Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Evolution of the Stellar Hosts of Radio Galaxies

We present new near-infrared images of z > 0.8 radio galaxies from the flux-limited 7C-III sample of radio sources for which we have recently obtained almost complete spectroscopic redshifts. The 7C objects have radio luminosities ≈20 times fainter than 3C radio galaxies at a given redshift. The absolute magnitudes of the underlying host galaxies and their scale sizes are only weakly dependent on radio luminosity. Radio galaxy hosts at z ∼ 2 are significantly brighter than the hosts of radio-quiet quasars at similar redshifts and the recent model AGN hosts of Kauffmann & Haehnelt. There is no evidence for strong evolution in scale size, which shows a large scatter at all redshifts. The hosts brighten significantly with redshift, consistent with the passive evolution of a stellar population that formed at z ≳ 3. This scenario is consistent with studies of host galaxy morphology and submillimeter continuum emission, both of which show strong evolution at z ≳ 2.5. The lack of a strong "redshift cutoff" in the radio luminosity function to z > 4 suggests that the formation epoch of the radio galaxy host population lasts ≳1 Gyr, from z ≳ 5 to z ∼ 3. We suggest these facts are best explained by models in which the most massive galaxies and their associated AGN form early because of high baryon densities in the centers of their dark matter haloes.
CULTURAL MISTRUST AND RESPONSES OF BLACK CANADIANS TO SUBTLE AND OVERT RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN EXPERIMENTAL VIGNETTES

The relationship between cultural mistrust and responses to racial discrimination has received little attention in the empirical research literature. In the current study, the potential moderating role of cultural mistrust on responses to subtle and overt racial discrimination cues was assessed in a sample of 136 Black Canadian adults (73% female). Participants were randomly assigned to read and respond to one of three vignettes describing a job seeking experience in which they were instructed to imagine being interviewed and subsequently rejected for a job by a White employer. The three vignettes included either overt, subtle, or absent (control) racial discrimination cues. Cultural mistrust was found to have direct positive associations with attributions to racial discrimination and other-directed emotional responses (i.e., anger). However, contrary to hypotheses, cultural mistrust did not moderate the effects of overt and subtle racial discrimination cues on attributions, state self-esteem, other-directed emotional responses, or behavioural responses. Participants reported more attributions and behavioural responses to racial discrimination cues when they were overt, but not subtle, compared to when they were absent. In contrast, participants reported lower levels of state self-esteem when racial discrimination cues were subtle, but not overt, compared to when they were absent. The lack of observed moderating effects indicates that cultural mistrust did not facilitate increased accuracy in detecting racial discrimination cues or provide a buffer against the negative effects of racial discrimination among participants in the current study. Based on these findings, it appears that cultural mistrust among Black Canadians reflects a more general versus situation-specific tendency to attribute interpersonal outcomes to racial discrimination and to experience anger toward potential perpetrators.
Untreatable pain resulting from abdominal cancer: new hope from biophysics?

CONTEXT Visceral pain characterizing pancreatic cancer is the most difficult symptom of the disease to control and can significantly impair the quality of life which remains and increase the demand for euthanasia. AIM To investigate a possible new method based on biophysical principles (scrambler therapy) to be used in the effective treatment of drug-resistant oncological pain of the visceral/neuropathic type. SETTING Eleven terminal cancer patients (3 pancreas, 4 colon, 4 gastric) suffering from elevated drug resistant visceral pain. DESIGN The trial program was related to the first ten treatment sessions. Subsequently, each patient continued to receive treatment until death. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Pain measures were performed using the visual analogue scale before and after each treatment session and accompanied by diary recordings of the duration of analgesia in the hours following each single application. Any variation in pain-killing drug consumption was also recorded. RESULTS All patients reacted positively to the treatment throughout the whole reference period. Pain intensity showed a significant decrease (P<0.001), accompanied by a gradual rise both in the pain threshold and the duration of analgesia. Nine (81.8%) of the patients suspended pain-killers within the first 5 applications, while the remaining two (18.2%) considerably reduced the dosage taken prior to scrambler therapy. No undesirable side effects were observed. Compliance was found to be optimal. CONCLUSIONS The preliminary results obtained using scrambler therapy are extremely encouraging, both in terms of enhanced pain control after each treatment session and in view of the possible maintenance of effectiveness over time.
Examining the Pseudo-Standard Web Search Engine Results Page

Nearly every web search engine presents its results in an identical format: a ranked list of web page summaries. Each summary comprises a title; some sen- tence fragments usually containing words used in the query; and URL information about the page. In this study we present data from our pilot experiments with eye tracking equipment to examine how users interact with this standard list of results as presented by the Aus- tralian sensis.com. au web search service. In partic- ular, we observe: different behaviours for navigational and informational queries; that users generally scan the list top to bottom; and that eyes rarely wander from the left of the page. We also attempt to correlate the number of bold words (query words) in a summary with the amount of time spent reading the summary. Unfortu- nately there is no substantial correlation, and so stud- ies relying heavily on this assumption in the literature should be treated with caution.
Defining Molecular Phenotypes of Mesenchymal and hematopoietic Stem Cells derived from Peripheral blood of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia patients for regenerative stem cell therapy

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) is a clonal myeloid disorder affecting all age groups, characterized by accumulation of immature blast cells in bone marrow and in peripheral blood. Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation is a present treatment for cure of ALL patients, which is very expensive, invasive process and may have possibility of transplantation of malignant stem cells to patients. In the present study, we hypothesized to isolate large number of normal Mesenchymal & Hematopoietic stem cells from peripheral blood of ALL patients, which will be further characterized for their normal phenotypes by using specific molecular stem cell markers. This is the first study, which defines the existing phenotypes of isolated MSCs and HSCs from peripheral blood of ALL patients. We have established three cell lines in which two were Mesenchymal stem cells designated as MSCALL and MSCnsALL and one was suspension cell line designated as HSCALL. The HSCALL cell line was developed from the lymphocyte like cells secreted by MSCALL cells. Our study also showed that MSCALL from peripheral blood of ALL patient secreted hematopoietic stem cells in vitro culture. We have characterized all three-cell lines by 14 specific stem cell molecular markers. It was found that both MSC cell lines expressed CD105, CD13, and CD73 with mixed expression of CD34 and CD45 at early passage whereas, HSCALL cell line expressed prominent feature of hematopoietic stem cells such as CD34 and CD45 with mild expression of CD105 and CD13. All three-cell lines expressed LIF, OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, IL6, and DAPK. These cells mildly expressed COX2 and did not express BCR-ABL. Overall it was shown that isolated MSCs and HSCs can be use as a model system to study the mechanism of leukemia at stem cell level and their use in stem cell regeneration therapy for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.
Queer exceptionalism and exclusion: Cosmopolitanism and inequalities in ‘gay-friendly’ Beirut

This article examines how LGBTQ individuals in Beirut articulate discourses of progress, modernity, and exceptionalism in light of the regional geopolitical situation. While transnational discourses portray Beirut as an open and cosmopolitan city in the Arab World, the study focuses on how LGBTQ individuals engage with and negotiate these discourses in their everyday lives. The author examines the gap between discourses of Beiruti openness and exceptionalism, and the realities of exclusion experienced by LGBTQ individuals in Beirut. Focusing on unequal access to space, the author asks, for whom is Beirut cosmopolitan and gay-friendly? Drawing on ethnographic observations and 20 life-history interviews with LGBTQ individuals in Beirut, the author finds that LGBTQ individuals in Beirut create relational understandings of modernity and cosmopolitanism that situate Beirut in relation to other Arab cities, rather than just Euro-American cities. In addition, gender normativity and class shape LGBTQ individuals’ access to several types of spaces. Finally, it is suggested that scholars must be attentive to celebratory discourses of exceptionalism and cosmopolitanism of places, and conceptualize them as relational and contextual designations which obscure inequalities that characterize those places.
Poverty Dynamics, Parenting, and Child Mental Health in Canada

Although the detrimental effects of poverty on child mental health are well established, questions remain as to which aspects of poverty matter most and which mechanisms account for the association. This study tested the relative influence of depth of current poverty and poverty duration on child anxiety/depression and antisocial behavior, then evaluated whether parenting practices mediated observed associations. Data come from four waves of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (1994–2000), with analysis restricted to children who were aged 2 to 5 at initial interview and lived with both biological parents throughout (n = 1,901). Depth of current poverty was associated with child anxiety/depression, whereas persistent poverty was associated with child antisocial behavior. Parenting behaviors were significant predictors but did not mediate the association between poverty dynamics and child mental health. The research and policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Regret in the On-line Decision Problem 1

At each point in time a decision maker must choose a decision. The payoff in a period from the decision chosen depends on the decision as well as the state of the world that obtains at that time. The difficulty is that the decision must be made in advance of any knowledge, even probabilistic, about which state of the world will obtain. A range of problems from a variety of disciplines can be framed in this way. In this paper we survey the main results obtained as well as some of their applications.
Data Journalism and the Challenge of Shoe-Leather Epistemologies

After prediction-defying elections in 2015 and 2016 in the United Kingdom and the United States rattled journalists, some publicly blamed data journalism—an indictment that raised questions about journalistic discourse surrounding the polysemic phrase and still-developing field. A content analysis (n = 612) of all published news stories over two years in four international news databases revealed the potential of journalists to embrace data as an empirical tool, for the phrase was most frequently associated with numerical analysis. However, the next most-frequent definitional category was electoral prediction, which was statistically more likely in the nations where data journalism is most often practiced, the U.K. and U.S. Correlating data journalism with electoral prediction also was statistically more likely in the month immediately after the surprising elections. Further, it was more likely to stimulate pushback from practitioners who saw data as epistemologically less reliable than “shoe-leather” approaches marked by observation and interviews with a few people perceived to be voter archetypes. The results reveal more than journalistic ignorance about polling techniques. They reveal an element of news culture that privileges traditional methods and dismisses unfamiliar evidentiary tools, which risks skewing audience understanding of data journalism.
Prolongation of injection interval after switching therapy from ranibizumab to aflibercept in Japanese patients with macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion

Purpose This study was conducted to investigate the outcome of switching therapy from ranibizumab to aflibercept in Japanese patients with macular edema (ME) secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) in daily practice. Materials and methods This retrospective study enrolled 15 eyes in 15 Japanese patients with ME secondary to BRVO who had been receiving a pro re nata regimen of ranibizumab and had provided written informed consent to switch to aflibercept therapy. The intravitreal injection interval, central retinal thickness, and visual acuity were evaluated before and after switching. Results The mean period of ranibizumab treatment was 11.8±4.2 months. The mean observation period after switching to aflibercept was 10.6±3.4 months, and seven patients were observed for more than 12 months after switching. The mean intravitreal injection interval was prolonged by 23.6 days with aflibercept (68.2±26.4 days with ranibizumab vs 91.8±33.2 days with aflibercept; P=0.0011). The mean intravitreal injection interval just before the switch was 81.3±35.6 days and was significantly prolonged to 100.8±34.2 days just after the switch to aflibercept (P=0.0309). The mean central retinal thickness did not change before or after the switch to aflibercept (295±55 μm with ranibizumab vs 276±25 μm with aflibercept; P=0.12). The mean visual acuity also remained at an improved level after the switch. No systemic or ocular side effects were evident during the study period. Conclusion Switching therapy from ranibizumab to aflibercept in Japanese patients with ME secondary to BRVO prolonged the intravitreal injection interval without anatomical or functional degradation.
Dynamics of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in Western and Eastern Europe between 1970 and 2000.

AIMS Important changes in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality rates are occurring in Western and Eastern Europe, each with their own dynamics. Differences in trends will be analysed and possible causes are discussed. METHODS AND RESULTS Mortality data for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality rates from different countries were obtained from WHO and were analysed for the period 1970-2000. The annual changes in cause-specific mortality rates were calculated using linear and polynomial regression models. Mortality rates declined almost linearly for ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and total cardiovascular diseases between 1970 and 2000 in Western Europe. In both men and women, the decline for these diseases varied between 50 and 65% or approximately 2%/year in this period. In contrast, in Eastern Europe cardiovascular mortality rates reached a maximum in the period 1990-94, followed by a decline of approximately 3%/year in Poland, 2%/year in Hungary, and 5%/year in the Baltic states. The changes in cardiovascular mortality rates were reflected in all-cause mortality rates in both Western and Eastern Europe. CONCLUSION Over the past 30 years, mortality rates in cardiovascular diseases increased or decreased very rapidly. The causes are complex but changes in diet appear to play a major role. The more recent declines in Western Europe also reflect improvements in modern cardiovascular treatment.
Lead in Water: Neurotoxicityand Stressful Effect on Wistar Rat

The fauna and flora are severely threatened by discharges of industrial pollutants such as heavy metals (lead zinc cadmium arsenic…) which are highly dangerous. The study covers the identification of sites fixing mechanism lead to the brain, in rats Wistar according to several approaches: phenotypic, behavioural, immunohistochemical and histological. The rats are permanently acetate lead the dose of 250mg / l and 500mg/l diluted in distilled water for a period of 12 weeks compared to witnesses who receive only distilled water. On the phenotypic we found that in rats treated, lead causes exophthalmoses, a decrease in muscle tone, body weight, the intake and falling hair all over his body: anorectic effect and a decrease in water intake. The administration of the lead acetate oral causes a very significant decrease in the conduct of exploration (locomotors activity) and the stereotypical behaviour like (grooming, sniffing bite) compared to control group rats with rats. The experience of swimming forced and the passage of two compartments (darkness-light), were observed that lead causes a stressful effect in rats, which is in favour of the involvement of serotonin transmission systems. The immuno-histochemical study using an antibody anti-GFAP (Glial fibrillary acidic protein) demonstrated an increase on GFAP immunostaining in the cortex, the cerebellum and the corpus callosum. For more understanding these involvements of various channels, we had involved our study to compare the effects between two groups by histological different brain structure. An alteration in Purkinje cells and the layer of grains were observed with important disorganization tissues. These results, clearly, show that lead causes a decrease in nerve transmissions (catecholamineric, glutamatergic and serotonin) and a structural alteration of different brain tissues, which are the cause of behavioural and functional disorders.
Exploring Self-Efficacy among Entry-Level and Advanced BSW Students

ABSTRACT This study compared a sample of entry-level and advanced BSW students, who completed pretest and posttest self-efficacy measures, to assess their level of confidence in performing social work tasks after 15 weeks of instruction. By the end of the semester, only advanced students made significant gains in self-efficacy beliefs, and they showed a significantly higher self-efficacy belief than entry-level students. Results suggest that increased mastery experiences, as found in the advanced social work curriculum, may help students develop confidence in their ability to practice as professional social workers.
Rotational mixing in low-mass stars. I Effect of the mu-gradients in main sequence and subgiant Pop I stars

We present a first set of results concerning stellar evolution of rotating low-mass stars. Our models include fully consistent transport of angular momentum and chemicals due to the combined action of rotation induced mixing (according to Maeder & Zahn 1998) and element segregation. The analysis of the eects of local variations of molecular weight due to the meridional circulation on the transport of angular momentum and chemicals are under the scope of this study. We apply this mechanism to low mass main sequence and subgiant stars of population I. We show that the so-called-currents are of major importance in setting the shape of the rotation profile, specially near the core. Furthermore, as shown by Talon & Charbonnel (1998) and Charbonnel & Talon (1999) using models without-currents, we confirm that rotation-induced mixing in stars braked via magnetic torquing can explain the blue side of the Li dip, as well as the low Li abundances observed in subgiants even when-currents are taken into account. We emphasize that variations are not to be neglected when treating rotation-induced mixing, and that they could be of great importance for latter evolutionary stages.
Amyloid in normal and pathological parathyroid glands

Two groups of parathyroid glands have been examined for intrafollicular amyloid. In glands removed surgically it was found in nine cases (16%); in glands removed at necropsy it was found in 23 cases (46%). Also, two postmortem cases of systemic amyloidosis showed involvement of parathyroid glands with an entirely different distribution of amyloid. Compared with other amyloids the tinctorial properties of the intrafollicular amyloid were uniform in reactions with Congo red and Thioflavin T, but the intensity of the staining reaction for amino acids tryptophan and tyrosine was not constant for the follicle amyloid. This variation may be a feature of a maturation process but the derivation of this amyloid remains uncertain.
The E ff ects of the Risk Neutral Skewness on Implied Volatility Regressions

This paper provides new insights into the sources of bias of the implied by option prices volatility to forecast its physical counterpart. This bias can be attributed to the volatility risk premium effects. The latter are found to depend on the high order cumulants of the risk neutral density. These cumulants capture the risk averse behavior of the investors in the stock and option markets for bearing the risk reflected into the deviations of the implied risk neutral distribution from the normal one. Based on an implied volatility regression model allowing for risk premium effects, the paper shows that the bias of the implied volatility slope to forecast the future level of its physical counterpart can be eliminated when the risk neutral third-order cumulant is included as a right hand side variable in the model. This cumulant captures the effects on volatility premium of possible extreme negative events in the stock market.
Engaging and Empowering Academic Staff to Promote Service-Learning Curriculum in Research-Intensive Universities.

Much of the literature on service-learning discusses issues related to faculty, students, and community partners. However, there is little research on issues related to academic staff. In this project, through a series of meetings and workshops, change lab methodology was used to analyze the barriers to staff members’ involvement in service-learning, and intracollegiate collaboration supported their increased involvement in community-engaged curricula. A series of designed-research processes was utilized to create new artifacts, to mediate and foster a drive toward mutual engagement in the agential-structural relationship, to encourage staff members to engage in reflective practice, and to enable staff to empower themselves. After witnessing the real-life needs of a rural community and empowered through collaboration and professional development, academic staff devoted time to working with teachers, students, and community, further transforming themselves from a mostly administrative support role to that of researcher.