Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Si-Wu-Tang and its constituents promote mammary duct cell proliferation by up-regulation of HER-2 signaling

Objective: The consumption of over-the-counter natural products by perimenopausal women remains a challenging problem. It is our aim to investigate the proliferative effect of Si-Wu-Tang (SWT) and its constituents on MCF7 breast cancer cells as well as the SWT-modulated cell signaling and HER-2 gene expression. Design: By using the MCF7 (ER+, HER-2 low), BT474 (ER+, HER-2 high), MDAMB231 (ER−, HER-2 low), and SKBR3 (ER−, HER-2 high) mammary duct cell lines as our in vitro model, the mitogenic effects of SWT and its constituents were assessed by trypan blue dye exclusion assay and DNA flow cytometry. SWT-modulated cell signaling and HER-2 gene expression were evaluated in the MCF7 line by Western blot and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analyses. Results: The results showed that SWT and some of its constituents dose-dependently stimulated cell proliferation of MCF7 cells. The activation of HER-2, its downstream signaling molecules AKT and ERK1/2, as well as HER-2 gene up-regulation were involved in SWT-stimulated cell proliferation. The addition of neutralizing antibody against HER-2 abrogated the SWT-up-regulated HER-2 expression, indicating a positive feedback control for the action of HER-2 in this setting. Ferulic acid, one of the major compounds in SWT, not only promoted cell proliferation of MCF7, BT474, MDAMB231, and SKBR3 cells, but also increased the phosphorylation of HER-2, AKT, and ERK1/2, as well as overexpression of HER-2, on MCF7 cells. Conclusions: We conclude that SWT and its active constituents stimulate mammary duct cell proliferation by modulating HER-2, PI3K/AKT, and MAPK signaling and the positive feedback of HER-2 gene expression. This provides important information for perimenopausal women who are at risk of or have breast cancer or other growths in breast tissue.
Development, Calibration, and Validation of a U.S. White Male Population-Based Simulation Model of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma

Background The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) has risen rapidly in the U.S. and western world. The aim of the study was to begin the investigation of this rapid rise by developing, calibrating, and validating a mathematical disease simulation model of EAC using available epidemiologic data. Methods The model represents the natural history of EAC, including the essential biologic health states from normal mucosa to detected cancer. Progression rates between health states were estimated via calibration, which identified distinct parameter sets producing model outputs that fit epidemiologic data; specifically, the prevalence of pre-cancerous lesions and EAC cancer incidence from the published literature and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data. As an illustrative example of a clinical and policy application, the calibrated and validated model retrospectively analyzed the potential benefit of an aspirin chemoprevention program. Results Model outcomes approximated calibration targets; results of the model's fit and validation are presented. Approximately 7,000 cases of EAC could have been prevented over a 30-year period if all white males started aspirin chemoprevention at age 40 in 1965. Conclusions The model serves as the foundation for future analyses to determine a cost-effective screening and management strategy to prevent EAC morbidity and mortality.
Modified gravity with negative and positive powers of the curvature: Unification of the inflation and of the cosmic acceleration

The modified gravity, which eliminates the need for dark energy and which seems to be stable, is considered. The terms with positive powers of the curvature support the inflationary epoch while the terms with negative powers of the curvature serve as effective dark energy, supporting current cosmic acceleration. The equivalent scalar-tensor gravity may be compatible with the simplest solar system experiments.
Development of the Fear of Intimacy Components Questionnaire (FICQ)

Abstract. We developed a new instrument designed to measure fear of intimacy in romantic relationships. We suggest assessing fear of intimacy through two dimensions: self-revelation and dependence. The Fear of Intimacy Components Questionnaire (FICQ) was validated across three studies in which a 10-item solution systematically emerged. Consistently with a two component perspective, a two-factor solution fitted data the best: fear of losing the self (FLS) and fear of losing the other (FLO). Qualitative analyses verified content validity. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses tested the factor structure. Multigroup analyses supported the structural invariance across gender, age, and relationship status. Both factors showed adequate discriminant validity and internal consistency, and good 3-week period test-retest reliability. Associations between the FICQ and insecure attachment orientations demonstrated convergent validity. The association between the FICQ and relationship satisfaction above and bey.
Hydrophobic gating of mechanosensitive channel of large conductance evidenced by single-subunit resolution

Mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels are membrane proteins that detect and respond to membrane tension in all branches of life. In bacteria, MS channels prevent cells from lysing upon sudden hypoosmotic shock by opening and releasing solutes and water. Despite the importance of MS channels and ongoing efforts to explain their functioning, the molecular mechanism of MS channel gating remains elusive and controversial. Here we report a method that allows single-subunit resolution for manipulating and monitoring “mechanosensitive channel of large conductance” from Escherichia coli. We gradually changed the hydrophobicity of the pore constriction in this homopentameric protein by modifying a critical pore residue one subunit at a time. Our experimental results suggest that both channel opening and closing are initiated by the transmembrane 1 helix of a single subunit and that the participation of each of the five identical subunits in the structural transitions between the closed and open states is asymmetrical. Such a minimal change in the pore environment seems ideal for a fast and energy-efficient response to changes in the membrane tension.
Prognostic Value of FDG-PET, Based on the Revised Response Criteria, in Patients with Malignant Lymphoma: A Comparison with CT/MRI Evaluations, Based on the International Working Group/Cotswolds Meeting Criteria

Objective(s): Post-treatment evaluations by CT/MRI (based on the International Working Group/Cotswolds meeting guidelines) and PET (based on Revised Response Criteria), were examined in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with malignant lymphoma (ML). Methods: 79 patients, undergoing CT/MRI for the examination of suspected lesions and whole-body PET/CT before and after therapy, were included in the study during April 2007-January 2013. The relationship between post-treatment evaluations (CT/MRI and PET) and PFS during the follow-up period was examined, using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The patients were grouped according to the histological type into Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and other histological types. The association between post-treatment evaluations (PET or PET combined with CT/MRI) and PFS was examined separately. Moreover, the relationship between disease recurrence and serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor, lactic dehydrogenase, and C-reactive protein levels was evaluated before and after the treatment. Results: Patients with incomplete remission on both CT/MRI and PET had a significantly shorter PFS, compared to patients with complete remission on both CT/MRI and PET and those exhibiting incomplete remission on CT/MRI and complete remission on PET (P<0.001). Post-treatment PET evaluations were strongly correlated with patient outcomes in cases with HL or DLBCL (P<0.01) and other histological types (P<0.001). In patients with HL or DLBCL, incomplete remission on both CT/MRI and PET was associated with a significantly shorter PFS, compared to patients with complete remission on both CT/MRI and PET (P<0.05) and those showing incomplete remission on CT/MRI and complete remission on PET (P<0.01). In patients with other histological types, incomplete remission on both CT/MRI and PET was associated with a significantly shorter PFS, compared to cases with complete remission on both CT/MRI and PET (P<0.001). None of the serum parameters differed significantly between recurrent and non-recurrent cases. Conclusion: Post-treatment PET evaluations were well correlated with the outcomes of patients with ML, exhibiting FDG uptake. Among patients with HL or DLBCL, a post-treatment complete remission on PET was predictive of a relatively long PFS. For predicting the prognosis of patients with other histological types, a combination of CT/MRI and PET, rather than PET alone, is recommended.
Distribution System Restoration With Microgrids Using Spanning Tree Search

Distribution system restoration (DSR) is aimed at restoring loads after a fault by altering the topological structure of the distribution network while meeting electrical and operational constraints. The emerging microgrids embedded in distribution systems enhance the self-healing capability and allow distribution systems to recover faster in the event of an outage. This paper presents a graph-theoretic DSR strategy incorporating microgrids that maximizes the restored load and minimizes the number of switching operations. Spanning tree search algorithms are applied to find the candidate restoration strategies by modeling microgrids as virtual feeders and representing the distribution system as a spanning tree. Unbalanced three-phase power flow is performed to ensure that the proposed system topology satisfies all operational constraints. Simulation results based on a modified IEEE 37-node system and a 1069-node distribution system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
The course of actualization

Actualization is traditionally seen as the process following syntactic reanalysis whereby an item's new syntactic status manifests itself in new syntactic behavior. The process is gradual in that some new uses of the reanalyzed item appear earlier or more readily than others. This article accounts for the order in which new uses appear during actualization. Five corpus-based case studies are presented involving reanalysis and actualization in different functional domains of grammar. These include the reanalysis of all but, far from , and Dutch verre van to adverbial downtoners, and the reanalysis of fun and key from nouns to adjectives. It is shown that actualization proceeds from one environment to another on the basis of similarity relations between environments. The similarity relations may involve broad syntactic generalizations but also superficial similarities to existing patterns, including even an item's uses prior to reanalysis. Because actualization is guided by local and global analogies to existing uses, one determinant of the course of actualization is the locus of reanalysis, as it defines the first uses of an item under change, on which subsequent uses can be modeled. It also follows that the course of actualization is both item-specific and language-specific. The findings presented challenge the concept of reanalysis, which appears less abrupt than usually assumed. Further, it is argued that the findings fit best with usage-based models of language, which attribute a prominent role to similarity-based organization in grammar, and in which an item's use can be subject to multiple, potentially conflicting generalizations.
Why everlastings don’t last

The Cape Floral Region represents one of the world’s biodiversity hot spots, with a high level of plant, animal and insect endemism. The fungi occurring in this region, however, remain poorly studied. It is widely postulated that each plant species should harbour at least five to six unique fungal species, a number that we regard to be a huge underestimate. To test this hypothesis, we decided to study a single senescent flower of Phaenocoma prolifera (‘everlasting’; Asteraceae) collected in South Africa, and posed the question as to how many different species of fungi could be isolated and cultivated from 10 leaf bracts. Using a damp chamber technique, numerous microfungi could be induced to sporulate, enabling most of them to be successfully isolated on artificial agar media. Isolates were subsequently subjected to DNA sequencing of the ITS and LSU nrDNA regions. During the course of this study 17 species could be cultivated and identified, of which 11 appeared to be new to science. These include Catenulostroma hermanusense, Cladosporium phaenocomae, Devriesia tardicrescens, Exophiala capensis, Penidiella aggregata, P. ellipsoidea, Teratosphaeria karinae, Toxicocladosporium pseudoveloxum spp. nov., and Xenophacidiella pseudocatenata gen. & sp. nov. Further studies are now required to determine if these fungi also occur as endophytes in healthy flowers. If this trend holds true for other plant hosts from southern Africa, it would suggest that there are many more fungi present in the Cape Floral Region than estimated in previous studies.
Local Cosmopolitans and Cosmopolitan Locals: New Models of Professionals in the Academy

This essay critically examines the centrality of mobility to the model of being a higher education professor or a student affairs professional. Using three narratives of lower-income Latino students about their educational and professional choices, we offer a reading based on Gouldner's classic conception of cosmopolitans and locals, and on Baez's more recent discussion of critical agency and race-related service. We suggest the value of a model that rebalances cosmopolitan engagement in the national profession with knowledge of and commitment to the local community and to social change.
Swelling of the Third Nerve in a Child with Transient Oculomotor Paresis: A Possible Cause of Ophthalmoplegic Migraine

Transient oculomotor nerve palsy is rarely observed in childhood and mostly is recognized to be a migraine equivalent. We report an 8-year old girl who presented with recurrent attacks of transient oculomotor paresis. The clinical profile of the patient suggested transient dysfunction in the context of an ophthalmoplegic migraine. A CT scan was normal, but MRI demonstrated a swollen right oculomotor nerve.
Optimization in "self-modeling" complex adaptive systems

When a dynamical system with multiple point attractors is released from an arbitrary initial condition, it will relax into a configuration that locally resolves the constraints or opposing forces between interdependent state variables. However, when there are many conflicting interdependencies between variables, finding a configuration that globally optimizes these constraints by this method is unlikely or may take many attempts. Here, we show that a simple distributed mechanism can incrementally alter a dynamical system such that it finds lower energy configurations, more reliably and more quickly. Specifically, when Hebbian learning is applied to the connections of a simple dynamical system undergoing repeated relaxation, the system will develop an associative memory that amplifies a subset of its own attractor states. This modifies the dynamics of the system such that its ability to find configurations that minimize total system energy, and globally resolve conflicts between interdependent variables, is enhanced. Moreover, we show that the system is not merely “recalling” low energy states that have been previously visited but “predicting” their location by generalizing over local attractor states that have already been visited. This “self-modeling” framework, i.e., a system that augments its behavior with an associative memory of its own attractors, helps us better understand the conditions under which a simple locally mediated mechanism of self-organization can promote significantly enhanced global resolution of conflicts between the components of a complex adaptive system. We illustrate this process in random and modular network constraint problems equivalent to graph coloring and distributed task allocation problems. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 16: 17–26, 2011 © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Formation and Stability of Instructional Groups.

This paper argues that structural and organizationalfactors affect the formation and stability of ability groups in an elementary classroom which in turn affect growth in academic achievement. Empirical evidencefrom reading and mathematics groups in a sample of 48 classes shows that structural constraints deter the creation of small, homogeneous ability groups for instructional purposes. Ability groups are found to be fairly large in size and stable over the school year. Ability grouping is seen to increase the variance in the achievement distribution of a class, implying greater inequality in educational attainment in grouped classes.
How do substance abusers and their significant others experience the re‐entry phase of therapeutic community treatment: a qualitative study1

Transition to re-entry (aftercare) is a stressful event for therapeutic community residents. While several authors agree on the importance of social support during reintegration, few studies have focused on the experiences of re-entry clients themselves and their significant others during this period. Using a case-study design, the present study examines the re-entry process of four TC-residents and three of their social network members during a six-month period, starting at the time of their transfer to the halfway house. Clients and their significant others have mixed feelings about the reintegration period, although both are mainly positive. Clients report difficulties in leaving behind the TC-mentality and building up a stable social network; they are surprised about the frequent contacts with substance (ab)use in mainstream society. Significant others misjudge clients’ feelings about transition and relapse. Many significant others have a positive attitude towards the use of substances. The tendency in mainstream society to increasingly accept the use of substances intensifies clients’ need for early guidance in building up stable supportive networks. Significant others need well-grounded information on the reintegration process and on relapse.
MULTISENSORY INTEGRATION BETWEEN VISUAL AND TACTILE MOTION INFORMATION: EVIDENCE FROM REDUNDANT-SIGNALS EFFECTS ON REACTION TIME

This study investigated the conditions under which visual and tactile motion information were integrated efficiently, employing redundancy gain paradigm (Miller, 1982). In the present experiments, visual motion stimuli and/or tactile motion stimuli were presented. Participants were asked to respond to stimuli of two sensory modalities as quickly as possible. It is well known that faster reaction times are observed for bimodal stimuli than for unimodal stimuli, and the facilitation is called redundancy gain. The present study manipulated figural configurations of visual motion stimuli, and examined whether the congruency of figural configurations between vision and touch would modulate the amount of redundancy gain and the reaction time distribution. The findings have important implications for the locus of multi-sensory integration between visual and tactile motion information.
Accounts as a politeness strategy in the internal directive documents of a business firm in Hong Kong

In this paper, the frequency, semantic type and sequencing of accounts in internal company emails with directive elements are examined. It is found that subordinates justify most frequently when they make requests to their superiors, while managers tend to justify their requests to their subordinates more frequently than peers justify requests among themselves. The latter finding is attributed to the dilemma that is faced by modern institutions of controlling workers to accomplish institutional goals on the one hand, and allowing individuals to work as autonomous workers on the other hand. Nevertheless, managers, when requesting their subordinates, tend to use more accounts that are not typically associated with justification for action or accounts that are in line with the ideology of control and regulation. The sequencing of accounts is argued to be the result of a number of factors, including coherence, agent reference and the relationship between addressor and addressee.
Effects of Manipulation on Foliage Characteristics of Andropogon gerardii Vitman

The effects of burning, mowing, and nitrogen fertilizer on the chlorophyll, nitrogen, and phosphorus content of big bluestem were meas­ ured using a factorial experimental design at Konza Prairie Research Nat­ ural Area. While spring burning usually increased foliage production, burning had no effect on mid-season chlorophyll or nitrogen concentrations. Chlorophyll concentrations were significantly increased by fertilizer and mowing treatments. Nitrogen concentrations of foliage were higher on fertilized and mowed plots. Mowing also increased phosphorus concen­ trations of foliage, but nitrogen fertilizer significantly reduced phosphorus concentrations. These results support other research indicating that: 1) nitrogen use efficiency (grams biomass produced per gram of foliage ni­ trogen) is higher on burned prairie, 2) removal of foliage by mowing results in more nutrient-rich regrowth, and 3) the amount of phosphorus available to big bluestem foliage is limited. The dilution of phosphorus caused by added nitrogen was a consequence of increased productivity on these plots and suggests phosphorus uptake in excess of requirements for maximum growth. The relationships between burning, mowing, and nitrogen on the spectral reflectance patterns of vegetation indicated that chlorophyll (or nitrogen) concentrations of foliage appeared to more strongly affect indices of greenness and plant vigor than did the amount of plant biomass.
Parental perception of the importance of friendship and other outcome priorities in children with autism spectrum disorder

Parental perceptions of the importance of friendship development in comparison to other outcome priorities are examined in this research. Parents of children with high functioning autism between the age of 5–10 years (N = 74) were asked to rate and rank the importance of the following six outcome priorities: friendship, social skills, physical and motor development, intellectual and academic skills, creativity, and emotional capacity. It was predicted that friendship would be highly prioritised by parents, considering the friendship difficulties often experienced by children with autism. Parents reported friendship to be third most highly rated outcome following social skills and emotional skills, although all three were closely rated. When parents were asked to force-rank priorities, friendship was ranked considerably lower than social and emotional development. Level of autistic symptomatology of the child did not seem to influence parent rating or ranking of friendship importance to any great extent. The implications of these findings for future educational service delivery are discussed.