Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression and Estradiol Regulation of Wnt Genes in the Mouse Blastocyst Identify a Candidate Pathway for Embryo-Maternal Signaling at Implantation1

Abstract Implantation of mammalian embryos depends on differentiation of the blastocyst to a competent state and of the uterine endometrium to a receptive state. Communication between the blastocyst and uterus ensures that these changes are temporally coordinated. Although considerable evidence indicates that the blastocyst induces expression of numerous genes in uterine tissue, potential signaling mechanisms have yet to be identified. Moreover, whereas a surge of maternal estradiol occurring on Day 4 of pregnancy in the mouse is critically required for many of the peri-implantation uterine changes, whether this surge also affects blastocyst gene expression has not been established. We show here that mouse morulae express genes encoding several members of the Wnt family of signaling molecules. Additional Wnt genes are newly expressed following development to blastocyst. Unexpectedly, Wnt5a and Wnt11 are expressed in embryos that undergo the morula-to-blastocyst transition in vivo, but only weakly or not at all in embryos that do so in vitro. Upregulation of Wnt11 is temporally coordinated with the surge of maternal estradiol on Day 4. Wnt11 fails to be upregulated in blastocysts obtained from mice ovariectomized early on Day 4 or from mice treated with the estradiol antagonist, ICI 182,780. Administration of estradiol-17β or its metabolite, 4-OH-estradiol, to ovariectomized mice restores Wnt11 expression. Moreover, Wnt11 expression is not upregulated when blastocysts are trapped in the oviduct following ligation of the utero-tubal junction, nor when estradiol-17β or 4-OH-estradiol are administered to blastocysts in vitro. These results establish a comprehensive profile of Wnt gene expression during late preimplantation development, demonstrate that estradiol regulates gene expression in the blastocyst via uterine factors, and identify Wnts as potential mediators of embryo-uterine communication during implantation.
Gender, Race, and Latina Identity: An Examination of Marvel Comics' Amazing Fantasy and Araña

This article analyzes gender and race issues as they appear in the comic book series Amazing Fantasy and Araña, especially pertaining to issues of representation. The author finds that although small steps toward a more varied representation of minority groups are present in this comic book series, the characters are still depicted in gender and race stereotypical ways. The author does, however, find that unlike most minority groups' portrayals and most heroines' portrayals, ethnic identity is expressed in many ways but still does not overcome the larger issues of racial stereotyping present in the comic book series.
Using music to induce emotions: Influences of musical preference and absorption

The present research addresses the induction of emotion during music listening in adults using categorical and dimensional theories of emotion as background. It further explores the influences of musical preference and absorption trait on induced emotion. Twenty-five excerpts of classical music representing `happiness', `sadness', `fear', `anger' and `peace' were presented individually to 99 adult participants. Participants rated the intensity of felt emotions as well as the pleasantness and arousal induced by each excerpt. Mean intensity ratings of target emotions were highest for 20 out of 25 excerpts. Pleasantness and arousal ratings led to three main clusters within the two-dimensional circumplex space. Preference for classical music significantly influenced specificity and intensity ratings across categories. Absorption trait significantly correlated with arousal ratings only. In sum, instrumental music appears effective for the induction of basic emotions in adult listeners. However, careful screening of participants in terms of their musical preferences should be mandatory.
Understanding the one-to-one relationship in instrumental/vocal tuition in Higher Education: comparing student and teacher perceptions

The power of one-to-one tuition in Higher Music Education is evidenced by its continuing place at the heart of conservatoire education. The need to examine this student–teacher relationship more closely has been emphasised in the last decades by increasing understanding of processes of student learning in Higher Education as a whole, and in particular the impact which student–teacher relations have on learning. Literature on PhD supervision, for example, has highlighted the depth of applied craft skills made possible in one-to-one interaction, and has also drawn attention to a range of potential difficulties encountered in the supervisory relationship. This paper draws on findings from a study at a conservatoire in the UK, which explored student and teacher perceptions of one-to-one tuition. It analyses student and teacher perspectives on the relationship and considers the match between their perceptions within student–teacher pairs. Findings demonstrate diverse characterisation of the relationship, and varied approaches to extending a social relationship beyond the confines of the lesson. Comparison of student–teacher pairs indicates that the students tended to mirror their teachers' opinions about appropriate social interaction. This was one example of the dynamics of power operating within the one-to-one relationship, although these were rarely discussed explicitly. Such dynamics of power made it difficult in some instances for students to articulate difficulties with learning and to change teacher. There was also evidence of a possible connection between dynamics of power in the relationship and students' reluctance to develop artistic and professional self-direction. The implications of these findings are considered in terms of conceptualising one-to-one tuition, and the need to review the professional framework of its delivery in Higher Music Education.
The Effects of Personality Traits on User Acceptance of Mobile Commerce

Existing research on user acceptance of mobile commerce has found that technological perceptions—such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived compatibility—had significant effects on user behavior. However, the effects of personality traits have seldom been examined. The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of five personality traits of extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and neuroticism on user adoption of mobile commerce. Partial least squares was employed to conduct data analysis. The results show that extraversion has a strong effect on trust, whereas neuroticism has significantly negative effects on trust and perceived usefulness, both of which determine user intention to adopt mobile commerce.
Cadaver versus living donor kidneys: impact of donor factors on antigen induction before transplantation.

BACKGROUND It is widely recognized that living-related donor (LRD) renal allografts have a higher overall graft survival than cadaver donor transplants. We tested the hypothesis that part of this is attributable to LRD kidneys being obtained under optimal conditions from healthy donors, whereas cadaveric kidneys may have experienced injury as a result of inflammatory events around the time of brain death. METHODS We have performed a comparative immunohistochemical analysis of pretransplant donor biopsies from cadaveric (N = 65) and LRD (N = 29) kidneys to determine any differences that may predispose them to subsequent damage. Cryostat sections were stained with antibodies to leukocytes, adhesion molecules, and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR antigens, and the expression was assessed semiquantitatively. RESULTS High levels of endothelial E-selectin and proximal tubular expression of HLA-DR antigens, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 were detected in biopsies from cadaveric kidneys, whereas expression of these markers was markedly reduced in LRD kidneys. High levels of tubular antigen expression were significantly associated with traumatic death, prolonged ventilation, and episodes of infection in cadaver donors. Furthermore, the expression of pretransplant tubular antigens in cadaver donor kidneys was significantly associated with early acute rejection following transplantation, suggesting that such kidneys are predisposed to subsequent immune-mediated attack following transplantation. CONCLUSIONS These results may explain, in part, the superior outcome of LRD allografts compared with cadaver renal allografts.
A study of the career development and aspirations of women in middle management

This article reports the results of a study on the career development and aspirations of women in middle management positions in business firms. The major research method was individual case studies, which relied on face-to-face interviews with a sample of thirty women in middle management positions in fifteen Fortune 500 companies. The studies revealed the factors most pertinent to their success and the barriers that have most frequently hindered their career development or progression. The studies also disclosed that the majority aspire ultimately to attain top management positions and believe it is either very realistic or somewhat realistic that they will succeed, initiatives that HRD professionals and corporate leaders can take to maximize the human resource of women managers are also suggested.
More Than Motherhood

This article examines motivations for entering family day care work as they relate to responsibilities of motherhood and the prominence of these motivations for the women providing day care within and across groups of workers. Using data from a large-scale representative survey of family day care workers in Illinois, the author examines the range of reasons for job entry. The author also uses cluster analysis to categorize workers by the common patterns of these reasons and uses demographic, family, and work characteristics to predict membership in these categories. The finding is that the majority of family day care workers are trying to meet a broad range of mothering responsibilities—including economic provision and commitments to kith, kin, and community—rather than focusing only on physical and emotional care of their own children. Furthermore, these differences vary strongly by race.
Viewing the world through the prism of music: Effects of music on perceptions of the environment

Questionnaire and interview studies suggest that music is valued for its role in managing the listener’s impression of the environment, but systematic investigations on the topic are scarce. We present a field experiment wherein participants were asked to rate their impression of four different environments (a quiet residential area, traveling by train in the suburbs, at a busy crossroads, and in a tranquil park area) on bipolar adjective scales, while listening to music (which varied regarding level of perceived activation and valence) or in silence. Results showed that the evaluation of the environment was in general affected in the direction of the characteristics of the music, especially in conditions where the perceived characteristics of the music and environment were incongruent. For example, highly active music increased the activation ratings of environments which were perceived as inactive without music, whereas inactive music decreased the activation ratings of environments which were perceived as highly active without music. Also, highly positive music increased the positivity ratings of the environments. In sum, the findings suggest that music may function as a prism that modifies the impression of one’s surroundings. Different theoretical explanations of the results are discussed.
Transcriptional Response to Deletion of the Phosphatidylserine Decarboxylase Psd1p in the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the synthesis of the essential phospholipid phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is accomplished by a network of reactions which comprises four different pathways. The enzyme contributing most to PE formation is the mitochondrial phosphatidylserine decarboxylase 1 (Psd1p) which catalyzes conversion of phosphatidylserine (PS) to PE. To study the genome wide effect of an unbalanced cellular and mitochondrial PE level and in particular the contribution of Psd1p to this depletion we performed a DNA microarray analysis with a ∆psd1 deletion mutant. This approach revealed that 54 yeast genes were significantly up-regulated in the absence of PSD1 compared to wild type. Surprisingly, marked down-regulation of genes was not observed. A number of different cellular processes in different subcellular compartments were affected in a ∆psd1 mutant. Deletion mutants bearing defects in all 54 candidate genes, respectively, were analyzed for their growth phenotype and their phospholipid profile. Only three mutants, namely ∆gpm2, ∆gph1 and ∆rsb1, were affected in one of these parameters. The possible link of these mutations to PE deficiency and PSD1 deletion is discussed.
Input-Output Analyses of Schools

This paper reviews the literature of input-output analyses of schools. Outputs are surveyed first, with a differentiation between cognitive and noncognitive ones. The effects of inputs on outputs are surveyed next, with a differentiation between student inputs and school inputs. Groups of student inputs include student background characteristics, school-related student characteristics, and student attitudes. Groups of school inputs include school conditions and instructional personnel. The literature is surveyed next by population samples, data aggregation, and statistical analyses. A structural causal model is offered at the end of the paper on the basis of the results of the survey.
Anaesthetic Implications of the Changing Management of Patients with Mucopolysaccharidosis

The mucopolysaccharidoses are a group of inherited metabolic disorders that are renowned for presenting clinical problems, particularly related to cardiac, airway, and skeletal abnormalities, in children during anaesthesia. The changing clinical management of the mucopolysaccharidoses can be described in three phases. An initial phase of accumulation and dissemination of knowledge about the management of this rare disease with a growing recognition that untreated Hurler syndrome and more severe forms of other phenotypes such as Hunter syndrome and Maroteaux–Lamy syndrome were associated with severe complications under anaesthesia. This was followed by a second phase reflecting the beneficial results of new treatments such as haemopoietic stem cell transplantation and enzyme replacement therapy. Early and successful transplantation has dramatically improved long-term outcome and reduced anaesthetic complications in children with Hurler syndrome. Enzyme replacement therapy is available for many forms of mucopolysaccharidosis. If commenced at an early age improvement in many organ systems may be observed with an improved quality of life. However, these current treatment regimens do not appear to improve neurocognitive dysfunction, or cardiac valvular or skeletal abnormalities. We are now entering a third phase where the partial benefits of these treatment regimens are resulting in an increasing number of older patients with partially corrected abnormalities, including difficult airways, presenting for ongoing treatment to a new and potentially unsuspecting group of clinicians. Major airway abnormalities may be encountered and current adult guidelines may need to be adapted. A multidisciplinary team approach involving paediatric and adult anaesthetists is recommended to optimise future management.
Small Group Consensus

Previous small group research makes no attempt to develop a comprehensive and valid instrument measuring small group consensus. The purpose of this investigation is to develop and test an encompassing and utilitarian measure of small group consensus. Using 48 small groups involving 234 subjects, a consensus instrument was tested, and a component factor analysis using varimax rotation (Cronbach's alpha = .8906) demonstrated the validity of the instrument. A pilot study using 14 groups involving 61 subjects employed the instrument to test stability of consensus over time and found there to be no significant change in consensus levels over a 6-week period. Questions are raised regarding the advisability of heavy reliance upon informal democratic discussion groups as a basis for conclusions about members'feelings of agreement, satisfaction, and commitment toward the group and its decision. Suggestions for further testing of the instrument using alternate methods under a variety of circumstances are discussed.
Akt-dependent phosphorylation of serine 1179 and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 cooperatively mediate activation of the endothelial nitric-oxide synthase by hydrogen peroxide.

Hydrogen peroxide mediates vasodilation, but the mechanisms responsible for this process remain undefined. We examined the effect of H(2)O(2) on nitric oxide (NO*) production and the signaling events involved. NO* release from bovine aortic endothelial cells was detected with an NO*-specific microelectrode. The addition of H(2)O(2) caused a potent dose-dependent increase in NO* production. This was partially Ca(2+)-dependent because BAPTA/AM reduced NO* production at low (<50 microM) but not high (>100 microM) concentrations of H(2)O(2). Phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase inhibition [with wortmannin or 2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-1(4H)-benzopyran-4-one hydrochloride], infection with a dominant-negative mutant of Akt, or mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (MEK/ERK1/2) inhibition (with PD98059 or U0126) partially attenuated, whereas inhibition of both PI 3-kinase and MEK1/2 abolished H(2)O(2)-dependent NO* production. ERK1/2 seemed necessary for NO* production early (<5 min) after H(2)O(2) addition, whereas PI 3-kinase/Akt was more important at later time points. Phosphorylation of endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS) at serine 1179 was observed >10 min after the addition of H(2)O(2), and this was prevented by wortmannin but not by PD98059. c-Src family tyrosine kinase(s) was found to be upstream of H(2)O(2)-dependent Akt and eNOS serine 1179 phosphorylation and subsequent NO* production. In summary, H(2)O(2) causes endothelial NO* release mediated by cooperative effects between PI 3-kinase/Akt-dependent eNOS serine 1179 phosphorylation and activation of MEK/ERK1/2. This may represent an acute cellular adaptation to an increase in oxidant stress.
Body in mind: How gestures empower foreign language learning

It has previously been demonstrated that enactment (i.e., performing representative gestures during encoding) enhances memory for concrete words, in particular action words. Here, we investigate the impact of enactment on abstract word learning in a foreign language. We further ask if learning novel words with gestures facilitates sentence production. In a within-subjects paradigm, participants first learned 32 abstract sentences from an artificial corpus conforming with Italian phonotactics. Sixteen sentences were encoded audiovisually. Another set of 16 sentences was also encoded audiovisually, but, in addition, each single word was accompanied by a symbolic gesture. Participants were trained for 6 days. Memory performance was assessed daily using different tests. The overall results support the prediction that learners have better memory for words encoded with gestures. In a transfer test, participants produced new sentences with the words they had acquired. Items encoded through gestures were used more frequently, demonstrating their enhanced accessibility in memory. The results are interpreted in terms of embodied cognition. Implications for teaching and learning are suggested.
Psychological strains and suicide intent: Results from a psychological autopsy study with Chinese rural young suicides

Background: Previous studies have examined the prevalence of psychological strains among various suicide populations. However, it is still unexamined whether psychological strains can predict suicide intent directly. Aims: We planned to explore the prevalence of psychological strains and analyze the relationship between psychological strains and suicide intent among Chinese rural young suicides. Methods: Psychological autopsy method was used to investigate the environmental and other factors of rural young suicides. Psychological strains were identified from in-depth interviews by the proxy informants of each suicide. The first 8 items of Beck’s Suicidal Intention Scale (SIS) were used to estimate the suicide intent. Results: Results showed that 96.6% of the suicides had at least one type of strain, and those suicides who had more strains tended to score higher on the suicide intent scale. Conclusion: The study further supports that suicide intent can be predicted by psychological strains in Chinese rural young suicides. The scanning of psychological strains can be used for suicide prevention in Chinese rural young suicides.
Work‐family conflict of women entrepreneurs in Singapore

As long as the society continues to emphasise a woman’s basic role as that of mothering, working women will face role struggles. As married working women, many women entrepreneurs have to assume multiple roles in the family in addition to their careers. They must bear major responsibility for household chores and childcare. These responsibilities give rise to work‐family conflict, which becomes an obstacle in managing their business. This research studied the work‐family conflict among married Singapore women entrepreneurs. The work‐family conflict was divided into three parts: job‐spouse conflict, job‐parent conflict and job‐homemaker conflict. The data for this study came from 102 married Singapore women entrepreneurs who responded to a self‐administered questionnaire. From the discussion of the findings, several implications arose. There is a need for greater spouse support, flexible work schedule, and full‐day school in order to alleviate work‐family conflict. Maintenance of good marital relations are important in reducing spouse conflict and increasing well being in women entrepreneurs.
Attention to Student Needs Mediates the Relationship Between Teacher Emotional Intelligence and Student Misconduct in the Classroom

Understanding the relationship between teacher Emotional intelligence (EI) and student misconduct was the goal of this research. We hypothesized that teachers high in EI tend to establish good working relationships with students by being attentive to their students’ needs. In a sample of 300 Syrian teachers, EI was assessed with the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence scale (WLEIS; Wong & Law, 2002). Results showed that teachers’ perceived EI was negatively related to student misconduct and that this relationship was mediated by teachers’ attention to student needs. Our findings highlight the role of teachers’ EI in shaping social interactions in the classroom and lead to some practical implications for teacher selection and training.
Determinants of Strike-Related Militancy: An Analysis of a University Faculty Strike

This article examines the determinants of differences in militancy among the union workers involved in a faculty strike at Temple University in 1990. Three forms of strike-related militancy are investigated: voting to continue the strike, voting to defy a court injunction, and picketing and related strike-support activities. The results indicate that job attitudes, attitudes toward the union, the perceived instrumentality of striking, attitudes toward militancy, social support, and some demographic variables were related to at least one form of militancy examined. The three forms of militancy, however, had different determinants. For example, social support and union commitment were significantly related to the more risky and confrontational forms of militancy, but not to voting to continue a strike.