Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bone Marrow Stromal Cells Modulate Mouse ENT1 Activity and Protect Leukemia Cells from Cytarabine Induced Apoptosis

Background Despite a high response rate to chemotherapy, the majority of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are destined to relapse due to residual disease in the bone marrow (BM). The tumor microenvironment is increasingly being recognized as a critical factor in mediating cancer cell survival and drug resistance. In this study, we propose to identify mechanisms involved in the chemoprotection conferred by the BM stroma to leukemia cells. Methods Using a leukemia mouse model and a human leukemia cell line, we studied the interaction of leukemia cells with the BM microenvironment. We evaluated in vivo and in vitro leukemia cell chemoprotection to different cytotoxic agents mediated by the BM stroma. Leukemia cell apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry and western blotting. The activity of the equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (ENT1), responsible for cytarabine cell incorporation, was investigated by measuring transport and intracellular accumulation of 3H-adenosine. Results Leukemia cell mobilization from the bone marrow into peripheral blood in vivo using a CXCR4 inhibitor induced chemo-sensitization of leukemia cells to cytarabine, which translated into a prolonged survival advantage in our mouse leukemia model. In vitro, the BM stromal cells secreted a soluble factor that mediated significant chemoprotection to leukemia cells from cytarabine induced apoptosis. Furthermore, the BM stromal cell supernatant induced a 50% reduction of the ENT1 activity in leukemia cells, reducing the incorporation of cytarabine. No protection was observed when radiation or other cytotoxic agents such as etoposide, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil were used. Conclusion The BM stroma secretes a soluble factor that significantly protects leukemia cells from cytarabine-induced apoptosis and blocks ENT1 activity. Strategies that modify the chemo-protective effects mediated by the BM microenvironment may enhance the benefit of conventional chemotherapy for patients with AML.
The quality of life of older people with epilepsy: findings from a UK community study

The impact of epilepsy on the quality of life of older people with epilepsy has rarely been investigated. As part of a large prevalence study of epilepsy conducted in one UK Health Region, we investigated the burden of their condition in older compared with younger people. A second analysis compared quality of life in those men and women diagnosed after the age of retirement from the workforce compared with those diagnosed before that age. Data were collected from men and women with epilepsy and from their primary and secondary care physicians. There were few differences between older and younger people with regard to their reported quality of life, though younger people were more likely to report feeling stigmatized by their condition. Older people with epilepsy diagnosed in later life were more anxious and depressed than those diagnosed earlier and their overall perception of quality of life was more likely to be negative. Our data emphasize that older people do not necessarily experience poorer quality of life than younger people, but those first diagnosed in later life do appear to have a quality of life which is more impaired. Consideration should be paid to the important psychosocial consequences of epilepsy in the older person.
Circulating anti-galectin-1 antibodies are associated with the severity of ocular disease in autoimmune and infectious uveitis.

PURPOSE Galectin (Gal)-1, an endogenous lectin found at sites of immune privilege, plays a critical role in the regulation of the immune response. Therapeutic administration of Gal-1 or its genetic delivery suppresses chronic inflammation in experimental models of autoimmunity. The purpose of this work was to investigate the occurrence of circulating anti-Gal-1 antibodies in patients with autoimmune and infectious uveitis as potential determinant factors of disease progression. METHODS IgG, IgE, and IgA anti-Gal-1 antibodies were assessed by ELISA and Western blot in sera from patients with autoimmune (n = 47) and infectious (n = 15) uveitis compared with healthy control subjects (n = 30). The frequency of anti-Gal-1 antibodies was examined in patients experiencing poor clinical outcome (n = 21) or good evolution (n = 9). Anti-Gal-1 antibodies were eluted by incubating patient sera with nitrocellulose filters adsorbed with rGal-1. The ability of these antibodies to recognize retinal tissue was assessed by ELISA, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS IgE, IgG, and IgA anti-Gal-1 antibodies were increased in sera from patients with autoimmune uveitis (P < 0.001 vs. controls) and toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis (P < 0.001). The level of anti-Gal-1 IgE and IgG antibodies was associated with progressive disease and poor outcome in autoimmune and infectious uveitis. Furthermore, these antibodies strongly immunoreacted with retinal lysates and recognized retinal structures mainly photoreceptors in retinal sections. CONCLUSIONS Anti-retinal Gal-1 antibodies are present in sera from patients with uveitis and can be associated with the progression of ocular disease, suggesting their potential use in follow-up observations of these patients.
Fully integrated passive UHF RFID transponder IC with 16.7-μW minimum RF input power

This paper presents a novel fully integrated passive transponder IC with 4.5- or 9.25-m reading distance at 500-mW ERP or 4-W EIRP base-station transmit power, respectively, operating in the 868/915-MHz ISM band with an antenna gain less than -0.5 dB. Apart from the printed antenna, there are no external components. The IC is implemented in a 0.5-/spl mu/m digital two-poly two-metal digital CMOS technology with EEPROM and Schottky diodes. The IC's power supply is taken from the energy of the received RF electromagnetic field with help of a Schottky diode voltage multiplier. The IC includes dc power supply generation, phase shift keying backscatter modulator, pulse width modulation demodulator, EEPROM, and logic circuitry including some finite state machines handling the protocol used for wireless write and read access to the IC's EEPROM and for the anticollision procedure. The IC outperforms other reported radio-frequency identification ICs by a factor of three in terms of required receive power level for a given base-station transmit power and tag antenna gain.
Simulating Sleep Apnea by Exposure to Intermittent Hypoxia Induces Inflammation in the Lung and Liver

Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder that results from momentary and cyclic collapse of the upper airway, leading to intermittent hypoxia (IH). IH can lead to the formation of free radicals that increase oxidative stress, and this mechanism may explain the association between central sleep apnea and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. We assessed the level of inflammation in the lung and liver tissue from animals subjected to intermittent hypoxia and simulated sleep apnea. A total of 12 C57BL/6 mice were divided into two groups and then exposed to IH (n = 6) or a simulated IH (SIH) (n = 6) for 35 days. We observed an increase in oxidative damage and other changes to endogenous antioxidant enzymes in mice exposed to IH. Specifically, the expression of multiple transcription factors, including hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), inducible NO synthase (iNOS), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and cleaved caspase 3 were shown to be increased in the IH group. Overall, we found that exposure to intermittent hypoxia for 35 days by simulating sleep apnea leads to oxidative stress, inflammation, and increased activity of caspase 3 in the liver and lung.
Freedom and happiness: A comparative study in forty-four nations in the early 1990s.

textabstractFreedom in nations can affect the happiness of citizens both positively and negatively. This study takes stock of the balance of effects. It considers 1) whether there is a positive net-effect at all, 2) which freedom variants contribute most to happiness 3) in what conditions. Freedom is conceived as chance to choose, requiring 'opportunity' to choose, and 'capability' to choose. Opportunity to choose is measured by absence of restrictions in economic, political and personal life. Capability to choose is measured by information and inclination to go one's own way. Happiness is conceived as the overall appreciation of ones life as a whole. Average happiness in nations is measured by responses to questions on the matter in representative surveys. Data on both freedom and happiness is available for 46 nations in the early 1990's. Analysis shows first of all positive correlations between freedom and happiness. Yet closer analysis reveals that freedom and happiness do not always concur.Freedom is positively related to happiness among rich nations, but not among poor nations. Apparently freedom does not pay in poverty. Further, freedom is related to happiness only when 'opportunity' and 'capability' coincide.A notable exception is economic freedom. Opportunity for free trade is positively related to happiness in poor nations, but not in rich nations. Similarly, the relation between economic freedom and happiness is strongest in nations where capability to choose is lowest. The findings show that freedom does not always breed happiness, and suggest that economic freedom deserves priority.
The European media discourse on immigration and its effects: a literature review

ABSTRACT To understand public opinion about immigration in Europe, one has to understand the media’s role in it. We present a literature review on research on media discourse on immigration and their effects. Despite differences in the way immigration and migrant groups are represented in European media, we can observe common patterns. Migrants are generally under-represented and shown as delinquents or criminals. Although, media framing differs based on specific migrant groups the discourse is focusing on, immigration coverage is often negative and conflict-centred. Frequent exposure to such media messages leads to negative attitudes towards migration, may activate stereotypical cognitions of migrant groups, and even influence vote choice. In addition to discussing these issues in depth, the present review also focuses on comparative findings.
Angular Clustering with Photometric Redshifts in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Bimodality in the Clustering Properties of Galaxies

Understanding the clustering of galaxies has long been a goal of modern observational cosmology. Redshift surveys have been used to measure the correlation length as a function of luminosity and color. However, when subdividing the catalogs into multiple subsets, the errors increase rapidly. Angular clustering in magnitude-limited photometric surveys has the advantage of much larger catalogs but suffers from a dilution of the clustering signal because of the broad radial distribution of the sample. Also, up to now it has not been possible to select uniform subsamples based on physical parameters, such as luminosity and rest-frame color. Utilizing our photometric redshift technique, a volume-limited sample (0.1 < z < 0.3) containing more than 2 million galaxies is constructed from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey galaxy catalog. In the largest such analysis to date, we study the angular clustering as a function of luminosity and spectral type. Using Limber's equation, we calculate the clustering length for the full data set as r0 = 5.77 ± 0.10 h-1 Mpc. We find that r0 increases with luminosity by a factor of 1.6 over the sampled luminosity range, in agreement with previous redshift surveys. We also find that both the clustering length and the slope of the correlation function depend on the galaxy type. In particular, by splitting the galaxies in four groups by their rest-frame type, we find a bimodal behavior in their clustering properties. Galaxies with spectral types similar to elliptical galaxies have a correlation length of 6.59 ± 0.17 h-1 Mpc and a slope of the angular correlation function of 0.96 ± 0.05, while blue galaxies have a clustering length of 4.51 ± 0.19 h-1 Mpc and a slope of 0.68 ± 0.09. The two intermediate color groups behave like their more extreme "siblings" rather than showing a gradual transition in slope. We discuss these correlations in the context of current cosmological models for structure formation.
Resting State fMRI in Mice Reveals Anesthesia Specific Signatures of Brain Functional Networks and Their Interactions

fMRI studies in mice typically require the use of anesthetics. Yet, it is known that anesthesia alters responses to stimuli or functional networks at rest. In this work, we have used Dual Regression analysis Network Modeling to investigate the effects of two commonly used anesthetics, isoflurane and medetomidine, on rs-fMRI derived functional networks, and in particular to what extent anesthesia affected the interaction within and between these networks. Experimental data have been used from a previous study (Grandjean et al., 2014). We applied multivariate ICA analysis and Dual Regression to infer the differences in functional connectivity between isoflurane- and medetomidine-anesthetized mice. Further network analysis was performed to investigate within- and between-network connectivity differences between these anesthetic regimens. The results revealed five major networks in the mouse brain: lateral cortical, associative cortical, default mode, subcortical, and thalamic network. The anesthesia regime had a profound effect both on within- and between-network interactions. Under isoflurane anesthesia predominantly intra- and inter-cortical interactions have been observed, with only minor interactions involving subcortical structures and in particular attenuated cortico-thalamic connectivity. In contrast, medetomidine-anesthetized mice displayed subcortical functional connectivity including interactions between cortical and thalamic ICA components. Combining the two anesthetics at low dose resulted in network interaction that constituted the superposition of the interaction observed for each anesthetic alone. The study demonstrated that network modeling is a promising tool for analyzing the brain functional architecture in mice and comparing alterations therein caused by different physiological or pathological states. Understanding the differential effects of anesthetics on brain networks and their interaction is essential when interpreting fMRI data recorded under specific physiological and pathological conditions.
Global well-posedness of the three-dimensional viscous and inviscid simplified Bardina turbulence models

In this paper we present analytical studies of three-dimensional viscous and inviscid simplified Bardina turbulence models with periodic boundary conditions. The global existence and uniqueness of weak solutions to the viscous model has already been established by Layton and Lewandowski. However, we prove here the global well-posedness of this model for weaker initial conditions. We also establish an upper bound to the dimension of its global attractor and identify this dimension with the number of degrees of freedom for this model. We show that the number of degrees of freedom of the long-time dynamics of the solution is of the order of $(L/l_d)^{12/5}$, where $L$ is the size of the periodic box and $l_d$ is the dissipation length scale-- believed and defined to be the smallest length scale actively participating in the dynamics of the flow. This upper bound estimate is smaller than those established for Navier-Stokes-$\alpha$, Clark-$\alpha$ and Modified-Leray-$\alpha$ turbulence models which are of the order $(L/l_d)^{3}$. Finally, we establish the global existence and uniqueness of weak solutions to the inviscid model. This result has an important application in computational fluid dynamics when the inviscid simplified Bardina model is considered as a regularizing model of the three-dimensional Euler equations.
IS LEARNING A STANDARD VARIETY SIMILAR TO LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE?

This study examines heritage speakers’ knowledge of Standard Arabic (SA) and compares their patterns of SA acquisition to those of learners of SA as second/foreign language (L2). In addition, the study examines the influence of previously acquired language varieties, including Colloquial Arabic (QA), on SA acquisition.1 To this end, the study compares 35 heritage speakers, 28 L2 learners, and 16 controls with respect to sentential negation, an area where SA and QA diverge significantly. The participants completed five oral tasks targeting negation of eight different clause types. The findings showed that L2 learners and heritage speakers performed comparably, encountered similar difficulties, and produced similar patterns of errors. However, whereas L2 learners did not display clear transfer effects from L1 (English), heritage speakers showed both positive and negative influence of L1 (QA). The results shed light on the dynamics of the interaction between the spoken heritage languages and their written standard counterparts with specific focus on diglossic contexts.
HIV Infection and Risk Characteristics Among Female Sex Workers in Hanoi, Vietnam

The prevalence of HIV/sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) was determined, the risk characteristics examined, and factors associated with HIV infection identified among noninstitutionalized female sex workers (FSWs), using a cross-sectional survey with 2-stage cluster sampling. Four hundred FSWs were interviewed face to face using a structured questionnaire and tested for HIV, syphilis, Chlamydia infection, and gonorrhea. HIV seroprevalence was 12%, syphilis 17% (using the treponemal pallidum hemagglutination assay), Chlamydia infection 3.8% (using polymerase chain reaction [PCR]), and gonorrhea 6.3% (PCR). Lower-class FSWs averaged 2 clients per day, and middle-class FSWs about 1.2. Median duration in sex work was 2.3 years. Consistent condom use was 63% with irregular clients, 41% with regular clients, and only 4.8% with “love mates. ” Fifty-five percent had had sex with a drug user(s). Thirty-eight percent used drugs, of whom 83% injected. Factors associated with HIV included being young, having a low level of education, longer residence in Hanoi, being a lower-class FSW, having higher income compared with peers, perception of self being at low risk for HIV, poor knowledge of HIV, and sharing injecting equipment. Intervention strategies should include reduction of both stigmatization and sharing of drug paraphernalia, promotion of nonstigmatizing voluntary testing and counseling, and aggressive marketing and promotion of condoms.
Understanding aims and values of science: developments in the junior cycle specifications on nature of science and pre-service science teachers’ views in Ireland

Irish science education is aiming to develop post-primary students’ knowledge of and about science through the introduction of ‘nature of science’ (NOS) in the new junior cycle science specification. This study aimed to investigate pre-service science teachers’ views about a particular aspect of NOS, namely the aims and values of science. Aims and values in relation to science can be considered from epistemic, cognitive, cultural, social, political, moral and ethical perspectives. In this paper, we focus on the epistemic, cognitive and social aims and values of science to provide a broad overview and investigate pre-service science teachers’ understanding of them. Qualitative methods are used to highlight two case studies that provide an in-depth record of how pre-service science teachers interpret aims and values of science. Although the sample is limited in terms of its generalisability to pre-service teacher education at large, the study provides a framework for (a) what to target and investigate about NOS in science education, particularly about aims and values of science, and (b) how pre-service science teachers are likely to make sense of such relatively new curricular goals. Implications for pre-service science teacher education are discussed.
Evidence-based psychological approaches for auditory hallucinations

Summary In a previous article in this journal, Turkington et al suggested a number of psychological approaches that an individual can use to reduce the distress caused by hearing voices. Despite having popular appeal, only some of these approaches have evidence for their effectiveness. Within a clinical context where few patients with psychosis have access even to evidence-based approaches, the reader is invited to familiarise themselves with the evidence before selecting which approaches to introduce to their patients. DECLARATION OF INTEREST M.H. is one of the authors of the self-help book Overcoming distressing Voices that is promoted within the article.
Imports and Exports at the Level of the Firm: Evidence from Belgium

This paper explores a newly-available panel data set merging balance sheet and international trade transaction data for Belgium. Both imports and exports appear to be highly concentrated among few firms and seem to have become more so over time. Focusing on manufacturing, we find that facts previously reported in the literature for exports only actually apply to imports too. We note that the number of trading firms diminishes as the number of export destinations or import origins increases. The same is true if we consider the number of products traded. With regard to productivity differentials, firms that both import and export appear to be the most productive, followed, in descending order, by importers only, exporters only and non-traders. These results point to the presence of fixed costs; not only of exporting, but also of importing and to a process of self-selection in both export and import markets. Also, the productivity advantage of exporters reported in the literature may be overstated because imports were not considered.
WLC33-6: Comparative Evaluation of Prediction Heuristics for Wireless Channels

Impairments in wireless data communication due to time and location dependent errors can be overcome by using channel-adaptive techniques, like channel-aware scheduling or adaptive modulation. These techniques require information about channel behaviour obtained from channel predictors. Unfortunately enough the accuracy of predictors usually suggested in the literature has not been confirmed and comparative studies do not exist (with one exception). In addition, existing predictors are frequently difficult to compute and sensitive to numerous parameters, e.g. noise and channel variability. In this paper, we investigate and compare the performance accuracy of three simple heuristics for channel prediction. Our investigation includes a comparison with a verified reference predictor using Rayleigh channels and measured WLAN traces. Our study indicates the usefulness of the investigated heuristics for fixed systems and pedestrian speed mobility.
The Pre-Depression Investigation of Cloud-Systems in the Tropics (PREDICT) Field Campaign: Perspectives of Early Career Scientists

The Pre-Depression Investigation of Cloud-systems in the Tropics (PREDICT) field experiment successfully gathered data from four developing and four decaying/nondeveloping tropical disturbances over the tropical North Atlantic basin between 15 August and 30 September 2010. The invaluable roles played by early career scientists (ECSs) throughout the campaign helped make possible the successful execution of the field program's mission to investigate tropical cyclone formation. ECSs provided critical meteorological information— often obtained from novel ECS-created products—during daily weather briefings that were used by the principal investigators in making mission planning decisions. Once a Gulfstream V (G-V) flight mission was underway, ECSs provided nowcasting support, relaying information that helped the mission scientists to steer clear of potential areas of turbulence aloft. Data from these missions, including dropsonde and GPS water vapor profiler data, were continually obtained, processed, and qual.