Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of nursing professionals and the practice of ecologically sustainable actions in the medication processes 1

ABSTRACT Objectives: to verify the correlation between the characteristics of professionals and the practice of sustainable actions in the medication processes in an ICU, and to determine if interventions such as training and awareness can promote sustainable practices performed by nursing staff in the hospital. Methods: before-and-after design study using Lean Six Sigma methodology, applied in an intensive care unit. Nursing staff were observed regarding the practice of ecologically sustainable actions during medication processes (n = 324 cases for each group (pre and post-intervention)) through a data collection instrument. The processes analyzed involved 99 professionals in the pre-intervention phase and 97 in the post-intervention phase. Data were analyzed quantitatively and the association of variables was accomplished by means of statistical inference, according to the nature of the related variables. Results: the education level was the only characteristic that showed to be relevant to an increase in sustainable practices, with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.002). When comparing before and after the intervention, there was an increase in environmentally friendly actions with statistically significant differences (p = 0.001). Conclusions: the results suggest that institutions should encourage and invest in formal education, as well as training of health professionals to promote sustainable practices in the hospital.
Orbital prefrontal cortex volume predicts social network size: an imaging study of individual differences in humans

The social brain hypothesis, an explanation for the unusually large brains of primates, posits that the size of social group typical of a species is directly related to the volume of its neocortex. To test whether this hypothesis also applies at the within-species level, we applied the Cavalieri method of stereology in conjunction with point counting on magnetic resonance images to determine the volume of prefrontal cortex (PFC) subfields, including dorsal and orbital regions. Path analysis in a sample of 40 healthy adult humans revealed a significant linear relationship between orbital (but not dorsal) PFC volume and the size of subjects' social networks that was mediated by individual intentionality (mentalizing) competences. The results support the social brain hypothesis by indicating a relationship between PFC volume and social network size that applies within species, and, more importantly, indicates that the relationship is mediated by social cognitive skills.
Loss of Kainate Receptor-Mediated Heterosynaptic Facilitation of Mossy-Fiber Synapses in KA2−/− Mice

Multimeric assemblies of kainate (KA) receptor subunits form glutamate-gated ion channels that mediate EPSCs and function as presynaptic modulators of neurotransmitter release at some central synapses. The KA2 subunit is a likely constituent of many neuronal kainate receptors, because it is widely expressed in most neurons in the CNS. We have studied the effect of genetic ablation of this receptor subunit on synaptic transmission at the mossy-fiber–CA3 pyramidal cell synapse in hippocampal slices, where kainate receptors are localized to both presynaptic and postsynaptic sites. We found that both postsynaptic and presynaptic mossy-fiber kainate receptor function is altered in neurons from KA2−/− mice. The presynaptic facilitatory autoreceptor, which modulates glutamate release from mossy-fiber terminals, had a reduced affinity for exogenous agonists and synaptic glutamate. Although presynaptic facilitation attributable to homosynaptic glutamate release was normal at mossy-fiber synapses in KA2−/− neurons, heterosynaptic kainate receptor-mediated facilitation resulting from the spillover of glutamate from CA3 collateral synapses was absent. Consistent with a decrease in glutamate affinity of the receptor, the half-decay of the postsynaptic kainate-mediated EPSC was shorter in the knock-out mice. These results identify the KA2 subunit as a determinant of kainate receptor function at presynaptic and postsynaptic mossy-fiber kainate receptors.
Brd4 and HEXIM1: Multiple Roles in P-TEFb Regulation and Cancer

Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (Brd4) and hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA) inducible protein 1 (HEXIM1) are two opposing regulators of the positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb), which is the master modulator of RNA polymerase II during transcriptional elongation. While Brd4 recruits P-TEFb to promoter-proximal chromatins to activate transcription, HEXIM1 sequesters P-TEFb into an inactive complex containing the 7SK small nuclear RNA. Besides regulating P-TEFb's transcriptional activity, recent evidence demonstrates that both Brd4 and HEXIM1 also play novel roles in cell cycle progression and tumorigenesis. Here we will discuss the current knowledge on Brd4 and HEXIM1 and their implication as novel therapeutic options against cancer.
A Multilevel Model of Resistance to Information Technology Implementation

To better explain resistance to information technology implementation, we used a multilevel, longitudinal approach. We first assessed extant models of resistance to IT. Using semantic analysis, we identified five basic components of resistance: behaviors, object, subject, threats, and initial conditions. We further examined extant models to (1) carry out a preliminary specification of the nature of the relationships between these components and (2) refine our understanding of the multilevel nature of the phenomenon. Using analytic induction, we examined data from three case studies of clinical information systems implementations in hospital settings, focusing on physicians' resistance behaviors. The resulting mixed-determinants model suggests that group resistance behaviors vary during implementation. When a system is introduced, users in a group will first assess it in terms of the interplay between its features and individual and/or organizational-level initial conditions. They then make projections about the consequences of its use. If expected consequences are threatening, resistance behaviors will result. During implementation, should some trigger occur to either modify or activate an initial condition involving the balance of power between the group and other user groups, it will also modify the object of resistance, from system to system significance. If the relevant initial conditions pertain to the power of the resisting group vis-a-vis the system advocates, the object of resistance will also be modified, from system significance to system advocates. Resistance behaviors will follow if threats are perceived from the interaction between the object of resistance and initial conditions. We also found that the bottom-up process by which group resistance behaviors emerge from individual behaviors is not the same in early versus late implementation. In early implementation, the emergence process is one of compilation, described as a combination of independent, individual behaviors. In later stages of implementation, if group level initial conditions have become active, the emergence process is one of composition, described as the convergence of individual behaviors.
Effects of growth hormone on the ontogenetic allometry of craniofacial bones

Organism size is controlled by interactions between genetic and environmental factors mediated by hormones with systemic and local effects. As changes in size are usually not isometric, a considerable diversity in shape can be generated through modifications in the patterns of ontogenetic allometry. In this study we evaluated the role of timing and dose of growth hormone (GH) release on growth and correlated shape changes in craniofacial bones. Using a longitudinal study design, we analyzed GH deficient mice treated with GH supplementation commencing pre‐ and post‐puberty. We obtained 3D in vivo micro‐CT images of the skull between 21 and 60 days of age and used geometric morphometrics to analyze size and shape changes among control and GH deficient treated and non‐treated mice. The variable levels of circulating GH altered the size and shape of the adult skull, and influenced the cranial base, vault, and face differently. While cranial base synchondroses and facial sutures were susceptible to either the direct or indirect effect of GH supplementation, its effect was negligible on the vault. Such different responses support the role of intrinsic growth trajectories of skeletal components in controlling the modifications induced by systemic factors. Contrary to the expected, the timing of GH treatment did not have an effect on catch‐up growth. GH levels also altered the ontogenetic trajectories by inducing changes in their location and extension in the shape space, indicating that differences arose before 21 days and were further accentuated by a truncation of the ontogenetic trajectories in GHD groups.
Self-efficacy and social support as predictors of smoking after a quit attempt

Abstract The current study examined self-efficacy and social support as predictors of maintenance after an attempt to stop smoking. As in previous studies, self-efficacy at the end of treatment was a significant predictor of reported smoking during the follow-up period. At 3 months after treatment the prediction from self-efficacy was weaker than a prediction from the level of post-treatment smoking. However at 10 months self-efficacy was the strongest predictive variable assessed in the study. In contrast, social support for the quit attempt was not a significant predictor of maintenance at any stage. The results provided qualified support for the contention that self-efficacy can often be a more powerful predictor than previous performance attainments, especially under conditions of greater situational change.
ORGANOTINS DISRUPT COMPONENTS OF GLUTAMATE HOMEOSTASIS IN RAT ASTROCYTE CULTURES

A rat cortical astrocyte preparation was used to investigate the effects of organotins on glutamate regulation by astrocytes. Exposure of astrocytes to low levels of organotins produced significant changes in two key components of glutamate homeostasis: glutamine synthetase (GS) activity and the high-affinity transport of L-glutamate. Trimethyltin (TMT), triethyltin (TET), and triphenyltin (TPT) exhibited differential abilities to reduce GS activity and glutamate uptake. Cultures incubated with 1 µM TET or TPT, but not TMT, exhibited a marked decrease in GS activity. Exposure to TET or TPT also produced a significant decrease in glutamate transport activity that was not observed with TMT. These declines in activity were not attributable to cell loss as measured by MTT reduction and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage. Since the loss of GS activity and transporter activity was not seen with acute organotin exposure, it is most likely attributable to a decreased presence of fully functioning protein. While the attenuation of GS and glutamate transporter activities by organotins does not match their pattern of neurotoxicity, the results indicate the potential for subtoxic concentrations of these compounds to increase extracellular glutamate and interact with other excitotoxic episodes.
MULTIPLE EVOLUTIONARY PATHWAYS TO DECREASED LATERAL PLATE COVERAGE IN FRESHWATER THREESPINE STICKLEBACKS

Adaptation to novel environments can be based either on standing genetic variation or variation attributable to new mutations. When standing genetic variation for a functional adaptation is lacking, and variation due to new mutations is not yet available, adaptation is possible only through alternative functional solutions. Reduction in the number of bony lateral plates as an adaptation to freshwater colonization by marine threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) has occurred in numerous independent cases through allelic substitution in the ectodysplasin‐a (Eda) gene. Studying the phenotypic and genetic variation in plate number and size in five marine and six freshwater threespine stickleback populations, we found that when variation in Eda was limiting (i.e., alleles associated with the low‐plate morph were missing or in extremely low frequency), plate number reduction did not take place in freshwater populations, but reduced lateral plate coverage was achieved by a reduction in the size of lateral plates. Our results suggest that this phenotypically and genetically discrete "small‐plated" threespine stickleback—which is the dominant form in three northern European freshwater populations—may be functionally equivalent to the low‐plated morph and hence, serve as an example of convergent evolution toward functional similarity in the face of genetic constraints.
Heparin-II Domain of Fibronectin Is a Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-Binding Domain: Enhancement of VEGF Biological Activity by a Singular Growth Factor/Matrix Protein Synergism

We describe extracellular interactions between fibronectin (Fn) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that influence integrin-growth factor receptor crosstalk and cellular responses. In previous work, we found that VEGF bound specifically to fibronectin (Fn) but not vitronectin or collagens. Herein we report that VEGF binds to the heparin-II domain of Fn and that the cell-binding and VEGF-binding domains of Fn, when physically linked, are necessary and sufficient to promote VEGF-induced endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and Erk activation. Using recombinant Fn domains, the C-terminal heparin-II domain of Fn (type III repeats 13 to 14) was identified as a key VEGF-binding site. Mutation of the heparin-binding residues on FnIII13–14 abolished VEGF binding, and peptides corresponding to the heparin-binding sequences in FnIII13–14 inhibited VEGF binding to Fn. Fn fragments containing both the α5β1 integrin-binding domain (III 9 to 10) and the VEGF-binding domain (III 13 to 14) significantly enhanced VEGF-induced EC migration and proliferation and induced strong phosphorylation of the VEGF receptor and Erk. Neither the cell-binding or VEGF-binding fragment of Fn alone had comparable VEGF-promoting effects. These results suggest that the mechanism of VEGF/Fn synergism is mediated extracellularly by the formation of a novel VEGF/Fn complex requiring both the cell-binding and VEGF-binding domains linked in a single molecular unit. These data also highlight a new function for the Fn C-terminal heparin-binding domain that may have important implications for angiogenesis and tumor growth.
Prefrontal and Medial Temporal Lobe Activity at Encoding Predicts Temporal Context Memory

One of the defining features of episodic long-term memory is that it includes information about the temporal context in which an event occurred. Little is known about the regions that support the encoding of temporal information in the human brain, although previous work has suggested a role for the lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and medial temporal lobes (MTL). Here we used event-related fMRI to examine the relationship between activity at encoding and subsequent memory for temporal context. Participants were scanned while performing a serial order working memory task with pictures of common objects and were later tested for temporal memory at two different timescales. In the coarse temporal memory test, participants viewed one object from each trial and indicated approximately when during the course of the experiment it had appeared. In the fine temporal memory test, participants were shown the remaining objects from each trial and asked to recall the order in which they had been originally presented. Activity in the parahippocampal cortex predicted subsequent fine temporal accuracy, whereas coarse temporal accuracy was predicted by activity in several regions of the PFC, as well as in the hippocampus. Additional multivoxel pattern analyses revealed evidence implicating the rostrolateral PFC in the representation of time-varying contextual states in a manner similar to that proposed by computational theories of temporal context memory. These results highlight MTL and PFC contributions to temporal memory at the time of encoding and suggest a particular role for the rostrolateral PFC in encoding coarse temporal context.
Employee Involvement, Attitudes and Reactions to Technology Changes

This research examines the relationships between employee reactions to specific technological changes and the job-related attitudes of these employees. The specific changes include the transition, by the organization's clinical professionals, from the use of laptop computers to smaller palm-sized clinical assistant (CE) devices and the automation of clinical pathways into the computerized documentation system. Both technological changes were implemented with the intent of increasing the efficiency of the clinical professionals. Results of this longitudinal study indicated that individuals involved in making decisions related to the technology changes reacted more positively to the changes than individuals with low levels of involvement. Further, the results of this study revealed that individuals with higher pre-change levels of role ambiguity reacted more negatively to the technology changes.
Multiple Events Lead to Dendritic Spine Loss in Triple Transgenic Alzheimer's Disease Mice

The pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide, hyperphosphorylated tau protein, neuronal death, and synaptic loss. By means of long-term two-photon in vivo imaging and confocal imaging, we characterized the spatio-temporal pattern of dendritic spine loss for the first time in 3xTg-AD mice. These mice exhibit an early loss of layer III neurons at 4 months of age, at a time when only soluble Aβ is abundant. Later on, dendritic spines are lost around amyloid plaques once they appear at 13 months of age. At the same age, we observed spine loss also in areas apart from amyloid plaques. This plaque independent spine loss manifests exclusively at dystrophic dendrites that accumulate both soluble Aβ and hyperphosphorylated tau intracellularly. Collectively, our data shows that three spatio-temporally independent events contribute to a net loss of dendritic spines. These events coincided either with the occurrence of intracellular soluble or extracellular fibrillar Aβ alone, or the combination of intracellular soluble Aβ and hyperphosphorylated tau.
Interaction between Paracoccidioides brasiliensis conidia and the coagulation system: involvement of fibrinogen

The infectious process starts with an initial contact between pathogen and host. We have previously demonstrated that Paracoccidioides brasiliensis conidia interact with plasma proteins including fibrinogen, which is considered the major component of the coagulation system. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro capacity of P. brasiliensis conidia to aggregate with plasma proteins and compounds involved in the coagulation system. We assessed the aggregation of P. brasiliensis conidia after incubation with human serum or plasma in the presence or absence of anticoagulants, extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, metabolic and protein inhibitors, monosaccharides and other compounds. Additionally, prothrombin and partial thromboplastin times were determined after the interaction of P. brasiliensis conidia with human plasma. ECM proteins, monosaccharides and human plasma significantly induced P. brasiliensis conidial aggregation; however, anticoagulants and metabolic and protein inhibitors diminished the aggregation process. The extrinsic coagulation pathway was not affected by the interaction between P. brasiliensis conidia and plasma proteins, while the intrinsic pathway was markedly altered. These results indicate that P. brasiliensis conidia interact with proteins involved in the coagulation system. This interaction may play an important role in the initial inflammatory response, as well as fungal disease progression caused by P. brasiliensis dissemination.
Affective reactions to musical stimuli reflect emotional use of music in everyday life

Music is a common means for regulating affective states in everyday life, but little is known about the individual differences in this behaviour. We investigated affective reactions to musical stimuli as an explanatory factor. Forty-four young adults rated self-selected music regarding perceived and felt emotions, preference, pleasantness and beauty. The ratings were reduced into five factors representing affective response tendencies. The participants also filled in the Music in Mood Regulation (MMR) questionnaire assessing seven music-related mood regulation strategies in everyday life. High beauty and pleasantness ratings for liked music correlated with the use of music for inducing strong emotional experiences, while ratings reflecting high agreement with the emotional content of preferred musical stimuli correlated with using music as a means for dealing with personal negative emotions. Regarding musical background, informal engagement through listening, but not formal musical training, correlated with increased use of music for mood regulation. The results clarify the link between the affective reactivity to music and the individual ways of using music as a tool for emotional self-regulation in everyday life.
Opening the Black Box of Social Capital Formation

This paper introduces a rational choice model for multiple kinds of participation to empirically investigate several theoretical determinants of social capital (SC) formation. The framework is rich enough to investigate the importance of individual variables, social/peer effects, endogenous trust, political-institutional, and inequality factors as sources of participation. We show that the aforementioned contextual factors explain SC formation for Chile, but their relative importance varies for each kind of participation. Our second application compares individual-level determinants of SC formation among the largest democracies in the Americas. Gender, age, education, and race show heterogeneous effects across countries. Overall, negative interpersonal trust shocks generate participation increments, and possibly motivate engagement in trustworthy networks. Idiosyncratic factors behind participation and trust are positively correlated, suggesting a common SC stem that manifests in multiple ways. Hence, our empirical approach to SC formation uncovers factors hidden by assumptions in some previous literature.
The Prove-Them-Wrong Syndrome: Voices from Unheard African-American Males in Engineering Disciplines

Using the grounded theory approach as a conceptual framework, this study sought to explore the phenomenon of persistence. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of African-American males who were able to persist in engineering at a predominately White institution (PWI) located in the southeastern part of the United States. This study revealed, through extensive individual and group interviews, that persistent African-American male students possess personality characteristics that help them persist in engineering majors. The “prove-them-wrong syndrome” is offered as an explanation to better understand the phenomenon of persistence for the African-American males in the study.