Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
p73 Is Expressed in Human Thymic Epithelial Cells

The thymus is a heterogeneous immune organ in which immature T-cells develop and eventually specialize to make certain immune responses of their own. Among various types of stromal cells in the thymus, thymic epithelial cells (TECs) have a crucially important function for presenting self-antigens and secreting cytokines to thymocytes for their maturation into T-cells. In this study we show that the p73 gene, a homologue of the tumor suppressor gene p53, was expressed in the nucleus of the human TEC in vivo and in TEC lines in vitro. Because p73 has the capacity to be a transactivator like p53, it may contribute to T-cell development in the context of TEC biology as regulated in the cell cycle and apoptosis.
Effects of Race, Insurance Status, and Hospital Volume on Perforated Appendicitis in Children

Objective. Previous research suggests that perforated appendicitis is more common in Medicaid patients, but the roles of minority race and hospital volume remain largely unstudied. We sought to investigate the association of perforated appendicitis in children with minority race, insurance status, and hospital volume. Methods. We conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study of 33184 children who had an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis code for acute appendicitis in The Kids' Inpatient Database, a pediatric database from 22 states in 1997. A multivariate logistic regression model was developed to determine patient and hospital characteristics predictive of perforated appendicitis. Results. Of 33184 children with acute appendicitis, 10777 (32.5%) were perforated. In multivariate analysis, black (odds ratio [OR]: 1.24; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10–1.39) and Hispanic (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.10–1.29) children were more likely to have perforated appendicitis than white children. Perforation was also more likely in Medicaid patients (OR: 1.30; 95% CI 1.22–1.39) compared with privately insured children. Annual hospital volume of cases of appendicitis was not significantly associated with perforation in multivariate analysis. Conclusions. Perforated appendicitis disproportionately affected both children of minority race and children insured by Medicaid. No effect of hospital volume was observed. To reduce this racial disparity, efforts should focus on the causes of delayed diagnosis and the treatment of appendicitis in children of minority race.
PART OF A SPECIAL ISSUE ON SEEDLING HERBIVORY Contrasting ontogenetic trajectories for phenolic and terpenoid defences in Eucalyptus froggattii

†Background and Aims Plant defence metabolites are considered costly due to diversion of energy and nutrients away from growth. These costs combined with changes in resource availability and herbivory throughout plant ontogeny are likely to promote changes in defence metabolites. A comprehensive understanding of plant defence strategy requires measurement of lifetime ontogenetic trajectories – a dynamic component largely overlooked in plant defence theories. This study aimed to compare ontogenetic trajectories of foliar phenolics and terpenoids. Phenolics are predicted to be inexpensive to biosynthesize, whereas expensive terpenoids also require specialized, non-photosynthetic secretory structures to avoid autotoxicity. Based on these predicted costs, it is hypothesized that phenolics would be maximally deployed early in ontogeny, whereas terpenoids would be maximally deployed later, once the costs of biosynthesis and foregone photosynthesis could be overcome by enhanced resource acquisition. †Methods Leaves were harvested from a family of glasshouse-grown Eucalyptus froggattii seedlings, field-grown saplings and the maternal parent tree, and analysed for total terpenoids and phenolics. †Key Results Foliar phenolics were highest in young seedlings and lowest in the adult tree. Indeed the ratio of total phenolics to total terpenoids decreased in a significantly exponential manner with plant ontogeny. Most individual terpene constituents increased with plant ontogeny, but some mono- and sesquiterpenes remained relatively constant or even decreased in concentration as plants aged. †Conclusions Plant ontogeny can influence different foliar defence metabolites in directionally opposite ways, and the contrasting trajectories support our hypothesis that phenolics would be maximally deployed earlier than terpenoids. The results highlight the importance of examining ontogenetic trajectories of defence traits when developing and testing theories of plant defence, and illustrate an advantage of concurrently studying multiple defences.
Build, Compute, Critique, Repeat: Data Analysis with Latent Variable Models

We survey latent variable models for solving data-analysis problems. A latent variable model is a probabilistic model that encodes hidden patterns in the data. We uncover these patterns from their conditional distribution and use them to summarize data and form predictions. Latent variable models are important in many fields, including computational biology, natural language processing, and social network analysis. Our perspective is that models are developed iteratively: We build a model, use it to analyze data, assess how it succeeds and fails, revise it, and repeat. We describe how new research has transformed these essential activities. First, we describe probabilistic graphical models, a language for formulating latent variable models. Second, we describe mean field variational inference, a generic algorithm for approximating conditional distributions. Third, we describe how to use our analyses to solve problems: exploring the data, forming predictions, and pointing us in the direction of improved mo.
Skin reactions related to treatment with anticytokines, membrane receptor inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies

Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, soluble cytokines and receptors to cytokines, and inhibitors of tyrosine kinase, are currently used in an ever increasing number of patients with neoplastic and inflammatory disorders. Their cutaneous side effects are not always well known by physicians in charge of these new biotherapies. However, these side effects seem to be relatively frequent and may seriously disturb the patients or even represent a life-threatening event. Accordingly, it appears necessary for dermatologists and physicians using these therapies to be aware of the varied patterns of skin complications they may cause, in order to manage the treatment in the safest and most comfortable way for the patients.
Theories of the state

[Introduction] The recent, unparalleled ascendancy of the liberal democratic state may seem to render alternative theories of the state redundant. But while the prevailing view might be that “I have seen the future, and it works”, it was not so long ago that this was said about a very different type of state. And while the liberal democratic state is an abundant form of government, in practice this often reflects an uneasy compromise of conflicting conceptions of politics. It thus remains important to unpick the theoretical underpinnings of conceptions of the state.
The Significance of Marriage Intensives: A Multi-Perspective Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Couples' Post Intensive Experience

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MARRIAGE INTENSIVES: A MULTI-PERSPECTIVE INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF COUPLES’ POST INTENSIVE EXPERIENCE Tara Elizabeth Lalonde Center for Counseling and Family Studies Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling At a time when divorce rates remain at 50% regardless of treatment efforts, this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explored and compared how couples made sense of their marriage experience one year after intensive marriage therapy for couples who found it significant and were able to maintain gains, and for couples who initially found it helpful but were unable to maintain gains. Three couples in each category were interviewed and compared resulting in six themes emerging from each group. Two additional overarching themes of regenerated versus disheartened and intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation and change emerged to clearly distinguish the two groups studied. Finally, the themes of this study were found to corroborate previous common factors research and future recommendations were provided.
Upregulation of substance P receptors in angiogenesis associated with chronic airway inflammation in rats.

In rat airways, substance P released from sensory nerves induces plasma leakage via neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptors on endothelial cells. In pathogen-free rats, both leakage and endothelial NK1 receptors are most abundant in postcapillary venules. In Mycoplasma pulmonis-infected rats, extensive angiogenesis occurs in the tracheal mucosa. The capillary-sized (< 10 microns in diameter) angiogenic blood vessels are abnormally sensitive to substance P. The aim of this study was to determine whether increased expression of NK1 receptors contributes to this abnormal sensitivity. Fischer 344 rats were infected with M. pulmonis and were challenged with substance P (5 micrograms/kg i.v.), and then plasma leakage in the tracheal mucosa was measured by extravasation of Monastral blue (30 mg/kg i.v.). NK1 receptors on endothelial cells were localized by immunohistochemistry. Five minutes after substance P, NK1 receptor-immunoreactive endosomes were five times more abundant in endothelial cells of angiogenic capillaries in M. pulmonis-infected rats than in corresponding capillaries in pathogen-free controls (17.1 +/- 2.3 vs. 3.5 +/- 0.4 endosomes/100 micron 2 of endothelial surface). Endosomes were slightly more abundant in postcapillary venules 15-35 microns in diameter in infected rats (23.0 +/- 0.6 vs. 19.2 +/- 0.7 endosomes/100 micron 2). Similarly, after substance P, angiogenic capillaries had much more Monastral blue labeling (area density: 18.8 +/- 1.5 vs. 2.9 +/- 0.5% of vessel wall), whereas postcapillary venules had about the same amount of labeling (36.0 +/- 3.7 vs. 34.1 +/- 1.8%). We conclude that increased expression of NK1 receptors, which are internalized into endosomes after ligand binding, contributes to the abnormal sensitivity of endothelial cells of angiogenic blood vessels to substance P in the airways of M. pulmonis-infected rats.
The selectivity of the occipitotemporal M170 for faces

Evidence from fMRI, ERPs and intracranial recordings suggests the existence of face-specific mechanisms in the primate occipitotemporal cortex. The present study used a 64-channel MEG system to monitor neural activity while normal subjects viewed a sequence of grayscale photographs of a variety of unfamiliar faces and non-face stimuli. In 14 of 15 subjects, face stimuli evoked a larger response than non-face stimuli at a latency of 160 ms after stimulus onset at bilateral occipitotemporal sensors. Inverted face stimuli elicited responses that were no different in amplitude but 13 ms later in latency than upright faces. The profile of this M170 response across stimulus conditions is largely consistent with prior results using scalp and subdural ERPs.
Preoperative Thallium Scanning, Selective Coronary Revascularization, and Long-Term Survival After Major Vascular Surgery

Background—Ischemia on thallium scanning is a strong predictor of long-term mortality in CAD patients. Whether coronary revascularization (CR) in patients with significant ischemia on preoperative thallium scanning (PTS) improves long-term survival after major vascular surgery has not been determined. Methods and Results—The perioperative data, including PTS and subsequent CR in patients with moderate to severe reversible ischemia on PTS, and long-term survival of 502 consecutive patients who underwent 578 major vascular procedures were analyzed retrospectively. Patients with PTS who ultimately did not undergo the planned vascular operation were also studied. Cox regression and propensity score analyses were used to analyze survival. A total of 407 patients (81.1%) had PTS: 221 (54.3%) had no or mild defects (group I); 50 (12.3%) had moderate-severe fixed defects (group II); 62 (15.2%) had moderate-severe reversible ischemia yet did not undergo CR (group III); and 74 (18.2%) had moderate-severe reversible ischemia and subsequent CR by CABG (36) or PTCA (38; group IV). Patients who sustained major complications as a result of the preoperative cardiac workup were included in group IV. By multivariate analysis, age, type of vascular surgery, presence of diabetes, previous myocardial infarction, and moderate-severe ischemia on PTS independently predicted mortality (P =0.001, 0.009, 0.039, 0.006, and 0.029, respectively), and preoperative CR predicted improved survival (OR 0.52, P =0.018). Group IV had better survival than group III even when subdivided according to normal and reduced left ventricular function (OR 0.40 and 0.41, P =0.035 and 0.021, respectively). Conclusions—Long-term survival after major vascular surgery is significantly improved if patients with moderate-severe ischemia on PTS undergo selective CR.
Effects of Active Compression-Decompression Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation with the Inspiratory Threshold Valve in a Young Porcine Model of Cardiac Arrest

Active compression-decompression (ACD) cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with the inspiratory threshold valve (ITV) has been recently recommended by the American Heart Association for treatment of adults in cardiac arrest (class IIb: alternative, useful intervention), but this new technique has never been used in a pediatric population. Thus, this study was designed to evaluate ACD + ITV CPR in a young porcine model of cardiac arrest. After 10 min of ventricular fibrillation, and 8 min of standard CPR, ACD + ITV CPR was performed in seven 4- to 6-wk-old pigs (8–12 kg); defibrillation was attempted 8 min later. Within 2 min after initiation of ACD + ITV CPR, mean (± SEM) coronary perfusion pressure increased from 18 ± 2 to 24 ± 3 mm Hg (p = 0.018). During standard versus ACD + ITV CPR, mean left ventricular myocardial and total cerebral blood flow was 59 ± 21 versus 126 ± 32 mL·min−1·100 g−1, and 36 ± 7 versus 60 ± 15 mL· min−1·100 g−1, respectively (p = 0.028). Six of seven animals were successfully defibrillated, and survived >15 min. In conclusion, the combination of ACD + ITV CPR significantly increased both coronary perfusion pressure and vital organ blood flow after prolonged standard CPR in this young porcine model of ventricular fibrillation.
An Enhanced and Secure Three-Party Password-based Authenticated Key Exchange Protocol without Using Server's Public-Keys and Symmetric Cryptosystems

Password-based authenticated key exchange protocol is a type of authenticated key exchange protocols which enables two or more communication entities, who only share weak, low-entropy and easily memorable passwords, to authenticate each other and establish a high-entropy secret session key. In 2012, Tallapally proposed an enhanced three-party password-based authenticated key exchange protocol to overcome the weaknesses of Huang’s scheme. However, in this paper, we indicate that the Tallapally’s scheme not only is still vulnerable to undetectable online password guessing attack, but also is insecure against off-line password guessing attack. Therefore, we propose a more secure and efficient scheme to overcome the security flaws. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.itc. 43.2. 3790
Brachial Artery Endothelial-dependent Flow-mediated Dilation Identifies Early-stage Endothelial Dysfunction in Systemic Sclerosis and Correlates with Nailfold Microvascular Impairment

Objective. To assess possible correlations between endothelial-dependent flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery and nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Evidence has shown that vascular impairment in SSc may be a sign of endothelial dysfunction involving both microvascular and macrovascular systems, although the pathological mechanisms of the dysfunction are poorly understood. Methods. Forty-three consecutive patients (mean age 51 ± 11 yrs) with SSc were studied. Thirty patients had limited cutaneous SSc, 13 had diffuse cutaneous SSc. Twenty-seven healthy subjects (mean age 48 ± 8 yrs) were recruited as controls. Ultrasound assessment of FMD was performed on all subjects in order to evaluate macrovascular function. Patients were divided into 3 patterns of microvascular damage on the basis of NVC (early, active, and late), and the microangiopathy evolution score was calculated, as reported elsewhere. Results. FMD was significantly reduced in patients with SSc compared to healthy subjects [median 8.0% (3.0%–9.0%) vs 15.0% (12.0%–16.0%), respectively; p < 0.0001]. Patients with an early pattern of microangiopathy showed reduced FMD values compared to controls (p = 0.0001). FMD was significantly reduced in patients with SSc who had the late NVC pattern of microangiopathy compared to active and early patterns (p = 0.003 and p = 0.001, respectively). FMD was inversely correlated with the microvascular damage rate in patients with SSc (p < 0.0001). Conclusion. We demonstrated the simultaneous presence of macrovascular and microvascular impairment in patients with SSc, which was already present in the early phase of the vascular disease.
Pairing Alpaca and Llama-Derived Single Domain Antibodies to Enhance Immunoassays for Ricin

Previously, our group isolated and evaluated anti-ricin single domain antibodies (sdAbs) derived from llamas, engineered them to further increase their thermal stability, and utilized them for the development of sensitive immunoassays. In work focused on the development of therapeutics, Vance et al. 2013 described anti-ricin sdAbs derived from alpacas. Herein, we evaluated the utility of selected alpaca-derived anti-ricin sdAbs for detection applications, and engineered an alpaca-derived sdAb to increase its melting temperature, providing a highly thermal stable reagent for use in ricin detection. Four of the alpaca-derived anti-ricin A-chain sdAbs were produced and characterized. All four bound to epitopes that overlapped with our previously described llama sdAbs. One alpaca sdAb, F6, was found to possess both a high melting temperature (73 °C) and to work optimally with a thermally stable llama anti-ricin sdAb in sandwich assays for ricin detection. We employed a combination of consensus sequence mutagenesis and the addition of a non-canonical disulfide bond to further enhance the thermal stability of F6 to 85 °C. It is advantageous to have a choice of recognition reagents when developing assays. This work resulted in defining an additional pair of highly thermal stable sdAbs for the sensitive detection of ricin.
Curriculum-Based Oral Reading Fluency Norms for Students in Grades 2 through 5

Theteachercol/ects a I-minute timedsampling ofa student's oral reading. Three th ird-grade students are seated across a table from their tea cher, ready to read aloud. Lizzey goes fir st, reading the first paragraph of the story slowly, deliberately, and accurately. Isaac reads the next two paragraphs rapidly but makes several errors, which the teacher corrects. Leah reads the rest of the page smoothly and quickly. She makes one error but immediately corrects herself. As the students read, the teacher monitors their performance. Among the things sh e watch es for is the accuracy with which the children read, as well as their rate. Thi s combination of accuracy and rate is kn own as oral reading fluency (ORF). It is expressed as "words correct per minute. " Fluency is an important skill to measure because it is considered a mark of a skilled reader. In general, less fluent readers have poorer comprehension (Carn ine, Silbert, & Kameenui, 1990). Teachers know that it is important to observe both accuracy and rate. When rate alone is considered, a student reading 100words per minute with no errors appears to have the same proficiency as a student reading 100 words per minute with many errors. When only accuracy is considered, two students, both making five errors on a passage, may appear to have the sa1J1e skill level, whereas one may have taken more than 3 minutes to complete the pa ssage while the other read it in less than 1 minute. ORF is superior to both rate and accuracy alone, because it differentiates both kinds of students. Assessments of oral read ing fluency are used by teachers and specialists to make important classroom decisions includ ing the following: • Screening and determining eligibility of studen ts for special programs (Marston, Mirkin, & Deno, 1984). • Setting instructional goals and objectives (Deno, 1986; Deno & Fuchs, 1987). • Plac ing students into instructional group s (Wes son , Vierthaler, & Haubr ich, 1989). • Monitoring academic progress toward achievement of goals and objectives (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1986). • Making ne cessary adjustments to or changes in instruct ion (Fuchs, Deno, & Mirkin, 1984). Placement and monitoring decisions require individually referenced information in which a studen t's performance of a skill is measured over time and the results of prior efforts are compared to current performance (Tindal & Marston, 1990). Other decisions such as screening, determining program eligibility, and setting instructional goals and objectives requ ire peer-referenced in formation involving comparisons with comparable peers (Dena, 1985). In these cases, performance standards are necessary so that teachers will know what is an "average" or "typical" performance to guide their decision making.
Enabling Real-Time Adaptivity in MOOCs with a Personalized Next-Step Recommendation Framework

In this paper, we demonstrate a first-of-its-kind adaptive intervention in a MOOC utilizing real-time clickstream data and a novel machine learned model of behavior. We detail how we augmented the edX platform with the capabilities necessary to support this type of intervention which required both tracking learners' behaviors in real-time and dynamically adapting content based on each learner's individual clickstream history. Our chosen pilot intervention was in the category of adaptive pathways and courseware and took the form of a navigational suggestion appearing at the bottom of every non-forum content page in the course. We designed our pilot intervention to help students more efficiently navigate their way through a MOOC by predicting the next page they were likely to spend significant time on and allowing them to jump directly to that page. While interventions which attempt to optimize for learner achievement are candidates for this adaptive framework, behavior prediction has the benefit of not requiring causal assumptions to be made in its suggestions. We present a novel extension of a behavioral model that takes into account students' time spent on pages and forecasts the same. Several approaches to representing time using Recurrent Neural Networks are evaluated and compared to baselines without time, including a basic n-gram model. Finally, we discuss design considerations and handling of edge cases for real-time deployment, including considerations for training a machine learned model on a previous offering of a course for use in a subsequent offering where courseware may have changed. This work opens the door to broad experimentation with adaptivity and serves as a first example of delivering a data-driven personalized learning experience in a MOOC.
Apertif, a focal plane array for the WSRT

In this paper we describe a focal plane array (FPA) prototype, based on Vivaldi elements, developed for the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) to increase its instantaneous field of view by a factor 25 and double its current bandwidth. This prototype is the first step in a project that has the ambition to equip most of the WSRT antennas with FPAs to improve the survey speed of the telescope. Examples of scientific applications are surveys of the northern sky in polarised continuum and HI emission, and efficient searches for pulsars and transients.