Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of intrathecal isoflurane administration on nociception and Fos expression in the rat spinal cord

Background and objective Isoflurane has been used as an inhaled anaesthetic for nearly 30 years. Isoflurane inhalation during anaesthesia also produces an anti-nociceptive effect. Whether this occurs at the spinal or supraspinal level remains unknown. With a novel type of liquid isoflurane, the present study examined the effects of intrathecal isoflurane on the nociceptive response and Fos expression in the rat spinal cord. Methods Thirty-six rats were randomly assigned to three groups as follows: group A (n = 6), intrathecal physiological saline 50 μl kg−1; and group B and C (n = 6 each), intrathecal isoflurane at doses of 25 μl kg−1 or 50 μl kg−1, respectively. Noxious thermal (Hargreaves test), mechanical (von Frey test) and chemical (formalin 5%, 50 μl) stimuli were applied to a hind paw after intrathecal isoflurane injection to study its anti-nociceptive effect. In addition, the expression of Fos protein and c-fos mRNA in the spinal dorsal horns was detected by immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse transcriptase PCR, respectively. Results Compared with the physiological saline control, intrathecal isoflurane significantly suppressed spontaneous paw flinches in rats induced by formalin injection and paw withdrawal induced by thermal and mechanical stimuli in a dose-dependent manner. Immunohistochemistry and real-time reverse transcriptase PCR revealed that isoflurane administration inhibited formalin injection-induced c-fos expression in the spinal cord. Conclusions These data suggest that isoflurane can exert anti-nociceptive effects at the spinal level by preventing neuronal activation.
Use of Japanese honorific expressions by native Chinese speakers.

The present study investigated the degree of acquisition of honorific expressions by native Chinese speakers with respect to both aspects of grammar and knowledge of Japanese personal relations. Thirty-two native Chinese speakers studying Japanese participated in this study. Sixty incorrect sentences containing honorific expressions (36 with exalted and 24 with humble terms) were used as stimulus items. Participants were required to correct the errors in the sentences. Scores for proper usage of honorific terms for others were higher than those for expressions requiring grammatical changes. Furthermore, scores for proper usage of honorific terms (both exalted and humble) pertaining to others were higher than those for proper usage of such terms pertaining to oneself/family members. The result of the analysis on scores pertaining to the proper reference to the object of politeness showed that native Chinese speakers had quite a lot of difficulty editing sentences requiring humble terms for the object of politeness in the third person.
Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate regulates SNARE-dependent membrane fusion

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PI 4,5-P2) on the plasma membrane is essential for vesicle exocytosis but its role in membrane fusion has not been determined. Here, we quantify the concentration of PI 4,5-P2 as ∼6 mol% in the cytoplasmic leaflet of plasma membrane microdomains at sites of docked vesicles. At this concentration of PI 4,5-P2 soluble NSF attachment protein receptor (SNARE)–dependent liposome fusion is inhibited. Inhibition by PI 4,5-P2 likely results from its intrinsic positive curvature–promoting properties that inhibit formation of high negative curvature membrane fusion intermediates. Mutation of juxtamembrane basic residues in the plasma membrane SNARE syntaxin-1 increase inhibition by PI 4,5-P2, suggesting that syntaxin sequesters PI 4,5-P2 to alleviate inhibition. To define an essential rather than inhibitory role for PI 4,5-P2, we test a PI 4,5-P2–binding priming factor required for vesicle exocytosis. Ca2+-dependent activator protein for secretion promotes increased rates of SNARE-dependent fusion that are PI 4,5-P2 dependent. These results indicate that PI 4,5-P2 regulates fusion both as a fusion restraint that syntaxin-1 alleviates and as an essential cofactor that recruits protein priming factors to facilitate SNARE-dependent fusion.
Hydrodynamic Analysis Resolves the Pharmaceutically-Relevant Absolute Molar Mass and Solution Properties of Synthetic Poly(ethylene glycol)s Created by Varying Initiation Sites.

The solution behavior originating from molecular characteristics of synthetic macromolecules plays a pivotal role in many areas, in particular the life sciences. This situation necessitates the use of complementary hydrodynamic analytical methods as the only means for a complete structural understanding of any macromolecule in solution. To this end, we present a combined hydrodynamic approach for studying in-house prepared, low dispersity poly(ethylene glycols)s (PEGs), also known as poly(ethylene oxide)s (PEOs) depending on the classification used, synthesized from varying initiation sites by the living anionic ring opening polymerization. The series of linear PEGs in the molar mass range of only a few thousand to 50 000 g mol-1 have been studied in detail via viscometry and sedimentation-diffusion analysis by analytical ultracentrifugation. The obtained estimations for intrinsic viscosity, diffusion coefficients, and sedimentation coefficients of the macromolecules in the solution-based analysis clearly showed self-consistency of the followed hydrodynamic approach. This self-consistency is underpinned by appropriate and physically sound values of hydrodynamic invariants, indicating adequate values of derived absolute molar masses. The classical scaling relations of Kuhn-Mark-Houwink-Sakurada of all molar-mass dependent hydrodynamic estimates show linear trends, allowing for interrelation of all parametric macromolecular characteristics. Differences among these are ascribed to the observation of α-end and chain-length dependent solvation of the macromolecules, identified from viscometric studies. This important information allows for analytical tracing of variations of scaling relationships and a physically sound estimation of hydrodynamic characteristics. The demonstrated self-sufficient methodology paves an important way for a complete structural understanding and potential replacement of pharmaceutically relevant PEGs by alternative macromolecules offering a suite of similar or tractably distinct physicochemical properties.
How Do Varying Types of Youth Civic Engagement Relate to Perceptions of School Climate?

The purpose of this study was to investigate a) the relations between different types of civic behaviors and middle school students' perceptions of school climate, and b) the compositional effects of student civic engagement on setting-level school climate perceptions. Using a sample of 4,073 students in 11 public schools from a southeastern state, multilevel regression analyses found that, in general, civic behaviors were positively associated with school climate outcomes at the individual and setting level. However, certain types of civic behavior were negatively associated with desired school climate outcomes at both levels. These findings suggest a complicated relationship between student civic engagement and school climate, and imply that schools and adult leaders may need to carefully consider the types of opportunities for civic engagement provided to students.
Competing Perspectives in the Classroom: The Effect of Sociology Students' Perceptions of “Balance” on Evaluations

“Balance” in the classroom has been the subject of recent debate in academic and public spheres, with some calling for legislation to prevent instructors from “indoctrinating” students. The debate over balance is important to sociology because the discipline is sometimes characterized as overtly liberal and activist; but the implications of balance for teaching and learning remain unclear. In this article, we present the results of a study in which we operation-alized balance as students' perceptions of whether instructors discussed points of view other than their own and invited criticism of their ideas. Using OLS regression on undergraduate classes' quantitative evaluations of sociology instructors at Indiana University during the 2002-2003 academic year (N=99 classes), we asked whether classes perceived their sociology instructors to be balanced and whether positive perceptions led to better evaluations. We also asked about the relative influence of sociology classes' perceptions of balance compared to other influences. We found that most classes perceived their instructors as balanced and instructors who were perceived as being more balanced received better evaluations. However, we also found that balance was not as important as other factors in influencing evaluations. We discuss implications.
Effects of a Cross-Age Peer Tutoring Intervention on English Language Oral Reading Fluency in a Belizean Grade School

of the Dissertation Effects of a cross-age peer tutoring intervention on English language oral reading fluency in a Belizean grade school by Marcia Ruth Sytsma Doctor of Psychology in School Psychology College of Graduate Studies and Research Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2014 Carlos J. Panahon, Ph.D., Chair A cross-age peer tutoring program was implemented in a small rural school in west central Belize, Central America. All students at the school were native Spanish speakers, and all general instruction was conducted in English. The program was devised to supplement existing reading and language arts instruction at all grade levels. Progress of both tutors and tutees was monitored on a weekly basis using DIBELS Next measures. Twenty-nine students started the program, with complete data available for twenty-one students: seven tutee-tutor pairs, and seven matched students who participated as controls. Three main hypotheses were tested with the present study. These hypotheses investigated the following criteria for effectiveness of this program: (a) statistically significant (reliable) results for students within tutoring pairs, (b) socially relevant changes (e.g., perceptions of improvement), and (c) maintenance of skills or transfer of skills. Progress monitoring results were mixed, but socially relevant outcomes were found for tutee progress on benchmark assessments. A survey of teachers at the school highlighted increased interest and motivation for reading and class participation attributed to the program.
The emergency framing of solar geoengineering: Time for a different approach

Solar geoengineering has been proposed as a possible response measure in the event of a ‘climate emergency’. Scientific evidence for climate emergencies in the form of tipping points, however, is contested and unsettled. Furthermore, declarations of emergency entail authoritarian political tendencies that historically have given rise to repression and abuse. By definition, an emergency must exhibit a combination of high risk, urgency and necessity; no plausible climatic tipping point displays all these attributes simultaneously. A weak scientific basis together with genuine societal peril argues against the continued emergency framing of solar geoengineering.
The Effects of Measurement Strategy on Attributions for Marital Problems and Behaviors1

The present study examined the relation of attributions for spouse behaviors, attributions for global conjugal conflict, and marital adjustment. The sample consisted of 74 French-Canadian couples who completed the Marital Attribution Style Questionnaire, the Conflict Rating Scale, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results showed that the relation between attribution and marital satisfaction is stable across culture. In addition, specific and general attribution measures were low to moderately correlated. However, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that attributions for global conjugal conflict entered the regression equations more often than attributions for hypothetical spouse behaviors. These findings suggest that the comparability of marital attribution measures should not be taken for granted. The need to develop standardized measures is underlined.
An integrated model of early community college student success: understanding success in developmental mathematics

The purpose of this study was to integrate traditional student success models with theories which focus on nontraditional students to create a model of early community college student success. The researcher sought to understand the pre-college behaviors, attitudes, and attributes, from both cognitive and noncognitive domains, which influence the success of first-time community college students enrolled in a developmental mathematics course. First-time community college students enrolled in Elementary Algebra (N=385) were surveyed on their educational goals, prior academic achievement, anticipated interactions during the first semester, and items from the Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) (Sedlacek, 2004). Institutional data supplemented the survey variables as well as provided all dependent variables. Factor analyses were conducted to reduce the number of anticipatory variables. Descriptive statistics were reported for all dependent and independent variables. Both linear regression and logistic regression were utilized to examine the six research questions. Variables were entered into the regression equations in five blocks: demographics, college plans, prior mathematics achievement, anticipated experiences and interactions, and noncognitive variables. The model proved to be statistically significant in explaining each of the six dependent measures of student success. Moreover after controlling for the first four blocks of independent variables, six of the eight noncognitive variables reached statistical significance in its relationship to at least one dependent variable, with
Long-Term Nonrelationship of Widespread and Increasing Firearm Availability to Homicide in the United States

This article seeks to examine the common view that widespread availability of firearms is a major cause, or even the principal cause, of high American rates of homicide. Reasonably accurate data as to both homicide rates and the acquisition and ownership of firearms in the United States are available back to the mid-1940s. These data do not show a correlation over the long term between the distribution of firearms in the population at large and homicide rates. The two variables do cross occasionally, but they do not do so consistently. Rather, the trend in the period 1973-1997 was one of very large increases in firearms accompanied by essentially flat, even diminishing, homicide rates. That is the general rule for the period since the end of World War II to date.
Another Indirect Tactic of (Self-) Image Management

Indirect tactics of image management are self-presentational techniques that manage information not about oneself but about one's associations. Prior work has documented several indirect techniques, such as "basking" in the reflected glory of another's success and "blasting" the accomplishments of one's rival. The present research found evidence for another indirect image management tactic: "boosting," wherein an individual confronted with a personal connection to another, especially a negative other, elevates aspects of the other's character. In the first study, subjects who became aware that they were born on the same day and month as a maligned historical figure (Rasputin, the "Mad Monk of Russia") significantly softened their views of his negativity. This was the case even though they thought that no one else knew of the birth date connection, suggesting that the tactic was performed for reasons of private rather than public regard. A second study replicated these findings regardless of whether subjects encountered the birth date connection before or after reading about Rasputin's negative traits. The results are interpreted in terms of the balance theory concept of unit connections.
Effects of Response Type and Set Size on Stroop Color-Word Performance

The effect of several procedural variables was investigated in a discrete-trials Stroop task. Undergraduate students identified the color of four types of stimuli (asterisks, words unrelated to color, and incongruent and congruent Stroop stimuli) using verbal responses, buttons labeled with color words, and buttons labeled with colors. Set size was manipulated by presenting 2, 3, 4, or 5 different colors in a given trial block. A significant Stroop effect occurred in the verbal response condition, the size of the Stroop effect was reduced in the word-button condition, and the Stroop effect was eliminated in the color-button condition. Increases in set size produced linear increases in response time but did not influence the size of the Stroop effect.
Randomized phase III study of capecitabine plus oxaliplatin compared with fluorouracil/folinic acid plus oxaliplatin as first-line therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE To evaluate whether capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (XELOX) is noninferior to fluorouracil. folinic acid, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX-4) as first-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC). PATIENTS AND METHODS The initial design of this trial was a randomized, two-arm, noninferiority, phase III comparison of XELOX versus FOLFOX-4. After patient accrual had begun, the trial design was amended in 2003 after bevacizumab phase III data became available. The resulting 2 x 2 factorial design randomly assigned patients to XELOX versus FOLFOX-4, and then to also receive either bevacizumab or placebo. We report here the results of the analysis of the XELOX versus FOLFOX-4 arms. The analysis of bevacizumab versus placebo with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is reported separately. The prespecified primary end point for the noninferiority analysis was progression-free survival. RESULTS The intent-to-treat population comprised 634 patients from the original two-arm portion of the study, plus an additional 1,400 patients after the start of the amended 2 x 2 design, for a total of 2,034 patients. The median PFS was 8.0 months in the pooled XELOX-containing arms versus 8.5 months in the FOLFOX-4-containing arms (hazard ratio [HR], 1.04; 97.5% CI, 0.93 to 1.16). The median overall survival was 19.8 months with XELOX versus 19.6 months with FOLFOX-4 (HR, 0.99; 97.5% CI, 0.88 to 1.12). FOLFOX-4 was associated with more grade 3/4 neutropenia/granulocytopenia and febrile neutropenia than XELOX, and XELOX with more grade 3 diarrhea and grade 3 hand-foot syndrome than FOLFOX-4. CONCLUSION XELOX is noninferior to FOLFOX-4 as a first-line treatment for MCRC, and may be considered as a routine treatment option for appropriate patients.
How much asthma is really attributable to atopy?

In recent decades it has become routine to describe asthma as an atopic disease. A theoretical paradigm has evolved in which allergen exposure produces atopic sensitisation and continued exposure leads to clinical asthma through the development of airways inflammation, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and reversible airflow obstruction. As Martinez1 notes, this paradigm has been used with particular insistence with regard to house dust mite allergens,2 3 but other allergens (cat, cockroach, dog) are also believed to be important. The importance of atopy is most widely accepted for asthma in children whereas, among adults, asthma has traditionally been divided into “extrinsic” and “intrinsic” asthma, although this also has been challenged.4 It is acknowledged that not all cases of asthma fit this paradigm—for example, some occupational causes of asthma do not appear to involve atopy—but these are regarded as interesting minor anomalies that do not threaten the dominant paradigm. In this review we assess the extent to which the development of asthma is attributable to atopy (we do not consider the separate issue of the extent to which the development of atopy itself is attributable to allergen exposure, although this is also the subject of debate1). We start by considering definitions of asthma and atopy and then review evidence on their association in random population surveys. We do not intend to argue that atopy does not play an important role in the development of a significant proportion of asthma cases. However, our concern is that the proportion of asthma cases attributable to atopy may have been overestimated, and that other possible aetiological mechanisms and risk factors for asthma may therefore have been neglected. The definition of asthma is still controversial but an appropriate definition is a precondition for addressing the issues considered in this paper. The term “asthma” encompasses a …
When low self-esteem encourages behaviors that risk rejection to increase interdependence: the role of relational self-construal [corrected].

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 104(6) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2013-18890-002). The title of the article is incorrect. ] Increasing interdependence in an intimate relationship requires engaging in behaviors that risk rejection, such as expressing affection and asking for support. Who takes such risks and who avoids them? Although several theoretical perspectives suggest that self-esteem plays a crucial role in shaping such behaviors, they can be used to make competing predictions regarding the direction of this effect. Six studies reconcile these contrasting predictions by demonstrating that the effects of self-esteem on behaviors that risk rejection to increase interdependence depend on relational self-construal-that is, the extent to which people define themselves by their close relationships. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were given the opportunity to disclose negative personal information (Study 1) and feelings of intimacy (Study 2) to their dating partners. In Study 3, married couples reported the extent to which they confided in one another. In Study 4, we manipulated self-esteem and relational self-construal, and participants reported their willingness to engage in behaviors that increase interdependence. In Studies 5 and 6, we manipulated the salience of interpersonal risk, and participants reported their willingness to engage in behaviors that risk rejection to increase interdependence. In all 6 studies, self-esteem was positively associated with behaviors that can increase interdependence among people low in relational self-construal but negatively associated with those behaviors among people high in relational self-construal. Accordingly, theoretical descriptions of the role of self-esteem in relationships will be most complete to the extent that they consider the degree to which people define themselves by their close relationships.
Parent reading beliefs and parenting goals of Netherlands Antillean and Dutch mothers in the Netherlands

Parent reading beliefs are the ideas that parents have concerning the influence of reading and their own efficacy as language teachers to their children. In the intervention More Languages, More Opportunities, one of the goals is to positively influence the parental reading beliefs. The participants were 16 mother–child couples from bilingual Netherlands Antillean families in the Netherlands. They completed the Dutch adaptation of the Parent Reading Belief Inventory (PRBI) [DeBaryshe, B.D. , & Binder, J.C. (1994). Development of an instrument for measuring parental beliefs about reading aloud to young children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 78(3c), 1303–1311. ]. Ten mothers completed the inventory for a second time. Antillean mothers are on average positive about their own role in the language development of the child. The results of the composed ‘contrast group’ did not contrast as strongly as was expected, although two of the seven subscales did show differences. When looking at both administration moments of the PRBI of Antillean mothers, the conclusion can be drawn that reading beliefs are not necessarily a stable construct.