Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Personality development and problem behavior in Russian children and adolescents

The aim of this study was to explore child and adolescent personality in the Russian culture, addressing gender and age differences, and to examine personality and family effects on children’s Internalizing and Externalizing problems. Parents of 1,640 Russian children aged 3—18 years completed the Inventory of Child Individual Differences measuring personality, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire measuring problem behavior, and reported about family background. Girls scored higher than boys on the Conscientiousness domain and on the Intelligent and Considerate scales, but lower on Activity. In younger children, Extraversion was higher; in older children, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Shyness were higher; Distractibility was highest in early adolescence. The gender and age differences were small. Personality explained about 30% of variance in children’s Internalizing problems, and 50% in Externalizing problems; family factors contributed less than 4%. Internalizing Problems were linked to higher Neuroticism and lower Extraversion; Externalizing Problems were linked to higher Extraversion, lower Conscientiousness and Agreeableness. For both types of problems, harsh parenting was a risk factor, while SES and family cohesion were associated with lower problem levels. Models linking personality with children’s problem behavior were similar in preschool, middle childhood, early and late adolescence.
Burnout, psychiatric morbidity, and work‐related sources of stress in paediatric oncology staff: a review of the literature

Objective: A growing body of research suggests that staff working in adult oncology services are at risk of burnout and psychiatric morbidity, but whether or not these findings can be generalised to staff working in paediatric oncology is questionable. This paper reports the findings of a comprehensive review of the literature on burnout, psychiatric morbidity, and sources of work‐related stress in paediatric oncology staff.
Free Living Amoebae as Contaminants in Monkey Kidney Tissue Culture

Summary Two strains of apparently the same free living amoebae were found to be spontaneous contaminants in monkey kidney tissue culture. The TC technic proved to be a suitable method for cultivation of the amoebae in the absence of bacteria. Pure cultures of the amoeba were obtained in many cell lines. Both cysts and trophozoites were found in TC. In monkey kidney tissue culture, cysts were often found in the cytoplasm of the cells. One strain was subjected to 16 consecutive passages in monkey kidney tissue culture while the other had 12. The average CPE titer of the TC fluid was 104 to 105 per 1.0 ml. The cysts in the TC fluid survived at −50°C for eight months, although the titer was greatly reduced.
A Primer on Automobile Semiotics

This report provides an introduction to semiotics: the study of symbols and symbol systems. In particular, the report focuses on the symbolic meaning of automobiles, and explores why this meaning is important to consumers. Section 1 defines what a symbol is, identifies the types of symbols, and discusses how consumer goods (such as automobiles) can serve as symbols. Section 2 investigates how individuals use the meaning in their automobiles to form and maintain their self-identities. Several theoretical approaches (including conspicuous consumption, self-congruity theory, and symbolic interactionism) are examined and contrasted with a more comprehensive approach, called products as self-creation, which is based on the theories of Anthony Giddens, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton, and Grant McCracken. Section 3 explores how automobiles acquire their meaning, and how this meaning is transferred to the consumer. Finally, Section 4 examines how consumers evaluate the benefits from symbolic meaning relative to other types benefits vehicles provide, such as mobility. This report concludes that symbols matter in vehicle purchases, and that the adoption of new types of vehicles (including hybrid-electric and fuel-cell vehicles) depends partly on the symbolic value these vehicles deliver to buyers.
Variable-size interleaver design for parallel turbo decoder architectures

In this paper, we propose two techniques to design good S-random interleavers, to be used in parallel and serially concatenated codes with interleavers. The interleavers designed according to these algorithms can be shortened in order to support different block lengths: all the permutations obtained by pruning, when employed in a parallel turbo decoder, are collision-free.
Nonlinear Analysis of Motor Activity Shows Differences between Schizophrenia and Depression: A Study Using Fourier Analysis and Sample Entropy

The purpose of this study has been to describe motor activity data obtained by using wrist-worn actigraphs in patients with schizophrenia and major depression by the use of linear and non-linear methods of analysis. Different time frames were investigated, i.e., activity counts measured every minute for up to five hours and activity counts made hourly for up to two weeks. The results show that motor activity was lower in the schizophrenic patients and in patients with major depression, compared to controls. Using one minute intervals the depressed patients had a higher standard deviation (SD) compared to both the schizophrenic patients and the controls. The ratio between the root mean square successive differences (RMSSD) and SD was higher in the schizophrenic patients compared to controls. The Fourier analysis of the activity counts measured every minute showed that the relation between variance in the low and the high frequency range was lower in the schizophrenic patients compared to the controls. The sample entropy was higher in the schizophrenic patients compared to controls in the time series from the activity counts made every minute. The main conclusions of the study are that schizophrenic and depressive patients have distinctly different profiles of motor activity and that the results differ according to period length analysed.
Delivery of Salbutamol Pressurized Metered-Dose Inhaler Administered Via Small-Volume Spacer Devices in Intubated, Spontaneously Breathing Rabbits

Little is known about the ability of small-volume valved spacer devices to deliver a significant amount of an aerosolized drug to the lungs of babies. This study compared the in vitro delivery of salbutamol administered via Aerochamber-Infant (145 mL), Babyhaler (350 mL), and metallic NES-spacer (250 mL), as well as the in vivo delivery using an animal model. The lung deposition study of technetium-99m–labeled salbutamol was conducted in six anesthetized, intubated (3.0-mm endotracheal tube simulating oropharyngeal deposition), spontaneously breathing New Zealand White rabbits, a model for 3-kg babies. Each rabbit was studied on three separate occasions, once with each spacer device. The amount of radioactivity deposited in the spacer device, the endotracheal tube, the lungs, or the body was measured by a gamma camera and expressed as a percentage of the emitted labeled dose. The emitted dose and particle size distribution of salbutamol via the three spacer devices were measured using unit dose sampling tubes and an eight-stage Anderson cascade impactor, respectively. The results were compared by ANOVA or Student-Newman-Keuls test when indicated. In vitro, the NES-spacer and Babyhaler were equivalent for delivering particles <5.8 μm in diameter (NES-spacer = Babyhaler > Aerochamber-Infant;p < 0.05). In vivo, the lung and body deposition was low with all spacer devices (range: 0.52–5.40% of the delivered dose) but greater with the NES-spacer than with the Aerochamber-Infant or the Babyhaler (5.40 ± 2.40%, 2.91 ± 0.86%, 0.52 ± 0.46%, respectively;p = 0.002). These results suggest the metal-valved spacer device may be preferable for delivering pressurized aerosols to spontaneously breathing infants.
Lay Assessors of German Administrative Courts: Fairness, Power‐Distance Orientation, and Deliberation Activity

German administrative courts employ lay assessors who decide cases together with professional judges. The mixed court is comprised of three professional judges and two lay assessors and decisions require a simple majority. This article compares the experience of East and West German lay assessors using samples from two provinces. The two groups did not differ substantially in their self-reported participation during deliberations. Issues of distributive and procedural fairness are crucial for the way lay assessors experience their work. Lay assessors disagree with professional judges more often when their sense of justice is at issue. Lay assessors are most successful when the professional judges treat them as equal partners. Female lay assessors participated less frequently than males but this was not an effect of gender distribution in the tribunal. Differences in formal education did not help explain deliberation activity. Respondents with “high” power-distance orientation (social distance between those in power and those who are to obey) less often disagreed with professional judges. This high orientation is more frequent in the East. In addition to these specific factors, the institutional setting is a most important factor affecting the experience of the lay assessors.
Examining the Efficacy of the Ninja Mind Training Program (NMT): A Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Bullied Teens

School bullying is a serious problem for children and adolescents, associated with a multitude of psychological and behavioral problems. Interventions at the individual level have primarily been social skills training for victims of bullying. However, investigators have had mixed results; finding little change in victimization rates. It has been suggested victims of school bullying have the social skills necessary to be effective in a bullying situation; however they experience intense emotional arousal and negative thoughts leading to an inability to use social skills. One intervention that has been getting increasing acknowledgement for its utility in the intervention literature in psychology is mindfulness. However, there has been no research conducted examining the effects of mindfulness meditation on victims of bullying. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop an online intervention for victims of bullying that utilizes the cutting-edge technique of mindfulness and to determine the efficacy of this intervention in the context of bullying victimization. Participants were 32 adolescents ages 11 to 14 identified by their school facilitators as victims of bullying. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to assess the efficacy of the NMT program versus a treatment as usual (TAU) social skills program. Results revealed significant decreases in victimization and increases in mindfulness among both treatment groups from pre-test to follow-up and post-test to follow-up assessments. There were no differences found between the two treatment groups for mean victimization or mindfulness scores. Overall, the NMT program appears to be a promising online intervention for bullied teens. Directions for future research and limitations of this study were also discussed.
Effect of supervised integrated exercise on heart rate variability in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects autonomic nervous system modulation of cardiac activity. There is a relationship between degrees of physical activity, HRV changes and the risk of cardiovascular disease. AIM To study the effect of a supervised integrated exercise programme on HRV in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). METHODS The study group consisted of 48 patients (27 males, mean age 62+/-7 years) with type 2 diabetes, of whom 28 underwent a special exercise programme whereas the remaining 20 did not and served as the control group. The supervised integrated exercise programme was applied for a period of 9 months. Deep breathing time domain HRV (difference between the shortest and the longest R-R interval over one minute) was measured at baseline and after 3, 6 and 9 months. RESULTS A significant improvement in the HRV values was observed with increasing duration of exercise (13.03+/-1.08 beats/min at baseline versus 16.5+/-1.11 beats/min at 9 months, p <0.001) whereas HRV decreased in the control group (14.85+/-1.15 beats/min at baseline vs. 14.30+/-1.75 at 9 months, p <0.05). Favourable changes in HRV in the exercise group were gender-dependent and were significant in males (12.4+/-1.76 beats/min at baseline vs. 16.18+/-1.91 at 9 months, p <0.001) whereas in females only a trend towards HRV improvement was observed. The HRV changes were also age-dependent and were more pronounced in younger patients than in the elderly. The metabolic parameters of diabetes control (blood glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin levels) significantly improved in the exercise group and significantly worsened in the control group. CONCLUSIONS Regular supervised integrated exercise significantly improves HRV in patients with type 2 DM, which may favourably influence their long-term prognosis.
Oncostatin M receptor β deficiency attenuates atherogenesis by inhibiting JAK2/STAT3 signaling in macrophages

Oncostatin M (OSM) is a secreted cytokine mainly involved in chronic inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases through binding to OSM receptor β (OSMR-β). Recent studies demonstrated that the presence of OSM contributed to the destabilization of atherosclerotic plaque. To investigate whether OSMR-β deficiency affects atherosclerosis, male OSMR-β−/−ApoE−/− mice were generated and utilized. Here we observed that OSMR-β expression was remarkably upregulated in both human and mouse atherosclerotic lesions, which were mainly located in macrophages. We found that OSMR-β deficiency significantly ameliorated atherosclerotic burden in aorta and aortic root relative to ApoE-deficient littermates and enhanced the stability of atherosclerotic plaques by increasing collagen and smooth muscle cell content, while decreasing macrophage infiltration and lipid accumulation. Moreover, bone marrow transplantation of OSMR-β−/− hematopoietic cells to atherosclerosis-prone mice displayed a consistent phenotype. Additionally, we observed a relatively reduced level of JAK2 and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)3 in vivo and under Ox-LDL stimulation in vitro. Our findings suggest that OSMR-β deficiency in macrophages improved high-fat diet-induced atherogenesis and plaque vulnerability. Mechanistically, the protective effect of OSMR-β deficiency on atherosclerosis may be partially attributed to the inhibition of the JAK2/STAT3 activation in macrophages, whereas OSM stimulation can activate the signaling pathway.
Rational Fear or Represented Malaise: A Crucial Test of Two Paradigms Explaining Fear of Crime

In explanations offered for fear of crime, two different paradigms can be distinguished. The first considers fear of crime as a rational reaction to crime and victimization; the other views such fear as a representation of more general feelings of malaise. The paradigms suggest different research strategies and offer different explanations for the same empirical observations. The choice of paradigm therefore determines the meaning of the empirical findings and hence the policy implications that can be drawn from them. In this article, the authors describe the paradigms, illustrate the way in which they offer different explanations for the same observations, and try to empirically discriminate between them on the basis of crucial tests. The tests are performed on data for the Flemish (Belgian) population aged nineteen to thirty-six. The results support the view that fear of crime or feelings of insecurity should be seen mainly as a consequence of, on one hand, general feelings of malaise, vulnerability, and helplessness that can have many origins and, on the other hand, exposure to processes of communication that highlight crime and the risk of victimization.
The empowering leadership questionnaire: the construction and validation of a new scale for measuring leader behaviors

This paper describes the construction and empirical evaluation of a new scale for measuring empowering leader behavior. Study One consisted of thorough interviews with external leaders and team members in three organizations. Behaviors elicited in the interviews were classified by researchers into eight categories of leader empowering behavior and the Empowering Leadership Questionnaire (ELQ) was constructed to measure each of these categories. In Study Two, the ELQ was administered to team members and leaders from two organizations. The results indicated that five-factors (Coaching, Informing, Leading By Example, Showing Concern/Interacting with the Team, and Participative Decision-Making) adequately describe the data. In Study Three, we cross-validated the scale in a sample from five organizations and the factor analysis confirmed the five-factor model. The ELQ dimensions were also compared with behaviors measured by two well-established measures of leader behavior. The results indicated that the ELQ dimensions partially overlap with previously identified constructs, but that empowering leadership behavior can not be entirely accounted for by the earlier measures. Definitions and implications for the categories of empowering leader behaviors are offered. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Descriptive and Inferential Procedures for Assessing Differential Item Functioning in Polytomous Items.

Differential item functioning (DIF) assessment procedures for items with more than 2 ordered score categories were evaluated. Three descriptive statistics—the standardized mean difference (SMD; Dorans & Schmitt, 1991) and 2 procedures based on SIBTEST (Shealy & Stout, 1993)—were considered, along with 5 inferential procedures: 2 based on SMD, 2 based on SIBTEST, and the Mantel (1963) method. A simulation showed that, when the 2 examinee groups had the same distribution, the descriptive index that performed best was the SMD. When the group means differed by 1 SD, a modified form of the SIBTEST DIF effect size measure tended to perform best. The 5 inferential procedures performed almost indistinguishably when the 2 groups had identical distributions. When the groups had different distributions and the studied item was highly discriminating, the SIBTEST procedures showed much better Type I error control than did the SMD and Mantel methods, particularly in short tests. The power ranking of the 5 procedures wa.
Subcellular localization and distribution of the reduced folate carrier in normal rat tissues

The reduced folate carrier (Rfc1; Slc19a1) mediated transport of reduced folates and antifolate drugs such as methotrexate (MTX) play an essential role in physiological folate homeostasis and MTX cancer chemotherapy. As no systematic reports are as yet available correlating Rfc1 gene expression and protein levels in all tissues crucial for folate and antifolate uptake, storage or elimination, we investigated gene and protein expression of rat Rfc1 (rRfc1) in selected tissues. This included the generation of a specific anti-rRfc1 antibody. Rabbits were immunised with isolated rRfc1 peptides producing specific anti-rRfc1 antiserum targeted to the intracellular C-terminus of the carrier. Using RT-PCR analysis, high rRfc1 transcript levels were detected in colon, kidney, brain, thymus, and spleen. Moderate rRfc1 gene expression was observed in small intestine, liver, bone marrow, lung, and testes whereas transcript levels were negligible in heart, skeletal muscle or leukocytes. Immunohistochemical analyses revealed strong carrier expression in the apical membrane of tunica mucosa epithelial cells of small intestine and colon, in the brush-border membrane of choroid plexus epithelial cells or in endothelial cells of small vessels in brain and heart. Additionally, high rRfc1 protein levels were localized in the basolateral membrane of renal tubular epithelial cells, in the plasma membrane of periportal hepatocytes, and sertoli cells of the testes. Taken together, our results demonstrated that rRfc1 is expressed almost ubiquitously but to very different levels. The predominant tissue distribution supports the essential role of Rfc1 in physiological folate homeostasis. Moreover, our results may contribute to understand antifolate pharmacokinetics and selected organ toxicity associated with MTX chemotherapy.
Expression of GABAergic Receptors in Mouse Taste Receptor Cells

Background Multiple excitatory neurotransmitters have been identified in the mammalian taste transduction, with few studies focused on inhibitory neurotransmitters. Since the synthetic enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) for gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is expressed in a subset of mouse taste cells, we hypothesized that other components of the GABA signaling pathway are likely expressed in this system. GABA signaling is initiated by the activation of either ionotropic receptors (GABAA and GABAC) or metabotropic receptors (GABAB) while it is terminated by the re-uptake of GABA through transporters (GATs). Methodology/Principal Findings Using reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) analysis, we investigated the expression of different GABA signaling molecules in the mouse taste system. Taste receptor cells (TRCs) in the circumvallate papillae express multiple subunits of the GABAA and GABAB receptors as well as multiple GATs. Immunocytochemical analyses examined the distribution of the GABA machinery in the circumvallate papillae. Both GABAA-and GABAB- immunoreactivity were detected in the peripheral taste receptor cells. We also used transgenic mice that express green fluorescent protein (GFP) in either the Type II taste cells, which can respond to bitter, sweet or umami taste stimuli, or in the Type III GAD67 expressing taste cells. Thus, we were able to identify that GABAergic receptors are expressed in some Type II and Type III taste cells. Mouse GAT4 labeling was concentrated in the cells surrounding the taste buds with a few positively labeled TRCs at the margins of the taste buds. Conclusions/Significance The presence of GABAergic receptors localized on Type II and Type III taste cells suggests that GABA is likely modulating evoked taste responses in the mouse taste bud.
Teaching Retarded Preschoolers To Imitate the Free-Play Behavior of Nonretarded Classmates: Trained and Generalized Effects

Two peer-imitation training procedures were applied to increase the imitation between retarded and nonretarded children in integrated preschool settings. Baseline observations revealed low rates of imitation and social interaction between retarded and nonretarded classmates under naturalistic conditions. A simple training procedure, consisting of adult-delivered prompts and social reinforcement, was employed to increase the retarded children's imitation of their nonretarded classmates' free-play behavior. Demonstrations of training effects were made utilizing both multi-element baseline and multiple baseline designs. Data collected under nontraining conditions indicated maintenance of peer-imitation effects. Increases in reciprocal social interaction between retarded and nonretarded children were also noted under taining and nontraining conditions.