Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppression of mast cell activity contributes to the osteoprotective effect of an herbal formula containing Herba Epimedii, Fructus Ligustri Lucidi and Fructus Psoraleae

Mast cells are believed to contribute to the pathogenesis of osteoporosis as their number is increased in osteoporotic bones. Herba Epimedii, Fructus Ligustri Lucidi and Fructus Psoraleae are three Chinese herbs traditionally for tonifying the ‘kidney system’ and a herbal formula (ELP) containing the respective herbs at the weight ratio of 5 : 4 : 1 was shown to prevent osteoporosis. This study evaluated if suppression of mast cell accumulation and activity contribute to the anti‐osteoporotic action of ELP.
Interaction of Edrophonium with Muscarinic Acetylcholine M2 and M3 Receptors

Background It has been reported that edrophonium can antagonize the negative chronotropic effect of carbachol. This study was undertaken to evaluate in detail the interaction of edrophonium with muscarinic M2 and M3 receptors. Methods A functional study was conducted to evaluate the effects of edrophonium on the concentration–response curves for the negative chronotropic effect and the bronchoconstricting effect of carbachol in spontaneously beating right atria and tracheas of guinea pigs. An electrophysiologic study was conducted to compare the effects of edrophonium on carbachol-, guanosine triphosphate (GTP)&ggr; S-, and adenosine-induced outward K+ currents in guinea pig atrial cells by whole cell voltage clamp technique. A radioligand binding study was conducted to examine the effects of edrophonium on specific [3H]N-methyl-scopolamine (NMS) binding to guinea pig atrial (M2) and submandibular gland (M3) membrane preparations, and on atropine-induced dissociation of [3H]NMS. Results Edrophonium shifted rightward the concentration–response curves for the negative chronotropic and bronchoconstricting effects of carbachol in a competitive manner. The pA2 values for cardiac and tracheal muscarinic receptors were 4.61 and 4.03, respectively. Edrophonium abolished the carbachol-induced outward current without affecting the GTP&ggr; S- and adenosine-induced currents in the atrial cells. Edrophonium inhibited [3H]NMS binding to M2 and M3 receptors in a concentration-dependent manner. The pseudo-Hill coefficient values and apparent dissociation constants of edrophonium for M2 and M3 receptors were 1.02 and 1.07 and 21 and 34 &mgr;m, respectively. Edrophonium also changed dissociation constant values of [3H]NMS without affecting its maximum binding capacities. Conclusion Edrophonium binds to muscarinic M2 and M3 receptors nonselectively, and acts as a competitive antagonist.
ASSAULT IN PRISON: The 'Victim's' Contribution

Assaults in prison occur for diverse reasons. Understanding the role of the victim can help to explain the assault. In this article, concepts developed to analyse the victim's contribution to crimes outside prison are applied to interpersonal violence within penal institutions. A close examination of 96 prison assaults showed how activities which are considered routine in custody increased the risk of assault. Victims contributed to their victimization through facilitation or precipitation, by gaining a reputation for vulnerability, and by increasing the aggressor's sense of impunity. The participants' interpretations of events showed that there may be good reasons for an inmate deliberately putting himself at risk of being attacked.
Notes on the public sphere on a national and post-national axis

Since Turkey became a candidate for the European Union in 1999, democratic rights and freedom of expression have been key issues in discourses surrounding EU—Turkey relations. Discussions on these questions often centre on state censorship and legislative constraints. The role of the media themselves, however, and the deeply-ingrained elements and historically-contingent norms and practices within public culture that shape the public sphere, have received a significantly lower level of attention. Despite recent legislative changes towards greater freedom of expression, major hurdles that limit democratic rights and freedoms persist in practice, as highlighted by the judicial trial (and the subsequent murder in January 2007) of the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. The police raid of Nokta magazine in 2007 is another case in point. The purpose of this article is to discuss current questions related with freedom of expression and tolerance of diversity in the Turkish media based on in-depth interviews with journalists and with the Dink and Nokta cases as examples; and to offer critical reflections on the public sphere in Turkey in its current state.
Career Paths and Choices Leading to the Senior Student Affairs Office (SSAO) for Women at Community Colleges

This study examined career paths and choices leading to the Senior Student Affairs Office (SSAO) for women at community colleges. Data were comprised of 57 resumes and 11 interviews from SSAOs during the 2008–2009 academic year. Network analysis paired with interviews offer career track and progression profiles with rationale for women aspirants. Analysis of the network data suggested two dichotomies based on career choices: (a) institution paths (changing institutions frequently versus remaining at one institution) and (b) job moves (changing jobs more than four times versus changing jobs less than three times). Interview data are presented in these four profiles addressing choices, experiences, and advice specific to gender issues. Overall results indicate an average of four job changes leads to the SSAO, with most aspirants obtaining a doctorate, pursuing a student affairs career track, and gaining financial management experience. Additional implications for women aspiring to the top student affairs position at the community college level are included.
Health, life expectancy, and mortality patterns among immigrant populations in the United States.

BACKGROUND The US immigrant population has grown considerably in the last three decades, from 9.6 million in 1970 to 32.5 million in 2002. However, this unprecedented population rise has not been accompanied by increased immigrant health monitoring. In this study, we examined the extent to which US- and foreign-born blacks, whites, Asians, and Hispanics differ in their health, life expectancy, and mortality patterns across the life course. METHODS We used National Vital Statistics System (1986-2000) and National Health Interview Survey (1992-1995) data to examine nativity differentials in health outcomes. Logistic regression and age-adjusted death rates were used to examine differentials. RESULTS Male and female immigrants had, respectively, 3.4 and 2.5 years longer life expectancy than the US-born. Compared to their US-born counterparts, black immigrant men and women had, respectively, 9.4 and 7.8 years longer life expectancy, but Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino immigrants had lower life expectancy. Most immigrant groups had lower risks of infant mortality and low birthweight than the US-born. Consistent with the acculturation hypothesis, immigrants' risks of disability and chronic disease morbidity increased with increasing length of residence. Cancer and other chronic disease mortality patterns for immigrants and natives varied considerably, with Asian Immigrants experiencing substantially higher stomach, liver and cervical cancer mortality than the US-born. Immigrants, however, had significantly lower mortality from lung, colorectal, breast, prostate and esophageal cancer, cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis, diabetes, respiratory diseases, HIV/AIDS, and suicide. INTERPRETATION Migration selectivity, social support, socio-economic, and behavioural characteristics may account for health differentials between immigrants and the US-born.
Uncorrelated Linear Composites Maximally Related to a Complex of Correlated Observations

IN developing a battery of tests, it is often desired, for technical or for conceptual reasons, to have test scores that are mutually uncorrelated. This note solves mathematically for p linear composites of the observations on p variables (the scores on a battery of p tests, say), composites which are mutually uncorrelated, and each of which is paired with the observations on one of the original variables such that the sum of the p pair-wise correlations between the observed variables and composites is maximized. We consider then a n X p score matrix Z, giving the observations of n persons on p variables, standardized so that each variable’s observations has mean zero and variance one. Let X be another
The Need for Tutorial Dialog to Support Self-Explanation

What are good ways of using natural language dialog in intelligent tutoring systems? A role with high potential payoff is to support the meta-cognitive process of selfexplanation. In previous experiments involving the PACT Geometry Tutor, we found that students learn with greater understanding, when they are required to explain their solutions steps “by reference”, that is, by naming the rule that was used. However, the tutor may be even more effective if students explain their solution steps in their own words and if the tutor helps them, through dialog, to improve their explanations. An exploratory experiment with a tutor version that did not do any natural language processing, strongly suggested the need for natural language dialog. Without feedback from the tutor, students provided few free-form explanations in response to the tutor's prompts. Of the explanations that they did provide, only a small portion were correct and complete. During the experiment, we also identified a number of dialog strategies that we plan to implement in the tutor.
Unified charge control model and subthreshold current in heterostructure field-effect transistors

A unified analytical charge control model covering the entire range of gate voltages from below and above threshold is developed for heterojunction field-effect transistors (HFETs). This model is based on a new interpretation of the quantized energy levels for the two-dimensional electron gas. It reduces to a classical charge sheet model in the limit of low surface field. The model is used to interpret the experimental data for the subthreshold regime of HFETs. The results indicate wide range variation of the effective acceptor concentration after device fabrication processing in the unintentionally doped GaAs buffer layer. <<ETX>>
Preserving digital narratives in an age of present-mindedness

This article argues that one of the gravest challenges facing efforts to preserve digital narratives proceeds not from technological limitations, but rather from capitalism's systemic imperative toward social, economic and technological acceleration, and the associated cultural lack of interest in the problems of duration. Using the theoretical contributions of medium theory, specifically the concept of media ‘bias’ as developed by Harold Innis, the article situates the extraordinary ephemerality of today's digital texts against the widespread cultural preoccupation with the present and with short-term concerns. In this manner, the celebratory rhetoric surrounding the internet's capacity to transmit information instantaneously and potentially to serve as a repertoire of our shared cultural heritage is problematized.
Influence of Attachment Styles on Romantic Relationships

This investigation examined the impact of secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles on romantic relationships in a longitudinal study involving 144 dating couples. For both men and women, the secure attachment style was associated with greater relationship interdependence, commitment, trust, and satisfaction than were the anxious or avoidant attachment styles. The anxious and avoidant styles were associated with less frequent positive emotions and more frequent negative emotions in the relationship, whereas the reverse was true of the secure style. Six-month follow-up interviews revealed that, among those individuals who disbanded, avoidant men experienced significantly less post-dissolution emotional distress than did other people. In recent years, a growing number of researchers have become interested in the processes by which people develop, maintain, and dissolve affectional bonds within close relationships (see Bretherton, 1985; Clark & Reis, 1988). Empirical research in this area was spawned by the pioneering theoretical work of John Bowlby (1969,1973,1980), who sought to determine how and why infants become emotionally attached to their primary caregivers and why they often experience emotional distress when physically separated from them. Bowlby identified a clear sequence of three emotional reactions that typically occur following the separation of an infant from its primary caregiver: protest, despair, and detachment. Given the remarkably reliable nature of this sequence across a variety of different species, Bowlby developed a theory of attachment grounded in evolutionary principles. Specifically, he argued that an attachment system composed of specific behavioral and emotional propensities designed to keep infants in close physical proximity to their primary caregivers might have been selected during evolutionary history. By remaining in close contact with caregivers who could protect them from danger and predation, infants who possessed these attachment propensities would have been more likely to survive to reproductive age, reproduce, and subsequently pass these propensities on to future generations. Empirical research examining tenets of Bowlby's theory has focused mainly on different styles or patterns of attachment in young children. Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall (1978) have identified three primary attachment styles: anxious/ambivalent
A Perceptual Dialect Map of North East England

This study presents perceptual dialect maps derived from a questionnaire completed by almost 1,600 people across North East England. Respondents were given the names of fifty-one locations and asked to provide numerical judgments on the “similarity” or “difference” of the dialect of speakers from these locations compared to speakers from the respondents' hometowns. The questionnaire also invited respondents to comment on accents and dialects in the region. The numerical data are mapped, revealing a perceptual landscape consisting of three broad areas further subdivided into smaller perceptual zones. These perceptual areas are described and discussed in relation to salient geographical, social, and cultural factors. The article concludes by placing this research in the context of dialectological and variationist studies of English in the North East.
Bias and scalability in evolutionary development

The introduction of a genotype-phenotype map modelled on biological development can potentially improve the scalability of evolutionary algorithms. Previous work by Gordon and Bentley demonstrated that such a model can be used to evolve patterns that map to useful but small phenotypes. This paper uses the same model to generate much larger patterns covering arrays of up to 64x64 cells. The results show that the model's performance is generally comparable to similar development-based systems [12, 14], and with some measures outperforms them. Additionally the inherent biases of the model are explored, such as the need to use symmetry-breaking initial conditions which some other models do not require. This exploration yields a set of guidelines that suggest what kinds of problem the model is suited to exploring.
Cortical Synaptogenesis and Motor Map Reorganization Occur during Late, But Not Early, Phase of Motor Skill Learning

Extensive motor skill training induces reorganization of movement representations and synaptogenesis within adult motor cortex. Motor skill does not, however, develop uniformly across training sessions. It is characterized by an initial fast phase, followed by a later slow phase of learning. How cortical plasticity emerges during these phases is unknown. Here, we examine motor map topography and synapse number within rat motor cortex during the early and late phases of motor learning. Adult rats were placed in either a skilled or unskilled reaching condition (SRC and URC, respectively) for 3, 7, or 10 d. Intracortical microstimulation of layer V was used to determine the topography of forelimb movement representations within caudal forelimb area of motor cortex contralateral to the trained paw. Quantitative electron microscopy was used to measure the number of synapses per neuron within layer V. SRC animals showed significant increases in reaching accuracy after 3, 7, and 10 d of training. In comparison with URC animals, SRC animals had significantly larger distal forelimb representations after 10 d of training only. Furthermore, SRC animals had significantly more synapses per neuron than URC animals after 7 and 10 d of training. These results show that both motor map reorganization and synapse formation occur during the late phase of skill learning. Furthermore, synaptogenesis precedes map reorganization. We propose that motor map reorganization and synapse formation do not contribute to the initial acquisition of motor skills but represent the consolidation of motor skill that occurs during late stages of training.
Sentencing of Adolescent Offenders in Victoria: A Review of Empirical Evidence and Practice

The contemporary juvenile justice system faces the challenge of balancing rehabilitation for developing adolescents, as well as providing deterrence and ensuring public safety in the face of crimes committed by young people. However, there are provisions for the older adolescent offenders to be prosecuted in the adult court, as well as those adolescents who commit serious offences. Some scholars are concerned that these transfers to adult courts do not adequately consider the developmental needs of the adolescent offenders, hence depriving them of the protective mechanisms and rehabilitative possibilities provided by the juvenile justice system. This paper will examine whether the relevant Victorian legislation and legal practices are consistent with the available science; in particular, the paper will consider the assumptions that sentencing laws make about adolescent offenders in the context of the existing literature on adolescent development and treatment amenability. In line with the empirical evidence, changes are suggested to current practices for juvenile transfer cases, and further collaborations between legal, research, and mental health agencies are clearly needed to enhance the state of science and practice in this area. The implications of these suggestions and the roles of the mental health professionals are also discussed.
Influence of oral health behavior and sociodemographic factors on remaining teeth in Korean adults

AbstractIn this study, the number and location of remaining teeth were analyzed according to sociodemographic variables, anthropometric measurements, and oral health behavior patterns. The hypothesis was that the number and location of remaining teeth would be affected by oral health behavior and by sociodemographic factors, such as education levels, household income, and urban/rural residency.This nationwide cross-sectional study was performed with a total of 36,026 representative Korean adults aged 19 and older. The data were taken from the 2012–2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Men had, on average, significantly more remaining teeth than women did. Women brushed their teeth more often than men per day and were more likely to brush their teeth after meals. The participants with higher education levels or household income had significantly more remaining teeth; the number of daily tooth brushing was positively associated with the number of remaining teeth; urban residents had significantly more remaining teeth than rural residents; and elderly adults had fewer remaining teeth than younger adults had (all with P < 0.05). The participants were more likely to retain their incisors (especially their canines) for their entire lifetimes than do so for their molars. From the incisors to the second premolars, they had more mandibular teeth than maxillary teeth, but among molars, they had more maxillary teeth than mandibular teeth. Elementary graduates with low household income had fewer remaining teeth than did university graduates with high household income (P < 0.0001). Finally, participants with high socioeconomic status were more likely to lose their molar teeth than anterior teeth compared to those with low socioeconomic status.The participants who brushed their teeth fewer times per day, those with low household incomes and/or education levels, and those who lived in rural districts had significantly higher prevalence of tooth loss than did other groups in Korean adults. Participants had more anterior and premolar teeth on mandible, but they had more molars on maxilla. In addition, participants with high socioeconomic status were more likely to lose their molar teeth than anterior teeth compared to those with low socioeconomic status.
Airway Concentrations of Angiopoietin-1 and Endostatin in Ventilated Extremely Premature Infants Are Decreased After Funisitis and Unbalanced With Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia/Death

A systemic inflammatory response of the fetus, reflected by histologic funisitis, is a risk factor for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Impaired pulmonary angiogenesis accompanied by simplification and rarification of alveoli is a histologic hallmark of BPD. Angiopoietin-1 mediates vascular development, maturation, and stabilization. Endostatin mainly acts as an angiostatic factor. We hypothesized that funisitis was associated with changes of endostatin and angiopoietin-1 concentrations in the airways and that an imbalance between the factors might be associated with BPD or death. We measured concentrations of angiopoietin-1 and endostatin by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in tracheobronchial aspirate fluid samples of 42 ventilated preterm infants during postnatal days 1 through 15. The secretory component for IgA served as reference protein. A standardized histologic examination was used to distinguish three groups: chorioamnionitis, funisitis, and controls without inflammation. Concentrations of the mediators steadily decreased. Funisitis was associated with lower concentrations of both proteins, which might impair their physiologic activities in pulmonary angiogenesis. An increase of the ratio angiopoietin-1/endostatin until day 7 of life indicated a shift of the mediators potentially favoring angiogenesis. However, infants, who developed BPD or died, had a decreased ratio on days 1, 3, and 15, suggesting an imbalance toward inhibition of pulmonary angiogenesis.
Effect of mTOR inhibitor on body weight: from an experimental rat model to human transplant patients

The aim was to study the influence of sirolimus (SRL) on body weight in a rat model and in kidney transplant patients. Wistar rats (15 weeks old) were either treated with vehicle (VEH; n = 8) or SRL (n = 7) 1.0 mg/kg three times per week for 12 weeks. Body mass and food intake were measured weekly. Adipocyte diameter was determined in hematoxylin–eosin stains. The body mass index (BMI) obtained from clinical kidney transplant trials comparing SRL‐based with cyclosporine‐based therapy was analyzed. Animals: SRL produced a decrease of the weight gain curve. At the end of the study, mean body weight in the SRL group was lower than in the VEH group (356 vs. 507 g, P < 0.01) in spite of comparable food intake normalized for body weight was not different. Mean adipocyte diameter was 36 μm in VEH and 25 μm in SRL rats (P = 0.009). Mean SRL blood trough concentration was 38 ng/ml. Kidney transplant patients: Two years after transplantation, BMI was significantly lower in the SRL‐based treatment arm compared to cyclosporine (24.17 ± 2.99 vs. 25.97 ± 5.01 kg/m2, P = 0.031). SRL treatment leads to less body mass. Adipocyte cell diameter was reduced in SRL‐treated animals. A possible explanation may be the effects of SRL on metabolic regulation and cell growth.