Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemoradiation Increases PD-L1 Expression in Certain Melanoma and Glioblastoma Cells

Immunotherapy approaches currently make their way into the clinics to improve the outcome of standard radiochemotherapy (RCT). The programed cell death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1) is one possible target that, upon blockade, allows T cell-dependent antitumor immune responses to be executed. To date, it is unclear which RCT protocol and which fractionation scheme leads to increased PD-L1 expression and thereby renders blockade of this immune suppressive pathway reasonable. We therefore investigated the impact of radiotherapy (RT), chemotherapy (CT), and RCT on PD-L1 surface expression on tumor cells of tumor entities with differing somatic mutation prevalence. Murine melanoma (B16-F10), glioblastoma (GL261-luc2), and colorectal (CT26) tumor cells were treated with dacarbazine, temozolomide, and a combination of irinotecan, oxaliplatin, and fluorouracil, respectively. Additionally, they were irradiated with a single dose [10 Gray (Gy)] or hypo-fractionated (2 × 5 Gy), respectively, norm-fractionated (5 × 2 Gy) radiation protocols were used. PD-L1 surface and intracellular interferon (IFN)-gamma expression was measured by flow cytometry, and IL-6 release was determined by ELISA. Furthermore, tumor cell death was monitored by AnnexinV-FITC/7-AAD staining. For first in vivo analyses, the B16-F10 mouse melanoma model was chosen. In B16-F10 and GL261-luc2 cells, particularly norm-fractionated and hypo-fractionated radiation led to a significant increase of surface PD-L1, which could not be observed in CT26 cells. Furthermore, PD-L1 expression is more pronounced on vital tumor cells and goes along with increased levels of IFN-gamma in the tumor cells. In melanoma cells CT was the main trigger for IL-6 release, while in glioblastoma cells it was norm-fractionated RT. In vivo, fractionated RT only in combination with dacarbazine induced PD-L1 expression on melanoma cells. Our results suggest a tumor cell-mediated upregulation of PD-L1 expression following in particular chemoradiation that is not only dependent on the somatic mutation prevalence of the tumor entity.
How Bank Market Concentration, Regulation, and Institutions Shape the Real Effects of Banking Crises

His paper studies the influence of bank market concentration, regulation, and institutions on the real effects of 68 systemic banking crises in 54 countries over the 1980-2000 period. We find that less stringent restrictions on non-traditional bank activities and on the mixing of banking and commerce have a negative effect on economic growth during normal periods but mitigate the negative effects of banking crises on economic growth. This changing influence between crisis and non-crisis periods is reinforced by market concentration. We also find that explicit deposit insurance and better-quality accounting standards mitigate the negative real effects of systemic banking crises and interact positively with bank concentration to minimize the reduction of economic growth during crisis episodes. These results are evidence of the greater benefits that long-term relationships and the mixing of banking and commerce may provide during banking crises.
Experiments In Knowing Gender And Method In The Social Sciences

Thank you very much for reading experiments in knowing gender and method in the social sciences. As you may know, people have look numerous times for their favorite books like this experiments in knowing gender and method in the social sciences, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some harmful virus inside their desktop computer.
The turnover intention and job hopping behavior of music teachers

Turnover intention has long been an important topic in research while job hopping is comparatively newer with reports of an increasing rate of the world over. Previously there were several studies about turnover intention in various industries. They have reported high turnover intention and job hopping among employees. However, this study focuses solely on music teachers. Data was collected from music teachers of different music centers and schools. There were around 100 respondents. The antecedents selected covered aspects of the factors that might influence the music teachersâ€™ turnover intention and job hopping. There included variables like the music teachersâ€™ perceived organisational support, emotional exhaustion, overall job satisfaction and lastly their affective commitment. As far as the time of searching, it was yet to find a similar topic done on music teachers in this country. Therefore, it was thought that generalisation should be applied in the first time of investigation. Results from the study showed that local music teachers do not intend to leave if they perceived that their organisations are supportive and if they are satisfied and not exhausted with their job. Whereas they would job hop if they are emotionally exhausted and not satisfied with their job and perceived organisational support has no relationship with job hopping behaviour. The findings of this study should be of interest to the employers or the principal of music schools. They should be concerned about the needs of the music teachers and to improve their current management as music teachers are the vital assets for a music education center.
Helping or punishing strangers: neural correlates of altruistic decisions as third-party and of its relation to empathic concern

Social norms are a cornerstone of human society. When social norms are violated (e.g., fairness) people can either help the victim or punish the violator in order to restore justice. Recent research has shown that empathic concern influences this decision to help or punish. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we investigated the neural underpinnings of third-party help and punishment and the involvement of empathic concern. Participants saw a person violating a social norm, i.e., proposing unfair offers in a dictator game, at the expense of another person. The participants could then decide to either punish the violator or help the victim. Our results revealed that both third-party helping as well as third-party punishing activated the bilateral striatum, a region strongly related with reward processing, indicating that both altruistic decisions share a common neuronal basis. In addition, also different networks were involved in the two processes compared with control conditions; bilateral striatum and the right lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) during helping and bilateral striatum as well as left lPFC and ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) during punishment. Further we found that individual differences in empathic concern influenced whether people prefer to help or to punish. People with high empathic concern helped more frequently, were faster in their decision and showed higher activation in frontoparietal regions during helping compared with punishing. Our findings provide insights into the neuronal basis of human altruistic behavior and social norm enforcement mechanism.
Cognitive appraisals in young people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND A number of cognitive appraisals have been identified as important in the manifestation of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in adults. There have, however, been few attempts to explore these cognitive appraisals in clinical groups of young people. METHOD This study compared young people aged between 11 and 18 years with OCD (N = 28), young people with other types of anxiety disorders (N = 28) and a non-clinical group (N = 62) on three questionnaire measures of cognitive appraisals. These were inflated responsibility (Responsibility Attitude Scale; Salkovskis et al., 2000), thought-action fusion--likelihood other (Thought-Action Fusion Scale; Shafran, Thordarson & Rachman, 1996) and perfectionism (Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale; Frost, Marten, Luhart & Rosenblate, 1990). RESULTS The young people with OCD had significantly higher scores on inflated responsibility, thought-action fusion--(likelihood other), and one aspect of perfectionism, concern over mistakes, than the other groups. In addition, inflated responsibility independently predicted OCD symptom severity. CONCLUSIONS The results generally support a downward extension of the cognitive appraisals held by adults with OCD to young people with the disorder. Some of the results, however, raise issues about potential developmental shifts in cognitive appraisals. The findings are discussed in relation to implications for the cognitive model of OCD and cognitive behavioural therapy for young people with OCD.
An immunocytochemical study of glycine receptor and GABA in laminae I- III of rat spinal dorsal horn

In order to provide information about the function of glycine in the superficial three laminae of the rat dorsal horn and the possible coexistence of glycine and GABA at synapses in this region, we have carried out a combined study involving preembedding immunocytochemistry with a monoclonal antibody to the glycine receptor and postembedding immunocytochemistry with antiserum to fixed GABA. Glycine receptor-like immunoreactivity was present at axodendritic and axosomatic synapses in all three laminae, and at dendrodendritic synapses in lamina II. Although axons that formed axoaxonic synapses were often presynaptic at immunoreactive axodendritic synapses (and thus probably contained glycine), the axoaxonic synapses themselves did not show glycine receptor-like immunoreactivity. Many of the profiles that were presynaptic at glycine receptor-immunoreactive synapses showed GABA- like immunoreactivity. These results suggest that glycine acts as a postsynaptic inhibitory transmitter at various types of synapses in laminae I-III, and that it may coexist with GABA at many synapses in this region. However, it appears that while glycine and GABA may both be released at axoaxonic synapses, either glycine does not act as a transmitter at these synapses, or else it acts at an atypical receptor that was not recognized by the antibody used in this study.
Comparative Metagenomics and Population Dynamics of the Gut Microbiota in Mother and Infant

Colonization of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of human infants with a suitable microbial community is essential for numerous aspects of health, but the progression of events by which this microbiota becomes established is poorly understood. Here, we investigate two previously unexplored areas of microbiota development in infants: the deployment of functional capabilities at the community level and the population genetics of its most abundant genera. To assess the progression of the infant microbiota toward an adult-like state and to evaluate the contribution of maternal GIT bacteria to the infant gut, we compare the infant’s microbiota with that of the mother at 1 and 11 months after delivery. These comparisons reveal that the infant’s microbiota rapidly acquires and maintains the range of gene functions present in the mother, without replicating the phylogenetic composition of her microbiota. Microdiversity analyses for Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium, two of the main microbiota constituents, reveal that by 11 months, the phylotypes detected in the infant are distinct from those in the mother, although the maternal Bacteroides phylotypes were transiently present at 1 month of age. The configuration of genetic variants within these genera reveals populations far from equilibrium and likely to be undergoing rapid growth, consistent with recent population turnovers. Such compositional turnovers and the associated loss of maternal phylotypes should limit the potential for long-term coadaptation between specific bacterial and host genotypes.
Different methods for inducing adipose-derived stem cells to differentiate into Schwann-like cells

Introduction The aim of the study was to explore an effective method to induce adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) to differentiate into Schwann-like cells in vitro. Material and methods Reagents were applied in two different ways (Dezawa inducing method and modified inducing method) in which inducers including β-mercaptoethanol (β-ME), all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), type I collagenase, forskolin, heregulin, basic fibroblast growth factor (BFGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were used in different ways to induce ADSCs of rats to differentiate into Schwann-like cells. After induction, the cell morphologic characteristics and the cellular immunohistochemical staining positive rate of anti-S100 and anti-GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) antibodies and the gray value of immunocytochemical dye with anti-S100 and anti-GFAP antibodies and cell activity measured by the MTT method were compared with each other to evaluate the induction effects. Results Both methods can induce differentiation of ADSCs of rats into Schwann-like cells, but the cellular morphology of the modified method was more similar to Schwann cells than that of the Dezawa inducing method, there was a higher cellular immunohistochemical staining positive rate and staining grey value in immunocytochemical dye with anti-S100 and anti-GFAP antibodies, and less damage in the cell activity of the modified inducing method than that of the Dezawa inducing method. Conclusions The effect of the modified method to induce ADSCs to differentiate into Schwann-like cells in vitro is superior to that of the Dezawa inducing method.
Alexia: Diagnosis, Treatment and Theory

© Springer-Verlag London 2014. All rights reserved. This book is a comprehensive review of the main acquired disorders of reading: hemianopic, pure and central alexia. The authors review the diagnostic criteria for each of the different types of disorder, and the efficacy of the therapeutic studies that have attempted to remediate them. The different theoretical models of adult reading, which largely rest on how the reading system responds to injury, are also discussed and evaluated. Focal brain injury caused by stroke and brain tumors are discussed in depth as are the effects of dementia on reading. This book starts with a chapter on normal reading, followed by chapters on hemianopic alexia, pure alexia and central alexia, each structured in the same way, with: a description of the condition; a historical review of cases to date; psychophysics; consideration of the causative lesions; evidence from functional imaging studies on patients and, most importantly, a review of the e vidence base for treating each condition. Finally, there is a chapter on how patient data has informed how we think about reading. Alexia: Diagnosis, Treatment and Theory is aimed at neuropsychologists (both experimental and clinical), neurologists, speech therapists and others who deal with patients whose reading has been affected by an acquired brain injury, as well as interested students studying language disorders.
A Search for Variability in the Spectral Line Shapes of τ Bootis: Does This Star Really Have a Planet?

An analysis is made of the spectral line shapes of τ Bootis using high-resolution (0.026 Å) and high signal-to-noise (S/N ≈ 400) data in an effort to confirm the planet hypothesis for this star. Changes in the line shape are quantified using spectral line bisectors and line residuals. We detect no variations in either of these quantities above the level of the noise in the data. One spectral line, Fe I λ6213, does show a hint of sinusoidal variations in the bisector velocity span when phased to the radial velocity period of 3.3 days, but this is not seen in the bisectors for two other lines nor in the line residuals. Comparisons of the data to the bisector and residual variations expected for nonradial pulsations indicate that we can exclude those sectoral nonradial modes having m > 2 and all sectoral modes with k > 1, where k is the ratio of the horizontal to vertical velocities for the pulsations. The lack of line shape variability and the 469 m s-1 radial velocity amplitude is still consistent with nonradial sectoral modes m = 1 and possibly with m = 2, but with k ≈ 1, which is at least 3 orders of magnitude less than the predicted value given the 3.3 day period of τ Bootis. Such low values of k can probably be excluded given the lack of photometric variations for this star. Although the measurements presented here do not prove beyond a doubt that τ Boo has a planetary companion, they do add significantly to the increasing body of evidence in favor of this hypothesis.
Interactogeneous: Disease Gene Prioritization Using Heterogeneous Networks and Full Topology Scores

Disease gene prioritization aims to suggest potential implications of genes in disease susceptibility. Often accomplished in a guilt-by-association scheme, promising candidates are sorted according to their relatedness to known disease genes. Network-based methods have been successfully exploiting this concept by capturing the interaction of genes or proteins into a score. Nonetheless, most current approaches yield at least some of the following limitations: (1) networks comprise only curated physical interactions leading to poor genome coverage and density, and bias toward a particular source; (2) scores focus on adjacencies (direct links) or the most direct paths (shortest paths) within a constrained neighborhood around the disease genes, ignoring potentially informative indirect paths; (3) global clustering is widely applied to partition the network in an unsupervised manner, attributing little importance to prior knowledge; (4) confidence weights and their contribution to edge differentiation and ranking reliability are often disregarded. We hypothesize that network-based prioritization related to local clustering on graphs and considering full topology of weighted gene association networks integrating heterogeneous sources should overcome the above challenges. We term such a strategy Interactogeneous. We conducted cross-validation tests to assess the impact of network sources, alternative path inclusion and confidence weights on the prioritization of putative genes for 29 diseases. Heat diffusion ranking proved the best prioritization method overall, increasing the gap to neighborhood and shortest paths scores mostly on single source networks. Heterogeneous associations consistently delivered superior performance over single source data across the majority of methods. Results on the contribution of confidence weights were inconclusive. Finally, the best Interactogeneous strategy, heat diffusion ranking and associations from the STRING database, was used to prioritize genes for Parkinson’s disease. This method effectively recovered known genes and uncovered interesting candidates which could be linked to pathogenic mechanisms of the disease.
New Approaches for the School Timetabling Problem

School timetabling is a hard task that educational centers have to perform regularly and which implies a large waste of time and human efforts. For such reason designing techniques for the automatic generation of timetables is still of interest. Even though many contributions exist, the characteristics of the problem vary depending on the school policies, the country (laws), and other particular variables.The complexity of this problem makes it difficult to find anoptimal solution, so approximated techniques are traditionally used in practice. In this paper, we focus in the Spanish school timetabling problem and present several approaches to deal with it. The first technique proposed is based on the random non ascendent method (RNA). Then we provide several genetic algorithms which differ on the policies used for selecting how the next generation is created (including elitism) as well as on the levels of mutation considered. Finally, we study how to combine the two previous approaches. We run experiments both on synthetic and real scenarios in order to compare all the proposals. Even though the RNA and some of the pure genetic algorithms obtain good results in practice, we show that by joining RNA with genetic algorithms we gain stability in the results.
Automated Scenario Generation - Coupling Planning Techniques with Smart Objects

Serious games allow for adaptive and personalised forms of training; the nature and timing of learning activities can be tailored to the trainee’s needs and interests. Autonomous game-based training requires for the automatic selection of appropriate exercises for an individual trainee. This paper presents a framework for an automated scenario generation system. The underlying notion is that a learning experience is defined by the objects and agents that inhabit the training environment. Our system uses automated planning to assess the behaviour required to achieve the (personalised) training objective. It then generates a scenario by selecting semantically annotated (or 'smart') objects and by assigning goals to the virtual characters. The resulting situations trigger the trainee to execute the desired behaviour. To test the framework, a prototype has been developed to train the First Aid treatment of burns. Experienced instructors evaluated scenarios written by three types of authors: the prototype, first-aid experts, and laymen. The prototype produced scenarios that were at least as good as laymen scenarios. First-aid experts seemed the best scenario writers, although differences were not significant. It is concluded that combining automated planning, smart objects, and virtual agent behaviour, is a promising approach to automated scenario generation.
Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Modulates Cyclooxygenase-2 Activity in the Heart of Conscious Rabbits During the Late Phase of Ischemic Preconditioning

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is known to mediate the cardioprotective effects of the late phase of ischemic preconditioning (PC); however, the signaling pathways involved in COX-2 induction following ischemic PC are unknown. In addition, although inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been identified as a co-mediator of late PC together with COX-2, the interaction between iNOS and COX-2 in the heart is unknown. Using conscious rabbits, we found that the induction of COX-2 expression 24 hours after ischemic PC was blocked by pretreatment with inhibitors of protein kinase C (PKC), Src protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs), and nuclear factor-&kgr;B (NF-&kgr;B) but not by inhibitors of NOS or scavengers of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The selective iNOS inhibitors SMT and 1400W, given 24 hours after PC, abrogated the increase in myocardial prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and 6-keto-PGF1&agr;, whereas the selective soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor ODQ had no effect. COX-2 selective inhibitors (celecoxib and NS-398) did not affect iNOS activity. These results demonstrate that (i) ischemic PC upregulates cardiac COX-2 via PKC-, Src PTK-, and NF-&kgr;B–dependent signaling pathways, whereas generation of NO and ROS is not necessary, and (ii) the activity of newly synthesized COX-2 following PC requires iNOS-derived NO whereas iNOS activity is independent of COX-2–derived prostanoids, indicating that COX-2 is located downstream of iNOS in the protective pathway of late PC. The data also indicate that iNOS modulates COX-2 activity via cGMP-independent mechanisms. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that iNOS-derived NO drives prostanoid synthesis by COX-2 in the heart. NO-mediated activation of COX-2 may be a heretofore unrecognized mechanism by which NO exerts its salubrious effects in the late phase of PC.