Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Specific immunosuppression by mixed chimerism with bone marrow transplantation after Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B pretreatment could prolong corneal allograft survival in mice

Purpose We assessed the combined use of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B (SEB) superantigen pre-treatment along with allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) to induce immune suppression condition and inhibit corneal keratoplasty rejection in mice. Methods BALB/C (H-2d) mice were both BMT and corneal allografts donors and C57BL/6(H-2b) mice were recipients. Prior to BMT, recipients received single injections of either SEB, cyclophosphamide (CYP), or normal saline (NS). Allogenic corneal penetrating keratoplasty was performed 7 days after BMT. Bone marrow chimerisms in recipients (donor major histocompatibility complex-II H2-d) were determined on Days 14, 28, and 56 post-BMT. Recipient immune response was assessed by mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLR) using splenocytes from C57BL/6 mice as responders in co-culture with stimulator cells from C57BL/6 (isogeneic), BALB/C (allogeneic), or CBA/1(third party) mice. Cluster of differentiation 4 receptors positive (CD4+) and CD8+T cells in recipient mice were evaluated. Corneal graft survival was assessed using Kaplan–Meier survival curves. Results SEB pre-treatment induced higher levels of hematopoietic chimerism on Days 14, 28 and 56 post-BMT than did CYP or NS pre-treatment. Mean corneal allograft survival was significantly prolonged with group SEB-BMT (20.3±7.6 days) compared to group CYP-BMT (13.0±4.0 days) and NS-BMT (9.0±2.2 days). SEB-BMT mice splenocytes had diminished MLR responses compared to CYP-BMT or NS-BMT mice. CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood and spleens were significantly reduced in group SEB-BMT mice. Conclusions BMT after SEB pre-treatment could promote mixed chimerism, which inhibited allogeneic cornea transplant rejection. This should possibly relate to CD4+ and CD8+ T cell deletion and acquiring donor-specific immunosuppression.
Alcohol-Related Brain Damage in Humans

Chronic excessive alcohol intoxications evoke cumulative damage to tissues and organs. We examined prefrontal cortex (Brodmann’s area (BA) 9) from 20 human alcoholics and 20 age, gender, and postmortem delay matched control subjects. H & E staining and light microscopy of prefrontal cortex tissue revealed a reduction in the levels of cytoskeleton surrounding the nuclei of cortical and subcortical neurons, and a disruption of subcortical neuron patterning in alcoholic subjects. BA 9 tissue homogenisation and one dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) proteomics of cytosolic proteins identified dramatic reductions in the protein levels of spectrin β II, and α- and β-tubulins in alcoholics, and these were validated and quantitated by Western blotting. We detected a significant increase in α-tubulin acetylation in alcoholics, a non-significant increase in isoaspartate protein damage, but a significant increase in protein isoaspartyl methyltransferase protein levels, the enzyme that triggers isoaspartate damage repair in vivo. There was also a significant reduction in proteasome activity in alcoholics. One dimensional PAGE of membrane-enriched fractions detected a reduction in β-spectrin protein levels, and a significant increase in transmembranous α3 (catalytic) subunit of the Na+,K+-ATPase in alcoholic subjects. However, control subjects retained stable oligomeric forms of α-subunit that were diminished in alcoholics. In alcoholics, significant loss of cytosolic α- and β-tubulins were also seen in caudate nucleus, hippocampus and cerebellum, but to different levels, indicative of brain regional susceptibility to alcohol-related damage. Collectively, these protein changes provide a molecular basis for some of the neuronal and behavioural abnormalities attributed to alcoholics.
An Updated Meta-Analysis of Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Gene: Three Well-Characterized Polymorphisms with Hypertension

Background Numerous individually underpowered association studies have been conducted on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) genetic variants across different ethnic populations, however, the results are often irreproducible. We therefore aimed to meta-analyze three eNOS widely-evaluated polymorphisms, G894T (rs1799983) in exon 7, 4b/a in intron 4, and T−786C (rs2070744) in promoter region, in association with hypertension from both English and Chinese publications, while addressing between-study heterogeneity and publication bias. Methods Data were analyzed using Stata software (version 11.0), and random-effects model was applied irrespective of between-study heterogeneity, which was evaluated by subgroup and meta-regression analyses. Publication bias was weighed using the Egger's test and funnel plot. Results There were total 19284/26003 cases/controls for G894T, and 6890/6858 for 4b/a, and 5346/6392 for T−786C polymorphism. Overall comparison of allele 894T with 894G in all study populations yielded a 16% increased risk for hypertension (odds ratio [OR] = 1.16; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.07–1.27; P = 0.001), and particularly a 32% increased risk (95% CI: 1.16–1.52; P<0.0005) in Asians and a 40% increased risk (95% CI: 1.19–1.65; P<0.0005) in Chinese. Further subgroup analyses suggested that published languages accounted for the heterogeneity for G894T polymorphism. The overall OR of allele 4a versus 4b was 1.29 (95% CI: 1.13–1.46; P<0.0005) in all study populations, and this estimate was potentiated in Asians (OR = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.16–1.72; P<0.0005). For T−786C, ethnicity-stratified analyses suggested a significantly increased risk for −786C allele (OR = 1.25; 95% CI: 1.06–1.47; P = 0.007) and −786CC genotype (OR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.20–2.38; P = 0.003) in Whites. As an aside, the aforementioned risk estimates reached significance after Bonferroni correction. Finally, meta-regression analysis on other study-level covariates failed to provide any significance for all polymorphisms. Conclusion We, via a comprehensive meta-analysis, ascertained the role of eNOS G894T and 4b/a polymorphisms on hypertension in Asians, and T−786C polymorphism in Whites.
Dependence of – and Long Memory in – Exchange Rate Returns : Statistics , Robustness , Time Aggregation ∗

Empirical research on financial market data reported a number of properties of return time series which are considered as ‘stylized facts’. In this contribution, measures of dependence of foreign exchange rate returns are discussed. Furthermore, statistics of long memory are considered. The robustness of the statistics is analyzed using the bootstrap and considering different subsamples. It is also analyzed how time aggregation affects these properties. Based on the results, robust stylized facts are selected which – together with similar results for unconditional distributions provided in a companion paper – will result in an objective function for an indirect estimation method of agent based models.
An active metabolite of leflunomide, A77 1726, inhibits the production of serum amyloid A protein in human hepatocytes.

OBJECTIVE Cytokine-induced hepatic serum amyloid A (SAA) synthesis is the critical step in the pathogenesis of AA amyloidosis secondary to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study was conducted to provide more insight into the mechanism of SAA production in hepatocytes and its regulation. METHODS Primary cultured normal human hepatocytes were stimulated with cytokines (IL-1beta, TNF-alpha and IL-6) and the culture supernatants were analysed for the production of SAA. Human hepatocytes, treated or not treated with A77 1726, were stimulated with IL-1beta and the cellular lysates were analysed by immunoblot using anti-phospho-specific mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and IkappaB-alpha. Acute phase-SAA (SAA1) mRNA expression was analysed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS IL-1beta is a most potent inducer of SAA in normal hepatocytes. A77 1726 suppressed the production of SAA in human hepatocytes activated by IL-1beta in a dose-dependent manner (0-50 microM). A77 1726 inhibited IL-1beta-induced p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1/2 (JNK1/2) activation, whereas A77 1726 did not affect IL-1beta-induced NF-kappaB activation in hepatocytes. CONCLUSION These results indicate that MAPK signalling pathways are critical in IL-1beta-induced hepatic SAA synthesis. Leflunomide may suppress SAA synthesis by affecting these pathways and may therefore have some beneficial effect on AA amyloidosis secondary to RA.
Multiliteracies and the New World Order

Due to the importance of literacy as a key component in many education programs it appears that more than any other curriculum area; its history has been marked by continual change in terms of theoretical positioning, shifts in definition and pedagogical practice. Whilst change is often viewed as a positive occurrence, recently teachers of literacy have experienced a rapid period of change in both their practice and the theoretical and research based beliefs that underpin it. This chapter will provide a brief overview of some of the ways in which literacy pedagogy has encompassed a diverse range of forms of communication and meaning making commonly referred to as ‘multiliteracies’.
Cohesin Smc1β determines meiotic chromatin axis loop organization

Meiotic chromosomes consist of proteinaceous axial structures from which chromatin loops emerge. Although we know that loop density along the meiotic chromosome axis is conserved in organisms with different genome sizes, the basis for the regular spacing of chromatin loops and their organization is largely unknown. We use two mouse model systems in which the postreplicative meiotic chromosome axes in the mutant oocytes are either longer or shorter than in wild-type oocytes. We observe a strict correlation between chromosome axis extension and a general and reciprocal shortening of chromatin loop size. However, in oocytes with a shorter chromosome axis, only a subset of the chromatin loops is extended. We find that the changes in chromatin loop size observed in oocytes with shorter or longer chromosome axes depend on the structural maintenance of chromosomes 1β (Smc1β), a mammalian chromosome–associated meiosis-specific cohesin. Our results suggest that in addition to its role in sister chromatid cohesion, Smc1β determines meiotic chromatin loop organization.
Selective screening of carriers for control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in high-risk hospital areas with a high level of endemic MRSA.

Screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage in patients at risk was evaluated as part of a control program in a 26-bed medical intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital with a high level of endemic MRSA. Control measures included isolation and barrier precautions, skin decolonization with chlorhexidine of patients from whom MRSA was recovered, and mupirocin treatment of nasal carriers of MRSA. Of 3,686 patients admitted during a 4-year period, 44% were screened, which occurred during admission for 38%; MRSA was recovered from 293 patients (8%). There were 150 imported cases and 143 ICU-acquired cases, of which 51% and 45%, respectively, were first identified through screening. Nasal swab cultures identified 84% of MRSA carriers. The incidence of all ICU-acquired cases and of acquired colonization or infection decreased from 5.8% and 5.6% to 2.6% and 1.4% (P = .002 and P < .001), respectively, whereas that of imported cases remained unchanged (range, 3.8% to 4.3%; P = .8). Selective screening for nasal carriage during admission to high-risk areas may contribute to identification of a substantial proportion of cases of MRSA and to early implementation of effective control measures.
What are the Causes of Rising Wage Inequality in the United States?

During the last 15 years - especially in the 1980s - wage inequality rose in the United States. It appears that this can be explained by a secular shift in production functions favoring workers with intellectual rather than manual skills, together with slower growth in the supply of skilled labor than in the previous decade.
6-Attachment Theory A Guide for Couple Therapy

The application of attachment theory to adult relationships, which did not occur until the late 1980s (Hazan & Shaver, 1987; Johnson, 1986), was a revolutionary event for the modality of couple therapy. For the first time, a theory of close relationships offered the couple therapist a coherent, rele­ vant, widely applicable, and well-researched framework for understanding the complex phenomenon of the adult love relationship. This is a phenome­ non that has preoccupied and perplexed human beings throughout history. Couple therapy, as a modality, has generally been missing a comprehensive theory of relatedness to guide intervention. Over the years a number of gen­ eral ideas have arisen that have guided the practice of couple therapy-for example, that adult love relationships mirror past relationships with parents, and that we even actively recreate the negative elements of these relationships to resolve inner conflicts; that problems in relationships are due to developmental delays that cause partners to enmesh rather than dif­ ferentiate; or that partners lack skills, either communication skills or the negotiation skills, with which to create good rational quid pro quo con­ tracts with spouses. There have been many problems with these conceptual­ izations. For example, the concept of enmeshment confuses caring and co­ ercion (Green & Werner, 1996), and quid pro quo contracts are not generally found in happy couples but only in those who are very distressed (Murstein, Cerreto, & McDonald, 1977). In general, then, as a modality, couple therapy has largely been a set of techniques in search of a coherent 103
Comparative Study of Anterior Eye Segment Measurements with Spectral Swept-Source and Time-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography in Eyes with Corneal Dystrophies

Purpose. To compare anterior eye segment measurements and morphology obtained with two optical coherence tomography systems (TD OCT, SS OCT) in eyes with corneal dystrophies (CDs). Methods. Fifty healthy volunteers (50 eyes) and 54 patients (96 eyes) diagnosed with CD (epithelial basement membrane dystrophy, EBMD = 12 eyes; Thiel-Behnke CD = 6 eyes; lattice CD TGFBI type = 15 eyes; granular CD type 1 = 7 eyes, granular CD type 2 = 2 eyes; macular CD = 23 eyes; and Fuchs endothelial CD = 31 eyes) were recruited for the study. Automated and manual central corneal thickness (aCCT, mCCT), anterior chamber depth (ACD), and nasal and temporal trabecular iris angle (nTIA, tTIA) were measured and compared with Bland-Altman plots. Results. Good agreement between the TD and SS OCT measurements was demonstrated for mCCT and aCCT in normal individuals and for mCCT in the CDs group. The ACD, nTIA, and tTIA measurements differed significantly in both groups. TBCD, LCD, and FECD caused increased CCT. MCD caused significant corneal thinning. FECD affected all analyzed parameters. Conclusions. Better agreement between SS OCT and TD OCT measurements was demonstrated in normal individuals compared to the CDs group. OCT provides comprehensive corneal deposits analysis and demonstrates the association of CD with CCT, ACD, and TIA measurements.
The Role of the Automotive Industry in Detroit's Employment Fluctuations: A Multiple Restriction Regime Approach

Using a vector autoregressive time-series model, I analyze the validity of a multiple restriction regime approach in regional modeling as well as the historical impact of various employment shocks on the Detroit Metropolitan Area economy. For this, the model's decomposition matrix has two distinct forms that are dependent on the relation of an industry to the automotive industry, the region's largest manufacturing sector, and the causal restrictions these different regimes place on each version of the model. Results indicate that the use of two different sets of restrictions yields acceptable explanatory power and captures important dynamic characteristics of the data without a substantial increase in computational costs over a single restriction regime approach. Results also indicate that declines in employment in the automotive industry over the past two decades did have a negative effect on the Detroit Metropolitan Area, but not of the immediacy or magnitude popularly believed.
Development of an above knee prosthesis using MR damper and leg simulator

Since conventional above-knee prostheses are passive type devices with constant mechanical properties, the knee joint motions are not similar to that of normal persons. On the other hand, active type prostheses can improve the swing phase gait but these are expensive, heavy and consume large energy. Thus we propose a semi-active prosthesis using the rotary magnetorheological (MR) damper. The torque dissipation in the knee joint can be controlled by the magnetic field induced by the solenoid. A 3-DOF leg simulator has been developed to generate various hip motions and analyze the results of walking motions. The tracking control of knee joint angle was performed with this leg simulator. The experiment shows that the proposed prosthesis system has good performance in swing phase. We applied the repetitive controller in conjunction with the computed control law and PD control law. This algorithm reduces the RMS tracking error as the repetitions of the tracking. Moreover, the proposed prosthesis system is adaptable to walking speed.
Campaign Craft: The Strategies, Tactics, and Art of Political Campaign Management

Shea and Burton present and updated and expanded version of Shea's 1996 guide to and analysis of modern American political campaign communication. Bringing to bear both academic and professional experience, they cover all aspects of present-day political campaigns from understanding the context of a particular campaign (national trends, the media market, demographic research, etc.) to strategic thinking (developing an overall theme and strategy), and to specific voter contact techniques (the tactical use of fundraising, paid media, free media--including the Internet--and get-out- the-vote drives). Throughout the text, Shea and Burton's discussion and anlaysis is peppered with examples from national, state- level, and local campaigns. This comprehensive guide is must reading for all those interested in the campaign process, including candidates and political activists as well as scholars, researchers, and students involved with American politics and political communication.
Speech activity detection for NASA apollo space missions: challenges and solutions

Speech Activity Detection(SAD) is a well researched problem for communication, command and control applications, where audio segments are short duration and solution proposed for noisy as well as clean environments. In this study, we investigate the SAD problem using NASA’s Apollo space mission data [1]. Unlike traditional speech corpora, the audio recordings in Apollo are extensive from a longitudinal perspective (i.e., 612 days each). From SAD perspective, the data offers many challenges: (i) noise distortion with variable SNR, (ii) channel distortion, and (iii) extended periods of non-speech activity. Here, we use the recently proposed Combo-SAD, which has performed remarkably well in DARPA RATS evaluations, as our baseline system [2]. Our analysis reveals that the ComboSAD performs well when speech-pause durations are balanced in the audio segment, but deteriorates significantly when speech is sparse or absent. In order to mitigate this problem, we propose a simple yet efficient technique which builds an alternative model of speech using data from a separate corpora, and embeds this new information within the Combo-SAD framework. Our experiments show that the proposed approach has a major impact on SAD performance (i.e., +30% absolute), especially in audio segments that contain sparse or no speech information. Index Terms: Speech Activity Detection, Long Audio Recordings, NASA, Apollo, Noise Robustness
Can Education and Enforcement Affect Behavior of Car and Truck Drivers on Urban Freeways

More than 5,000 people died in large truck crashes in the United States in 2006. Recognizing the seriousness of this situation, the Federal Motor Ca rrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) developed the Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT) program, a traffic enforcement program that uses communication, enforcement, and evaluation activities to reduce cr ashes with involvement of commercial motor vehicles (CMV) and resulted fatalities and injuries . FMCSA encourages states to apply the TACT program to roads that are experiencing an excessive number of injuries and fatalities from crashes between cars and trucks. This paper presen ts the analysis results of the TACT project in order to investigate its effectiveness. Traffic da ta and information regarding aggressive driving behavior in Indianapolis were collected. There wer e three phases: the pre-TACT phase, the phase when a media campaign was conducted and the police enforcement took place, and the after the campaign and enforcement phase. The data were extracted from video images and included traffic volumes, speeds, time headways, an d several types of aggressive driving behavior. Furthermore, a total of 1,047 surveys we re collected by the police officers during the police enforcement phase of the project. The surve y data were analyzed to assess the effect that TACT may have had on aggressive behavior characterized by noting the distance left by the drivers when they passed other vehicles. The resul ts showed that the TACT program, particularly its police enforcement component, was successful in curbing aggressive interactions between cars and trucks during the program period.
Mapping and measuring the distribution of household wealth: A cross-country analysis

In this paper we compare the level, composition and distribution of household wealth in five industrial countries: the UK, US, Italy, Finland and Sweden. We exploit the harmonized data within the Luxembourg Wealth Study, which we have extended to allow us to examine trends in the UK and the US between the mid-1990s and the mid- 2000s. Remaining differences between surveys, variable definitions and coverage are highlighted to the extent that they impact on cross-country comparisons. We find that the Nordic countries have lower average wealth holdings, smaller absolute gaps between low wealth and high wealth households but high relative measures of wealth inequality. Italian households hold very little debt and are much more likely to own their homes outright, leading to relatively high median levels of wealth. In contrast American households tend to hold much more housing debt well into retirement. Increases in owner occupation and house prices 2000-05 in the UK has led to substantial increases in wealth, particularly median wealth holdings and this had led to falls in relative measures of wealth inequality such as the Gini coefficient even though absolute gaps between high and low wealth households have grown substantially. We show that there are underlying country differences in terms of distributions of age, household composition, educational attainment and income as well as wealth and debt portfolios. Educational loans are increasing in their size and prevalence in some countries and look set to create some marked differences in the distribution of wealth for different age cohorts.