Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a Chinese version of the Zuckerman–Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire: Reliabilities and gender/age effects.

A 5-factor model of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) was tried in a Chinese speaking area. A total of 333 healthy participants (217 women and 116 men) with a wide range of occupations attended this study and were divided into 5 age ranges. They were free of depression and answered with low dissimulation in ZKPQ. The principal component analysis detected 16 factors with eigenvalues larger than 1.5, the first 5 of which accounted for 21.0% of the variance. The 5-factor solution analysis was, therefore, performed. The alpha internal reliabilities of the 5 personality scales ranged from 0.61 to 0.81. Sixty-one out of 89 items loaded larger than, or equal to, 0.3 on target factors. Scale scores were comparable to those reported in the United States, and the intercorrelations between 5 personality scales were lower. Gender and education level had little effect on the personality measures; the Impulsive Sensation Seeking declined with age only from 20 years on, in women. This study demonstrates the validity of the ZKPQ in Chinese culture.
The Ironies of School Choice: Empowering Parents and Reconceptualizing Public Education

School choice policy, especially as embedded in No Child Left Behind, assumes that empowering parents with choice will improve education by holding schools accountable and will reenergize democratic participation in public education. While parents are seen as critical change agents, little research documents how engaging in school choice affects parents’ lived experiences as citizens engaged in the democratic process. This 1-year case study based on parent interviews and participant observation at a foreign language immersion magnet school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, suggests that choice works in complex, contradictory ways to both empower and disempower parents as participatory citizens in democratic change and that market-driven school choice situates parents as consumers and thus redefines education as a private rather than a public good. The implications for fulfilling the promises of parent empowerment through school choice are examined.
Organocatalyzed Intramolecular Carbonyl-Ene Reactions

An organocatalyzed intramolecular carbonyl-ene reaction was developed to produce carbocyclic and heterocyclic 5- and 6-membered rings from a citronellal-derived trifluoroketone and a variety of aldehydes. A phosphoramide derivative was found to promote the cyclization of the trifluoroketone, whereas a less acidic phosphoric acid proved to be a superior catalyst for the aldehyde substrates.
BRANDING, CELEBRITIZATION AND THE LIFESTYLE EXPERT

The lifestyle expert – a figure whose knowledge is tied to the ordinary and the everyday – has emerged as a major cultural authority in recent times. This article examines the role and status of ‘ordinary experts’, such as Martha Stewart and Jamie Oliver, in relation to processes of ‘celebritization’ and branding. Linking these processes to broader shifts around the domestication and privatization of public culture and citizenship, I discuss the branding of lifestyle advice in the context of the emergence of informational capitalism and the growing role of the consumer in providing branded lifestyles with value and meaning. Arguing that the privatized modes of lifestyle consumption modelled by figures like Stewart and Oliver have emerged as a pre-eminent site of social relations, communality and lifestyle ‘activism’, the essay concludes with a discussion of what kind of civic politics might emerge out of this context.
Language visibility, functionality and meaning across various TimeSpace scales in Brussels' multilingual landscapes

This paper addresses the complex multilingual linguistic landscapes (LLs) of three strategically-chosen areas in global city Brussels by examining how language displays on public signage in these areas are used for different purposes, functions or intentions. The focus will be on meaning-construction in the post-Fordist globalised era as shaped by different contextual scales. By drawing on a systematic corpus of linguistic landscape data indicative of language visibility and functionality patterns in each of these three areas and by drawing on a small selection of interviews with shop-owners, this study will discuss the ‘landscapes’ and diverse displays of Brussels' three ‘big’ languages (French, English and Dutch) and ‘ethnoscapes’ (Appadurai 1990) of their attendant transnational communities of tourists, immigrants and expats. In order to assess these differences in functionality and meaning, the geographical notion of TimeSpace scales is applied as an analytical and interpretative concept and as a metaphor most apt to study sociolinguistic processes and phenomena of globalisation. This more interpretative, scale-sensitive and contextualised approach to LL and language meaning is also in line with recent arguments in favour of qualitative, interdisciplinary approaches to linguistic landscape research.
The Unrested Resting Brain: Sleep Deprivation Alters Activity within the Default-mode Network

The sleep-deprived brain has principally been characterized by examining dysfunction during cognitive task performance. However, far less attention has been afforded the possibility that sleep deprivation may be as, if not more, accurately characterized on the basis of abnormal resting-state brain activity. Here we report that one night of sleep deprivation significantly disrupts the canonical signature of task-related deactivation, resulting in a double dissociation within anterior as well as posterior midline regions of the default network. Indeed, deactivation within these regions alone discriminated sleep-deprived from sleep-control subjects with a 93% degree of sensitivity and 92% specificity. In addition, the relative balance of deactivation within these default nodes significantly correlated with the amount of prior sleep in the control group (and not extended time awake in the deprivation group). Therefore, the stability and the balance of task-related deactivation in key default-mode regions may be dependent on prior sleep, such that a lack thereof disrupts this signature pattern of brain activity, findings that may offer explanatory insights into conditions associated with sleep loss at both a clinical as well as societal level.
Enormous Earthquake in Japan: Coping with Stress Using Purpose-in-Life/Ikigai

Every person has a will to achieve meaning and purpose in life (PIL)/ikigai. According to previous studies, PIL/ikigai provides people with the ability to integrate stressful psychological events from the past, present, and future with less conflict or confusion. This ability results in decreased anxiety and lower sympathetic nervous system activity during psychological and physical stressful situations. PIL/ikigai develops by positive experiences in one’s life such as experiencing sympathetic listening by others and being affected by persons and/or events. Overall, evidence shows that PIL/ikigai is an effective technique for coping with stress and helped many people cope with the enormous earthquake that occurred in Japan in March 2011.
Intestinal absorption mechanisms of berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine: involvement of P-glycoprotein

The absorption and transport mechanisms of berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine were studied using a Caco-2 cells uptake and transport model, with the addition of cyclosporin A and verapamil as P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitors and MK-571 as a multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (MRP2) inhibitor. In the uptake experiment, berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine were all taken into Caco-2 cells, and their uptakes were increased in the presence of cyclosporin A or verapamil. In the transport experiment, Papp (AP-BL) was between 0.1 and 1.0 × 106 cm/sec for berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine and was lower than Papp (BL-AB). ER values were all >2. Cyclosporin A and verapamil both increased Papp (AP-BL) but decreased Papp (BL-AB) for berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine; ER values were decreased by >50%. MK-571 had no influence on the transmembrane transport of berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine. At a concentration of 1–100 μM, berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine had no significant effects on the bidirection transport of Rho123. Berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine were all P-gp substrates; and at the range of 1–100 μM, berberine, palmatine, jateorhizine, and coptisine had no inhibitory effects on P-gp.
C2-ceramide influences alveolar epithelial barrier function by downregulating Zo-1, occludin and claudin-4 expression

Abstract Noncardiogenic lung edema is a key factor affecting the prognosis of acute lung injury (ALI). Previous studies have been focused on regulatory roles of ceramide on lung vascular endothelial barrier functions and had already identified ceramide as mediator involved in the formation of lung edema. However, the effects of ceramide on lung epithelial barrier were still unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effects of ceramide on the barrier function of alveolar epithelial cells. Primary mouse alveolar type II epithelial cells (AECII) were grown on Transwell polyester membranes to construct monolayer, and stimulated with different concentrations of ceramide. Transepithelial resistance (TER) was measured to assess the epithelial cell permeability. Western blotting and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction were used to detect the mRNA and protein levels of tight junction, respectively. After incubation with different concentrations of c2-ceramide, TER of AECII monolayer decreased significantly in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, expressions of ZO-1, occludin and claudin-4 were significantly reduced by c2-ceramide in the study. This study demonstrated that ceramide could increase alveolar epithelial cell monolayer permeability by downregulation of tight junction proteins. Therefore, modulation of ceramide expression may serve as a new therapeutic approach to treat acute lung injury.
A STUDY OF PSYCHIATRIC NURSES' BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES ABOUT WORK SAFETY AND ASSAULTS IN TURKEY

In Turkey, the cultural structure effects the gender roles in the society, and women are subject to violence in an intense manner both inside the family and in their workplaces. In nursing, which is still defined as a woman's job in our country, it is possible to encounter many aggressive and threatening behaviours. Knowing no geographical borders, aggression leads to dissatisfaction and alienation with the profession for the nurses working at the psychiatric institutions in Turkey, thus aggression is a significant health risk in physical, psychological and social dimensions. The research was carried out with 162 randomly selected nurses working in the psychiatric institutions in Istanbul using the Attitudes Toward Patient Physical Assault Questionnaire. It has been determined that nurses' rate of exposure to verbal/physical assault by the patients and their relatives is high and that they experience an intense uncertainty and conflict, especially in legal issues, and that the duration of working in the psychiatry clinics effects attitudes toward the assaults. It is concluded that the nurses working at the psychiatry clinics in Turkey are under risk in regards to safety and they need protection and support, both in emotional and in legal terms.
Development of an efficient rehabilitation exercise program for functional recovery in chronic ankle instability

[Purpose] The aim of the present study was to construct an integrated rehabilitation exercise program to prevent chronic pain and improve motor ability in cases of ankle injury and re-injury. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty-six male soccer players who required functional strength exercises due to repeated ankle injury were the subjects. A 12-week rehabilitation exercise program was constructed with the aim of improving muscle strength in the ankle and dynamic coordination of the lower limb. Muscle strength and dynamic coordination were evaluated using the Y Balance Test, and isokinetic muscle strength of ankle dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, inversion, and eversion were measured before and after the 12-week program. [Results] Following 12 weeks of rehabilitation exercise, there were statistically significant improvements in the ratios of dorsiflexor strength to plantarflexor strength, eversion strength, and inversion strength on the left side. The other variables showed no significant changes. [Conclusion] The rehabilitation exercise program for chronic ankle instability helped to reduce pain, and to restore normal joint range of motion, muscle strength and endurance, and functional ability. Active protocols to improve complex functions need to be developed to complement these results.
Determining an Optimal Cutoff of Serum β-Human Chorionic Gonadotropin for Assisting the Diagnosis of Intracranial Germinomas

Background Beta (β)-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-HCG) is used to confirm the diagnosis and plan treatment of intracranial germinomas. However, the cutoff values of serum β-HCG in diagnosis of intracranial germinomas reported in the literature are inconsistent. To establish an appropriate cutoff value of serum β-HCG for diagnosis of intracranial germinomas, we retrospectively reviewed the records of intracranial tumor patients who received serum β-HCG and α-fetoprotein (AFP) tests for diagnostic purposes at our hospital from 2005 to 2014. Methods A total of 93 intracranial germinomas and 289 intracranial non-germ cell tumors were included in this study. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of 3 cutoffs (0.1, 0.4, and 0.5 mIU/mL) for diagnosing intracranial germinomas. The serum β-HCG level of intracranial germinoma patients was further analyzed to investigate the effect of metastasis status and tumor location on serum β-HCG level. Results The area under the ROC curve was 0.81 (P < .001), suggesting β-HCG is an effective marker. Of the 3 cutoff values, 0.1 mIU/mL possessed a highest sensitivity (66.67%) and good specificity (91%). Although there was no β-HCG level difference between metastatic and non-metastatic intracranial germinoma patients, the diagnostic rate of metastatic neurohypophyseal germinomas was significantly higher than that of its non-metastatic counterpart (P < .05), implying that the location of the germinoma might need to be considered when β-HCG is used as a marker to predict metastasis. Conclusions Determining an optimal cutoff of serum β-HCG is helpful for assisting the diagnosis of intracranial germinoma.
Contribution of the Cystathionine β-Synthase Gene (844ins68) Polymorphism to the Risk of Early-onset Venous and Arterial Occlusive Disease and of Fasting Hyperhomocysteinemia

Summary The frequency of the heterozygous 844ins68 mutation of the cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) gene and of its association with the homozygous C677T transition of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene, plasma fasting tHcy, folate and vitamin B12 levels were evaluated in 309 consecutive patients with objectively diagnosed early-onset venous (n = 200) or arterial thromboembolic disease (n = 109) recruited over 25 months in Milan (North Italy) and Naples (South Italy). The above gene polymorphisms were also evaluated in a population of 787 unmatched controls, 204 of whom – similar to patients for age- and sex-distribution – had fasting tHcy, vitamins and activated protein C resistance measured in their plasma. Moderate fasting hyperhomocysteinemia was detected in 15.5% of patients and in 5.9% of 204 controls (Mantel-Haenszel OR after stratification for type of occlusive disease and gender: 2.88; 1.48–5.32). The frequencies of the 677TT mutation of the MTHFR gene and of the heterozygous 844ins68 insertion of the CBS gene were not significantly different in the patient (19.4% and 6.9%) and the control population (16.5% and 7.8%), but the association of the two gene polymorphisms – found in 3.9% of patients and in 1.1% of controls – was significantly associated with an increased risk of venous or arterial occlusive diseases (RR = 3.63; 1.48–8.91). The MTHFR 677TT mutation (RR: 6.92; 3.86–12.4) and its association with the 844ins68 insertion (RR: 21.9; 8.35–57.4), but not the isolated insertion (RR: 0.71), were more frequent in patients and controls with fasting hyperhomocysteinemia than in normohomocysteinemic subjects, irrespective of the type of occlusive disease (venous or arterial). When adjusted for determinants of hyperhomocysteinemia in the patient and the control populations (generalized linear model), fasting tHcy levels were significantly higher in subjects with association of the two gene abnormalities (24.2 ± 3.8 µmol/L) than in subjects with the MTHFR 677TT mutation only (14.0 ± 5.8 µmol/L, p = 0.004). Activated protein C resistance was significantly more prevalent in venous patients (9.9%) than in controls (3.9%, OR = 2.69; 1.08–6.88). Six of 21 venous patients with APCresistance also had hyperhomocysteinemia (RR = 5.04; 0.68–37.6), but isolated fasting hyperhomocysteinemia retained statistical significance for the association with venous occlusive disease (RR = 2.84; 1.34–6.01). Heterozygosity for the 844ins68 mutation of the CBS gene is not per se a risk factor for premature arterial and/or venous occlusive diseases. However, when detected in combination with thermolabile MTHFR, it increases by almost 4-fold the risk of occlusive diseases (arterial and/or venous), by increasing the risk and the degree of fasting hyperhomocysteinemia.
The IP-10 chemokine binds to a specific cell surface heparan sulfate site shared with platelet factor 4 and inhibits endothelial cell proliferation

IP-10 is a member of the chemokine family of cytokines and is induced in a variety of cells in response to interferon gamma and lipopolysaccharide. The self-aggregation common to many chemokines, including IP-10, has hindered the identification of a specific IP-10 receptor. Using an IP-10 alkaline phosphatase fusion protein that fortuitously blocks this self-aggregation, we have identified an IP-10 binding site on a variety of cells including endothelial, epithelial, and hematopoietic cells. This binding site has a Kd of 25 nM, is inhibited by recombinant murine or human IP-10, and is dependent on the presence of cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG). This conclusion is based on the findings that IP-10 binding to cells is: (a) inhibited by heparin and heparan sulfate; (b) sensitive to a 1 M NaCl wash; (c) eliminated by treatment with heparinase and trypsin; and (d) absent on mutant CHO cells that do not express cell surface HSPG. Platelet factor 4 (PF4), but not IL-8, monocyte chemoattractant protein- 1, RANTES, monocyte inflammatory protein (MIP)-1 alpha, or MIP-1 beta, can compete effectively with IP-10 for binding to the cell surface. Furthermore, IP-10 shares with PF4 the ability to inhibit endothelial cell proliferation (IC50 = 150 nM). These studies demonstrate specificity in the interaction of chemokines and HSPG, and they define IP-10 and PF4 as a distinct subset of chemokines sharing an HSPG- binding site and angiostatic properties.
Endoscopic ultrasound core needle for diagnosing of solid pancreatic lesions: is rapid on-site evaluation really necessary?

INTRODUCTION Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) has a crucial role in the diagnosis of solid pancreatic lesions and rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) can increase its diagnostic yield. Rapid on-site evaluation is not always available and after EUS-FNA provides a cytology specimen with scant cellularity. Fine needle biopsy (FNB) specimens containing core tissue may theoretically overcome the limitations of EUS-FNA sampling. It could be hypothesized that EUS-FNB without ROSE could achieve the same adequacy and accuracy of EUS-FNB with ROSE. The aim of this review is to evaluate the evidence on the role of ROSE in the setting of EUS-guided tissue acquisition with core needles in patients with solid pancreatic lesions. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION All relevant articles were extracted up to February 2017 based on the results of searches in PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS A total of 21 pertinent articles were finally included. Among the included studies, 11 were performed without ROSE, 8 with ROSE, and 2 were performed both with and without ROSE. In the ROSE group we found a sensitivity, specificity, overall diagnostic adequacy and overall diagnostic accuracy of 96%, 100%, 86.5%, 85.5%, respectively, while in the no-ROSE group 86.6%, 100%, 89.5%, 86.1% were found, respectively. Mild pancreatitis (mean rates, 3.43%) and abdominal pain (mean rates, 3.6%) were reported as most frequent adverse events. CONCLUSIONS Endoscopic ultrasound guided-FNB without ROSE offers similar results in terms of adequacy and accuracy as in the presence of an on-site cytopathologist.
Lipid accumulation and metabolism in polychaete spermatogenesis: Role of the large discoidal lipoprotein

In most oviparous animals, lipoprotein‐mediated lipid transport plays an important role in the nutrient supply for the oocyte. In male gametes, lipids are used as energy substrates in spermatozoa but nothing is yet known about their origin and metabolism throughout spermatogenesis. The lipid profiles analyzed from different stages of male germ cell development in the marine annelid Nereis virens were found to undergo a dramatic change from primary triacylglycerides at the beginning of germ cell development to cholesterol and phospholipids at the end of development as demonstrated by HPLC with evaporative light scattering detection and mass spectrometry. The uptake of a large discoidal lipoprotein into the developing germ cells could be demonstrated by fluorescence labeling and electron microscopic techniques as well as by the presence of a lipoprotein receptor in the germ cells, thus establishing its role in lipid supply. The incorporated lipoprotein discs were found to be stored as intact complexes indicating that they are not readily degraded upon endocytotic uptake. The change in lipid composition during germ cell development reflects their metabolic activity, especially in spermatogonia. The high concentration of lipids maintained by spermatogonia during the early phase of gametogenesis seems to be required for the later rapid processes of meiosis and spermatocyte differentiation. At times when peak demand of lipids arises for membrane synthesis and increased metabolism, this may be met more efficiently by a rapid on‐site mobilization of lipids instead of an external supply. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 77: 710–719, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.