for race and noncompetitive exercise frequency, this research examined the explanatory effects of competitive sports participation on alcohol consumption and marijuana use as well as the nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers among American high school seniors. Also including a self-esteem index in multivariate analysis of covariance equations, the study found that, among males, football players used all three substances at comparably high levels. In addition, females with comparably low levels of self-esteem smoked marijuana and used prescription drugs more frequently. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are offered.
Low power IR-UWB pulse generator in 0.18μm CMOS technology

A new method of impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) pulse generation is investigated in this paper. Low power pulse generator is composed of a glitch generator, a pulse oscillator, and a pulse shaping filter. The circuit presented was designed in a 0. 18μm UMC CMOS technology. Since the impulse radio-based generator operates in burst mode with low duty cycle it has very low power consumption of 1.64 mW. This corresponds to energy consumption of 16.4 pJ per pulse considering 200 MHz pulse repetition frequency. Post-layout simulation results showed spectrum that fully complies with the corresponding FCC spectral mask. It has −10 dBm bandwidth of 5.7 GHz from 4.9 GHz to 10.6 GHz. The peak-to-peak amplitude was 180 mV on 50 Ω output load. The core design has size of 0.2 mm2. The pulse generator has been evaluated for the best performance supporting on-off keying modulation.