Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MDCT angiography of the pulmonary arteries: influence of iodine flow concentration on vessel attenuation and visualization.

OBJECTIVE Our objective was to assess the influence of iodine flow concentration on attenuation and visualization of the pulmonary arteries in thoracic MDCT angiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred consecutive patients who were referred to our department with suspected acute pulmonary embolism underwent MDCT angiography of the pulmonary arteries either with 120 mL of standard contrast medium (300 mg I/mL) (group A) or with 90 mL of high-concentration contrast medium (400 mg I/mL) (group B). The contrast medium was injected at a flow rate of 4 mL/sec. The scan delay was determined using a semiautomatic bolus-tracking system in all examinations conducted with the same scanning parameters. Quantitative analysis was performed by region-of-interest measurements along the z-axis to compare the attenuation profiles of the two groups. Attenuation of the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-order arteries was assessed visually for differences between the two groups. RESULTS The mean enhancement along the z-axis was 268 +/- 56 H in group A and 344 +/- 108 in group B. The difference of 76 H was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The attenuation profile was similar in both groups. The detection rate of fifth- and sixth-order arteries was significantly higher in group B than in group A (94% compared with 91% and 72% compared with 60%, respectively, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION Use of a high flow concentration of iodine in MDCT angiography of the pulmonary arteries significantly increases attenuation of the pulmonary arteries, thereby improving visualization of subsegmental pulmonary arteries.
A Dominant Loss-of-Function GJA1 (Cx43) Mutant Impairs Parturition in the Mouse1

Abstract Expression of GJA1 (commonly known as connexin43 or Cx43), a major myometrial gap junction protein, is upregulated before the onset of delivery, suggesting an essential role for Cx43-mediated gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) in normal uterine contraction during parturition. To determine how a disease-linked Cx43 mutation affects myometrial function, we studied a mutant mouse model carrying an autosomal dominant mutation (Gja1Jrt) in the gene encoding Cx43 that displays features of the human genetic disease oculodentodigital dysplasia. We found that Cx43 level, specifically the phosphorylated species of the protein, is significantly reduced in the myometrium of the mutant mice (Gja1Jrt/+), as revealed by Western blotting and immunostaining. Patch-clamp electrophysiological measurements demonstrated that coupling between myometrial smooth muscle cells is reduced to <15% of wild-type, indicating that the mutant protein acts dominantly on its wild-type counterpart. The phosphorylated species of Cx43 in the mutant myometrium failed to increase prior to parturition as well as in response to exogenous estrogen. Correspondingly, in vitro experiments with uterine strips revealed weaker contraction of the mutant myometrium and reduced responsiveness to oxytocin, providing an explanation for the prolonged gestation and presence of suffocated fetuses in the uteri that were observed in some of the mutant mice. We conclude that the Gja1Jrt mutation has a dominant-negative effect on Cx43 function in the myometrium, severely reducing GJIC, leading to impaired parturition.
Sign recall by hearing signers: Evidences of dual coding

Deaf participants' sign recall is affected by sign similarity, sign length, irrelevant signing and manual articulatory suppression, suggesting the existence of a phonological loop for signs. In two experiments we explore whether hearing signers (who have learned Spanish Sign Language as second language) use a phonological loop for signs, whether they use their phonological loop for words or whether they use both when recalling sign lists. Articulatory suppression (manual and vocal) and list similarity (word similarity and sign similarity) were manipulated in two experiments. Results clearly suggest that our participants recode orally the signs and use those representations to recall sign lists, but visuospatial information is also used in this task.
Why Do Women Wait? Matching, Wage Inequality, and the Incentives for Fertility Delay

This paper explores the interaction between wage inequality and the marriage and fertility decisions of young women. We develop an equilibrium search model of marriage, divorce, and investment in children that allows for differential timing of fertility. We show how patterns of fertility timing in U.S. data can be explained by the incentives for fertility delay implied by marriage and labor markets. We find that these incentives help explain both the cross-sectional relationship between women's wages and fertility timing and the changes over the past 40 years in married women's fertility timing and labor supply. (Copyright: Elsevier)
Rush to Action: Political Talk Radio and Health Care (un)Reform

The role of talk radio as a determinant of public opinion has garnered considerable journalistic attention but has received little scientific scrutiny. Relying on data from the 1993-1995 American National Election Studies, this article tests the hypothesis that exposure to conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh produced antipathy toward national health insurance. I perform a content analysis of Limbaugh to determine the extent to which Limbaugh attempted to move policy preferences on this issue. I then employ a series of multivariate analyses of attitudes in 1993 and 1995 to determine the nature and magnitude of the ''Limbaugh effect. " I conclude that listening to Limbaugh does predict conservative health attitudes in a nontrivial way, independent of ideology, party identification, or listener warmth toward Limbaugh. However, the degree of warmth listeners feel toward Limbaugh does not interact with listening to produce stronger conservatism.
Peer Relations

A frequently-heard observation of teachers involved with mainstreaming goes something like this: "Yes, Johnny does come to my class for the academics-and he is trying quite hard. In fact, I'm pleased with his work. But I'm concerned. I'm having quite a time getting him to mix with my other students-and they with him! " Many educators have become increasingly convinced of the importance of childrens' peer relationships. Greenwood, Walker, and Hops (1977) have pointed out that social withdrawal in school-age children has been increasingly recognized as a serious behavior disorder. Johnson (1980) reviewed the literature and concluded that peer relationships are important for the cognitive and social development and general socialization of all children and adolescents. This increased awareness of the importance of peer relations was, in part, responsible for the mainstreaming movement in special education. Dunn (1968), in his widely quoted article, asserted that segregating special education students stigmatized them and contributed to feelings of inferiority and problems of acceptance.
An Examination of the Ethical and Value Orientation of Criminal Justice Students

The purpose of this research was to compare the values, likelihood of engaging in ethical violations, and perceptions of the seriousness of a variety of ethical violations of criminal justice students with students in other disciplines while controlling for their gender and interest in law enforcement. Few differences were found between criminal justice students and other students in terms of their value orientations. Although criminal justice students were found to be less likely to believe they would engage in ethical violations and more likely to view such violations as serious, these relationships were found to be insignificant. The variable found to have the most effect in all models was the gender of the student. Women were less likely to commit ethical violations and more likely to view them as more serious. Overall, the research lends more credence to the socialization or occupational opportunity theories for explaining the existence of the police subculture.
Mainstreaming: An Examination of the Attitudes and Needs of Regular Classroom Teachers

A questionnaire was administered to elementary-school regular class teachers to determine their attitudes and needs in regard to mainstreaming the exceptional child. The questionnaire was designed to elicit teachers' attitudes and their perceptions of time, materials, skills, support services, and training needs in relation to teaching mainstreamed exceptional children in their classroom. The secondary purpose of the study was to determine whether locale, educational degree, or teaching level affect those perceptions. Results indicated that teachers evidenced unfavorable attitudes towards mainstreaming. They believed that they did not have the time, support services, or training necessary to teach exceptional children in their classroom effectively. It was speculated that with additional training, teachers would have the necessary skills to competently participate in a mainstreaming program. Locale, educational degree, and teaching level did not differentially affect teachers' attitudes and needs.
Percutaneous treatment of superior vena cava obstruction following transvenous device implantation

The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility and safety of percutaneous treatment of superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction following transvenous device implantation. SVC obstruction is an uncommon but serious complication that can occur following permanent pacemaker or cardioverter defibrillator implantation utilizing transvenous endocardial leads. The treatment has traditionally been surgical but with the advent of stents, percutaneous approach is becoming popular. We report on the prevalence of SVC obstruction and the safety of its percutaneous catheter‐based treatment. This is a retrospective study of SVC obstruction following device implantation in our institution from January 1993 through November 2003. A total of 1,850 permanent pacemaker and 1,200 implantable cardioverter defibrillator initial implants were performed during that period. Three patients developed SVC obstruction following implant (prevalence, 1/1,000 implant). Two patients were males and the mean age at implant was 57 ± 13 years. Laser lead extraction and SVC angioplasty with or without stenting were performed in all patients. In two of them, this was followed by reimplantation of new systems. There were no procedural complications or mortality. The patients remain free of SVC obstruction symptoms 24 ± 19 months after treatment. SVC obstruction prevalence after device implantation is low. Percutaneous treatment of SVC obstruction can be safely performed and appears to be effective in maintaining medium‐term patency. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Image of Man Implicit in Encounter Group Theory

very beginning, there was some degree of realism about the magnitude and difficulties of such a task. There was some degree of recognition that the task would require ardent effort over historic time; that the extensibility of natural science methods to human and social problems is a matter of open hypothesis; that substantial readjustments of the former to the requirements of the latter must be anticipated. But the image had been created, and in almost no time at all the ever-autistic character of man under challenge asserted itself. The hypothesis was
Differential action of chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on aryl hydrocarbon receptor‐mediated signaling in breast cancer cells

Chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (ClPAHs), which are a series of halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons, have been found in the environment. The primary step in their metabolic activation seems to be associated with aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)‐mediated induction of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1 family, although the evidence remains unclear. In this study, we first investigated the effects of five ClPAHs with three to five rings and the corresponding parent PAHs on the expression of CYP1A1 and 1B1 in human breast cancer MCF‐7 cells. For the targeted ClPAHs, Western blot analysis of ClPAH‐induced CYP1A1 and 1B1 showed an enhancement in activities in comparison with induction by the corresponding parent PAHs, and the effects of chlorination were especially prominent in phenanthrene. In a further study, using 6‐chlorobenzo[a]pyrene (6‐ClBaP), cotreatment with 17β‐estradiol showed an increase in the expression of CYP1B1 mRNA but not CYP1A1 mRNA. Since the AhR ligand has been reported to induce formation of an AhR‐estrogen receptor (ER) complex, which stimulates transcription of ER target genes, the effects of ClPAHs in MCF‐7 cells transfected with estrogen response elements‐regulated green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter genes were also investigated in this study. 6‐ClBaP induced a dose‐dependent increase in GFP expression related to ER signaling through AhR activation in the cells, but 3,9,10‐trichlorophenanthrene (3,9,10‐Cl3ClPhe) did not, despite its ability to activate AhR. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of ClPAHs on the expression of the endogenous ER‐responsive genes, cathepsin D, in MCF‐7 cells. 6‐ClBaP stimulated expression of the ER‐responsive genes but 3,9,10‐Cl3ClPhe did not, as in the GFP expression system. These results suggest that estrogenic action mediated ER signaling through AhR activation does not necessarily occur for every ligand that can activate AhR. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2010.
The Moderating Effect of Individual Differences on the Relationship between the Framing of Training and Interest in Training

The moderating effect of individual differences on the relationship between framing training as ‘basic’ or ‘advanced’ and interest in training was examined for technical and nontechnical content areas. Participants were 109 working-age adults (mean age = 38.14 years, SD = 12.20 years). Self-efficacy and goal orientation were examined as moderators. Results showed a three-way interaction between performance orientation (a dimension of goal orientation reflecting the desire to demonstrate competence in an achievement setting), age, and frame for technical training and a three-way interaction between performance orientation, self-efficacy, and frame for nontechnical training. Implications for future research as well as framing training to enhance interest are discussed.
Target coverage and selectivity in field steering brain stimulation

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an established treatment in Parkinson's Disease. The target area is defined based on the state and brain anatomy of the patient. The stimulation delivered via state-of-the-art DBS leads that are currently in clinical use is difficult to individualize to the patient particularities. Furthermore, the electric field generated by such a lead has a limited selectivity, resulting in stimulation of areas adjacent to the target and thus causing undesirable side effects. The goal of this study is, using actual clinical data, to compare in silico the stimulation performance of a symmetrical generic lead to a more versatile and adaptable one allowing, in particular, for asymmetric stimulation. The fraction of the volume of activated tissue in the target area and the fraction of the stimulation field that spreads beyond it are computed for a clinical data set of patients in order to quantify the lead performance. The obtained results suggest that using more versatile DBS leads might reduce the stimulation area beyond the target and thus lessen side effects for the same achieved therapeutical effect.
A joint frailty-copula model between tumour progression and death for meta-analysis

Dependent censoring often arises in biomedical studies when time to tumour progression (e.g., relapse of cancer) is censored by an informative terminal event (e.g., death). For meta-analysis combining existing studies, a joint survival model between tumour progression and death has been considered under semicompeting risks, which induces dependence through the study-specific frailty. Our paper here utilizes copulas to generalize the joint frailty model by introducing additional source of dependence arising from intra-subject association between tumour progression and death. The practical value of the new model is particularly evident for meta-analyses in which only a few covariates are consistently measured across studies and hence there exist residual dependence. The covariate effects are formulated through the Cox proportional hazards model, and the baseline hazards are nonparametrically modeled on a basis of splines. The estimator is then obtained by maximizing a penalized log-likelihood function. We also show that the present methodologies are easily modified for the competing risks or recurrent event data, and are generalized to accommodate left-truncation. Simulations are performed to examine the performance of the proposed estimator. The method is applied to a meta-analysis for assessing a recently suggested biomarker CXCL12 for survival in ovarian cancer patients. We implement our proposed methods in R joint.Cox package.
Attitudes and uptake of a screening test: The moderating role of ambivalence

This study examined the extent to which ambivalence moderates the relationship between attitudes and screening behaviour in a clinical setting using an objective measure of behaviour. For this study 979 pregnant women eligible for prenatal Down syndrome screening completed questionnaire measures of attitudes, ambivalence and intentions towards undergoing the test. Screening behaviour, assessed by test uptake, was determined from medical records. Attitudes predicted intentions to undergo the test and screening behaviour. The correlations between attitudes and intentions and between attitudes and behaviour were greater in women with lower levels of ambivalence (r = 0.85 and r = 0.58, respectively) than in those with higher levels of ambivalence (r = 0.50 and r = 0.27, respectively). Regression analyses revealed that ambivalence moderated the relationships between attitudes and intention and between attitude and behaviour. In addition, a three-way interaction was found between ambivalence, attitudes and intention when predicting behaviour. Given that behaving consistently with attitudes is central to making an informed choice, ambivalence appears to undermine the making of such choices.
Response Anticipation and Response Conflict: An Event-Related Potential and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Response anticipation and response conflict processes are supported by executive control. However, few neuroimaging studies have attempted to study the relationship between these two processes in the same experimental session. In this study, we isolated brain activity associated with response anticipation (after a cue to prepare vs relax) and with response conflict (responding to a target with incongruent vs congruent flankers) and examined the independence and interaction of brain networks supporting these processes using event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Response anticipation generated a contingent negative variation ERP that correlated with shorter reaction times, and was associated with activation of a thalamo-cortico-striatal network, as well as increased gamma band power in frontal and parietal regions, and decreased spectral power in theta, alpha, and beta bands in most regions. Response conflict was associated with increased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and prefrontal cortex of the executive control network, with an overlap in activation with response anticipation in regions including the middle frontal gyrus, ACC, and superior parietal lobule. Although the executive control network showed increased activation in response to unanticipated versus anticipated targets, the response conflict effect was not altered by response anticipation. These results suggest that common regions of a dorsal frontoparietal network and the ACC are engaged in the flexible control of a wide range of executive processes, and that response anticipation modulates overall activity in the executive control network but does not interact with response conflict processing.
Examining Linkages between Race, Environmental Concern, Health, and Justice in a Highly Polluted Community of Color

Currently, there is a limited amount of research on Black attitudes toward the environment. Moreover, possible linkages between race, environmental attitudes, and perceptions about environmental health and justice have not been examined in the United States. This study contributes to this literature by assessing several of these linkages using data obtained from a survey of 247 residents living in or around a highly polluted community of color. It found that public perceptions about environmental health problems and environmental justice were significantly linked to race and public concern for local environmental problems. Blacks are more likely than Whites to believe they are being exposed to poorer environmental conditions, suffer more related health problems, and think that local public agencies and officials have not dealt with environmental problems in their neighborhood in a just, equitable, and effective manner.
Pleasure, change and values in doctoral pedagogy

This article explores pleasure in terms of the values of independent judgement, writerly authority, originality and singularity associated with doctoral study. It also considers how pleasure can be understood as a mode of experience that acts as a force for change. Here, the article takes a broad Deleuzian approach that is concerned with our capacities to affect and be affected. The data presented illustrates the complexity of pleasure in academic work as it is experienced, as giving rise to guilt, anxiety and a felt lack of deservingness. It also illustrates moments of intellectual jouissance and the importance of imagined pleasures as a very necessary force of change. The conclusion returns to the conceptualization of pleasure at the heart of this article to provide a critical account of the potential of understanding pleasure in terms of change and values.
Achievement Motivation in College Women in an Arab Culture

The present study was designed to explore the achievement motivation and fear of success in the Arab culture. Research was carried out in Kuwait, Lebanon, Quatar and Iraq on achievement motivation of men and women. The relationship between femininity and fear of success was studied. There were no differences in achievement motivation of Arab men and women in Kuwait, Lebanon, Quatar, and Iraq. There was no correlation between femininity and fear of success. The Kuwaiti women showed less fear of success than American women. Factors in the Arab culture which affect achievement motivation were discussed.