Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Opportunity for Natural Selection among the Migrant Santal Community of Bhubaneswar in Odisha, India

Abstract In this article, the selection intensity indices are calculated based on demographic information pertaining to fertility and mortality among the migrant Santals of Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The indices are calculated by original formula of Crow and modified formula of Johnston and Kensinger. From the analysis it is evident that the total selection intensity among the migrant Santals operates more through differ ential mortality than through differential fertility, which conforms, in general, to the findings reported among many other tribal groups in India.
High-resolution view of compound promiscuity

Compound promiscuity is defined as the ability of a small molecule to specifically interact with multiple biological targets. So-defined promiscuity is relevant for drug discovery because it provides the molecular basis of polypharmacology, which is increasingly implicated in the therapeutic efficacy of drugs. Recent studies have analyzed different aspects of compound promiscuity on the basis of currently available activity data. In this commentary, we present take-home messages from these studies augmented with new results to generate a detailed picture of compound promiscuity that might serve as a reference for further discussions and research activities.
Verbal fluency in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and major depression

OBJECTIVE: To compare verbal fluency among Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and major depression and to assess the sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with the disease severity. METHODS: Patients from an outpatient university center with a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or major depression were studied. Severity was staged using the Hoehn & Yahr scale, the Hamilton Depression scale and the Clinical Dementia Rating for Parkinson's disease, major depression, and Alzheimer's disease, respectively. All subjects were tested with the Mini-Mental State Examination, the digit span test, and the verbal fluency test (animals). We fit four types of regression models for the count variable: Poisson model, negative binomial model, zero-inflated Poisson model, and zero-inflated negative binomial model. RESULTS: The mean digit span and verbal fluency scores were lower in patients with Alzheimer's disease (n = 34) than in patients with major depression (n = 52) or Parkinson's disease (n = 17) (p<0.001). The average number of words listed was much lower for Alzheimer's disease patients (7.2 words) compared to the patients presenting with major depression (14.6 words) or Parkinson's disease (15.7 words) (KW test = 32.4; p<0.01). Major depression and Parkinson's disease groups listed 44% (ROM = 1.44) and 48% (ROM = 1.48) more words, respectively, compared to those patients with Alzheimer's disease; these results were independent of age, education, disease severity and attention. Independently of diagnosis, age, and education, severe disease showed a 26% (ROM = 0.74) reduction in the number of words listed when compared to mild cases. CONCLUSIONS: Verbal fluency provides a better characterization of Alzheimer's disease, major depression, and Parkinson's disease, even at later stages.
Downregulation of Glutathione Biosynthesis Contributes to Oxidative Stress and Liver Dysfunction in Acute Kidney Injury

Ischemia-reperfusion is a common cause for acute kidney injury and can lead to distant organ dysfunction. Glutathione is a major endogenous antioxidant and its depletion directly correlates to ischemia-reperfusion injury. The liver has high capacity for producing glutathione and is a key organ in modulating local and systemic redox balance. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism by which kidney ischemia-reperfusion led to glutathione depletion and oxidative stress. The left kidney of Sprague-Dawley rats was subjected to 45 min ischemia followed by 6 h reperfusion. Ischemia-reperfusion impaired kidney and liver function. This was accompanied by a decrease in glutathione levels in the liver and plasma and increased hepatic lipid peroxidation and plasma homocysteine levels. Ischemia-reperfusion caused a significant decrease in mRNA and protein levels of hepatic glutamate-cysteine ligase mediated through the inhibition of transcription factor Nrf2. Ischemia-reperfusion inhibited hepatic expression of cystathionine γ-lyase, an enzyme responsible for producing cysteine (an essential precursor for glutathione synthesis) through the transsulfuration pathway. These results suggest that inhibition of glutamate-cysteine ligase expression and downregulation of the transsulfuration pathway lead to reduced hepatic glutathione biosynthesis and elevation of plasma homocysteine levels, which, in turn, may contribute to oxidative stress and distant organ injury during renal ischemia-reperfusion.
Explaining the Inexplicable. The Hypotheses of the Faculty of Reflective Judgement in Kant's Third Critique

In the Critique of Pure Reason (CPR) Kant wants to answer the question: How are a priori synthetic judgements possible? (CPR, B19). This is the question of how judgements, which are not logically true (or contradictory) in virtue of their form, can relate a priori to objects. Kant answers this question in the Transcendental Aesthetic and the Transcendental Analytic of the CPR: the categories, the pure concepts of the understanding derived from the forms of judgement, relate a priori to objects; and the principles of pure understanding which arise a prior from the application of these categories to pure intuitions are, as synthetic a priori judgements, objectively valid. All possible objects of human experience must correspond to the categories and principles. It is this consequence which Kant has in mind when he claims of the human understanding that it prescribes to nature a priori laws (cf. e.g. Prologomena, ? 36 and CJ, ? 70) and thus makes objects of human knowledge possible (CPR, A158/B197). Thanks to the principles of the pure understanding we know with absolute certainty that all possible 'objects of human experience are substances with extensive and intensive magnitudes which endure in time and space and among which there are mechanical relations of causality and reciprocity. All determinate concepts and laws of nature which are used in the description and explanation of nature must be specifications of the categories and principles: for it is only as such specifications that they fulfill a necessary condition for their relation to the objects which, taken together, make up nature, the object of human knowledge.
[The Influence of stress inhibition on the plasma levels of LPS, pro-inflammatory and Th1/Th2 cytokines in severely scalded rats].

OBJECTIVE To explore the influence of stress inhibition on the plasma levels of LPS pro-inflammatory and Th1/Th2 cytokines in severely scalded rats. METHODS Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats inflicted by 30% TBSA of deep partial thickness burn were employed as the model and randomly divided into burn with immediate resuscitation (A) and burn with immediate resuscitation and soluble cocktail (B) groups. Plasma was harvested from peripheral blood at different postburn time points for the determination of the levels of LPS, IL-1alpha, IL-6, TNFalpha, IL-8, IL-2, IFN-gamma, IL-4 and IL-10 in the rats of the two groups. And the rats inflicted by sham scalding were taken as control group (C). RESULTS The postburn plasma levels of LPS, IL-1alpha, IL-4 and IL-10 increased gradually, while the plasma levels of IL-6, TNF, IL-8, IL-2 and IFN increased initially and decreased thereafter. The increasing ranges of LPS and these inflammatory cytokines were higher in A group, in which the increases of IL-1alpha, IL-6 and IL-4 appeared earlier in A (6 PBH) than those in B (12 PBH) groups. CONCLUSION Prompt fluid resuscitation and stress inhibition could delay and ameliorate the postburn inflammatory reaction, decrease the production of Th2 cytokine and partially restore the production of Th1 cytokine after 48 PBH.
Clostridium difficile infection in the pediatric transplant patient

CDIs are on the rise in both hospital and community settings in adults and children. Children with cancer or a history of HSCT or SOT appear to be at higher risk for primary disease, recurrent disease, and severe outcomes when compared to children with other comorbidities. The reasons for this are not clear and no studies to date have analyzed risk factors for CDI in pediatric transplant patients. Colonization rates in children with cancer and a transplant history are also high. Determining which children are colonized with Clostridium difficile and symptomatic from another source vs. symptomatic from CDI is difficult and a clinical conundrum for the transplant physician. The use of fecal transplantation for severe or rCDI is likely safe and effective in the immunosuppressed pediatric cancer or transplant patient, but this will need to be more thoroughly studied in this patient population.
Aluminum Inhibition of the Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Signal Transduction Pathway in Wheat Roots: A Role in Aluminum Toxicity?

In crop plants, aluminum (Al) rhizotoxicity is a major problem worldwide; however, the cause of Al toxicity remains elusive. The effects of Al on the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (Ins[1,4,5]P3)-mediated signal transduction pathway were investigated in wheat roots. Exogenously applied Al (50 [mu]M) rapidly inhibited root growth (<2 hr) but did not affect general root metabolism. An Ins(1,4,5)P3 transient was generated in root tips, either before or after exposure to Al for 1 hr, by treating the roots with H2O2 (10 mM). Background (unstimulated) levels of Ins(1,4,5)P3 were similar in both Al-treated and Al-untreated root apices. However, H2O2-stimulated levels of Ins(1,4,5)P3 in root apices showed a significant (>50%) reduction after Al exposure in comparison with untreated controls, indicating that Al may be interfering with the phosphoinositide signaling pathway. When phospholipase C (PLC) was assayed directly in the presence of Al or other metal cations in microsomal membranes, AlCl3 and Al-citrate specifically inhibited PLC action in a dose-dependent manner and at physiologically relevant Al levels. Al exposure had no effect on inositol trisphosphate dephosphorylation or on a range of enzymes isolated from wheat roots, suggesting that Al exposure may specifically target PLC. Possible mechanisms of PLC inhibition by Al and the role of Ins(1,4,5)P3 in Al toxicity and growth are discussed. This study provides compelling evidence that the phytotoxic metal cation Al has an intracellular target site that may be integrally involved in root growth.
Using the GasNet model in discrete domains

A neural network model-the GasNet-has been reported in the literature, which, in addition to the traditional electric type, point-to-point communication between units, also uses communication through a diffusable chemical modulator. Here we assess the applicability of this model in two different scenarios, the XOR problem and a simulated food gathering task. Both represent simpler and more discrete domains than the one in which GasNet was originally introduced (which had an essentially continuous nature), thus allowing for distinct issues to be addressed; also, both are well-known benchmark problems from the literature. The experiments were intended to better understand the model from analogies with traditional architectures as well as to extend the original problem domain, comparing its performance with some of the ones previously presented.
Ploidy and the Evolution of Endosperm of Flowering Plants

In angiosperms, spermatozoa go by pair in each pollen grain and fertilize, in addition to the egg cell, one of its sister cells, called the central cell. This “double fertilization” leads to the embryo on the one hand and to its nutritive tissue, the endosperm, on the other hand. In addition, in most flowering plants, the endosperm is triploid because of a doubled maternal genetic contribution in the central cell. Most of the hypotheses trying to explain these eccentricities rest on the assumption of a male/female conflict over seed resource allocation. We investigate an alternative hypothesis on the basis of the masking of deleterious alleles. Using analytical methods, we show that a doubled maternal contribution and double fertilization tend to be favored in a wide range of conditions when deleterious mutations alter the function of the endosperm. Furthermore, we show that these conditions vary depending on whether these traits are under male or female control, which allows us to describe a new type of male/female conflict.
Adolescent development of the neural circuitry for thinking about intentions

In this fMRI study, we investigated the development during adolescence of the neural network underlying thinking about intentions. A total of 19 adolescent participants (aged 12.1–18.1 years), and 11 adults (aged 22.4–37.8 years), were scanned using fMRI. A factorial design was employed with between-subjects factor age group and within-subjects factor causality (intentional or physical). In both adults and adolescents, answering questions about intentional causality vs physical causality activated the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), superior temporal sulcus (STS), temporal poles and precuneus bordering with posterior cingulate cortex. In addition, there was a significant interaction between group and task in the medial PFC. During intentional relative to physical causality, adolescents activated part of the medial PFC more than did adults and adults activated part of the right STS more than did adolescents. These results suggest that the neural strategy for thinking about intentions changes between adolescence and adulthood. Although the same neural network is active, the relative roles of the different areas change, with activity moving from anterior (medial prefrontal) regions to posterior (temporal) regions with age.
Association between two unlinked loci at 8q24 and prostate cancer risk among European Americans.

BACKGROUND Recent studies have provided evidence of associations between genetic markers at human chromosome 8q24 and an increased risk of prostate cancer. We examined whether multiple independent risk variants exist in this region and whether the strength of observed associations differs as a function of disease aggressiveness. METHODS We evaluated associations between 18 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a 1-Mb interval at 8q24 and the risk of prostate cancer among 1563 case patients (1017 of whom had high-grade [Gleason score > or = 7] and/or non-organ-confined disease) and 576 control subjects of European American ancestry. Differences in genotype frequencies between case and control subjects were compared using logistic regression analysis, with adjustment for age, and the Wald chi-square test. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS We identified multiple SNPs in a 50-kb region (referred to as locus 1) that are in linkage disequilibrium with a previously reported risk-associated SNP at 8q24, rs1447295, but were more strongly associated with prostate cancer risk in our study population. We also identified a novel susceptibility SNP, rs6983267, at a second locus (locus 2) that is approximately 70 kb centromeric of rs1447295 and in linkage equilibrium with, and independent of, locus 1. Risk alleles at locus 2 were common in our study population (minor allele frequency approximately 50%, 25% homozygous for risk-associated allele). Analysis of the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) prostate cancer association study database alone and in combination with our data provided further evidence for this second prostate cancer risk locus; in the combined analysis, the allele frequencies for rs6983267 differed statistically significantly between case patients and control subjects (P = 1.61 x 10(-9)). We also identified a third locus at 8q24, approximately 400 kb centromeric to locus 2, that was statistically significantly associated with prostate cancer risk in a combined analysis of our data and CGEMS study data (P = 6.8 x 10(-4)). A joint analysis of loci 1 and 2 indicated that 35% of the control subjects carried risk genotypes at one or both these loci; compared with men with the non-risk genotype at both loci, men with risk genotypes at both loci had an odds ratio of prostate cancer of 2.68 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.62 to 4.43) and men with risk genotypes at either locus had an odds ratio of prostate cancer of 1.70 (95% CI = 1.39 to 2.07). CONCLUSIONS Three loci at 8q24 are independent genetic risk factors for prostate cancer.
Terminal 14q32.33 deletion: Genotype–phenotype correlation

We report on a female infant presenting with psychomotor retardation and facial dysmorphism. Cytogenetic studies showed an abnormal chromosome 14 with ectopic NOR sequences at the extremity of the long arm with a terminal 14q32.33 deletion. Review of the eight cases with pure terminal 14q32.3 deletions described to date documented that our observation is the smallest terminal 14q deletion ever reported. Thus, genotype–phenotype correlation allows us to delimit the critical region for mental retardation, hypotonia, epi‐telecanthus, short bulbous nose, long philtrum, thin upper lip, and small mouth observed in 14 qter deletions to the subtelomeric 1.6 Mb of chromosome 14. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Concurrent data elicitation procedures, processes, and the early stages of L2 learning: A critical overview

Given the current methodological interest in eliciting direct data on the cognitive processes L2 learners employ as they interact with L2 data during the early stages of the learning process, this article takes a critical and comparative look at three concurrent data elicitation procedures currently employed in the SLA literature: Think aloud (TA) protocols, eye-tracking (ET), and reaction time (RT). The section on each data elicitation procedure begins with a brief historical and descriptive account of its usage and application in the SLA literature to address cognitive processes as they occur during the early stages of the L2 learning process, followed by its strengths and some methodological issues that should be considered. Suggestions are provided for their usage in future studies investigating concurrent cognitive processes in L2 learning at these early stages of the L2 learning process.
Procedural Concerns in Psychological Games ∗

One persistent finding in experimental economics is that people react very differently to outcomewise identical situations depending on the procedures which have led to them. In accordance with this, there exists a broad consensus among psychologists that not only expected outcomes shape human behavior, but also the way in which decisions are taken. Economists, on the other hand, have remained remarkably silent about procedural aspects of strategic interactions. This paper provides a game theoretic framework that integrates procedural concerns into economic analysis. Building on Battigalli and Dufwenberg (2005)’s framework of dynamic psychological games, we show how procedural concerns can be conceptualized assuming that agents are (also) motivated by belief-dependent psychological payoffs. Procedural choices influence the causal attribution of responsibilities, the evaluation of intentions and the arousal of emotions. Two applications highlight the impact and importance of procedural concerns in strategic interactions.
Meaning-making across languages: a case study of three multilingual writers in Sápmi†

ABSTRACT Sápmi is a geographical area that runs across the Kola Peninsula in Russia to northern Finland, Norway and Sweden. All Sami languages have been going through a rapid language change process and many of the traditional language domains have disappeared during the last decades due to previous national and local language policies. Nevertheless, recent growth of positive attitudes towards Sami languages and culture both within and outside the Sami group has given new momentum to the language revitalisation process. At the same time, English is becoming more present in the Sami context through tourism, media and popular culture. This study investigates 15-year-old writers' meaning-making in three languages they meet on a daily basis: North Sami, the majority language Finnish/Norwegian/Swedish and English. Data were collected in schools where writers wrote two texts in each language, one argumentative and one descriptive. Using a functional approach, we analyse how three writers make meaning across three languages and two genres. Results show that writers made use of similar ways of expressing meaning on the three levels we investigated: ideational, interpersonal and textual, but also how the production differed between the texts, and how context and content interacted with writers’ meaning-making in the three languages.
The Receiver Domain of Hybrid Histidine Kinase VirA: an Enhancing Factor for vir Gene Expression in Agrobacterium tumefaciens

ABSTRACT The plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens expresses virulence (vir) genes in response to chemical signals found at the site of a plant wound. VirA, a hybrid histidine kinase, and its cognate response regulator, VirG, regulate vir gene expression. The receiver domain at the carboxyl end of VirA has been described as an inhibitory element because its removal increased vir gene expression relative to that of full-length VirA. However, experiments that characterized the receiver region as an inhibitory element were performed in the presence of constitutively expressed virG. We show here that VirA's receiver domain is an activating factor if virG is expressed from its native promoter on the Ti plasmid. When virAΔR was expressed from a multicopy plasmid, both sugar and the phenolic inducer were essential for vir gene expression. Replacement of wild-type virA on pTi with virAΔR precluded vir gene induction, and the cells did not accumulate VirG or induce transcription of a virG-lacZ fusion in response to acetosyringone. These phenotypes were corrected if the virG copy number was increased. In addition, we show that the VirA receiver domain can interact with the VirG DNA-binding domain.
De la retraite mort sociale à la retraite solidaire : La Retraite une Mort Sociale (1972) revisitée trente ans après

L'article propose de revisiter La Retraite une Mort Sociale trente ans apres, afin de s'interroger sur l'evolution des formes d'exclusion en situation de retraite. Il constate que la retraite-retrait, fortement attestee dans les annees soixante-dix dans le monde ouvrier et qui representait une modalite extreme d'exclusion sociale, a nettement regresse. Desormais, la retraite-loisirs et la retraite-troisieme âge sont les types de comportement de retraite les plus frequents. Toutefois, les contradictions qui se sont developpees dans les situations des retraites entre une amelioration de l'integration economique et une mise a l'ecart du marche du travail avec les sorties precoces d'activite ont favorise l'emergence d'une nouvelle retraite-solidaire. Cette derniere est tournee vers la vie associative et remet en question la distribution des temps de la vie en trois âges bien distincts et segreges