Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between CTLA-4 gene polymorphism and ankylosing spondylitis: a case-control study.

AIMS The aim of our study was to evaluate the association between CTLA-4 polymorphisms (+49A/G, -318C/T and CT60A/G) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) susceptibility. METHODS A total of 120 AS cases and healthy controls, matched on the age and gender, were enrolled in the study. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) were used to determine the gentypes of +49A/G, -318C/T and CT60A/G polymorphisms. Genotype distribution in control group was assessed by Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) test. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were adopted to evaluate the relationship of CTLA-4 polymorphisms and AS susceptibility. RESULTS In our study, genotype distribution of the three polymorphisms in control group was consistent with the HWE (P > 0.05). The genotype analysis showed that AA genotype of + 49A/G polymorphism could increase the risk for AS (OR=2.357, 95% CI=1.127-4.930). Moreover, the frequency of A allele was also presented as a risk factor for AS. Additionally, AA genotype and A allele of CT60A/G appeared to be related with AS susceptibility (OR=2.610, 95% CI=1.047-6.510; OR=1.751, 95% CI=1.160-2.641). However, the T allele of -318C/T appeared to be a protective factor for AS (OR=0.383, 95% CI=0.228-0.643). CONCLUSION In summary, there existed significant association between CTLA-4 gene polymorphisms and increased or decreased risk for AS.
A Further Investigation of the Effects of Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Fields on Alkaline Phosphatase and Acetylcholinesterase

Using a custom build spectrophotometer equipped with Helmholtz coils and designed to study the effects of magnetic fields on enzyme reactions in real-time we have investigated the influence of fields, from 100 μT to 10 mT and at a variety of field frequencies, on the membrane bound enzymes alkaline phosphatase and acetylcholinesterase. We have also employed other methods to apply a magnetic field, e.g. Biostim. In contrast to earlier reports we have been unable to detect any field effects on these enzymes under any field/frequency regime. We discuss possible reasons for the discrepancy between this and earlier work and note the particularly complex influence of small temperature changes that may confound analysis.
Adolescent moral motivations for civic engagement: Clues to the political gender gap?

This study explored gender differences in moral motivations and civic engagement among adolescents to add to existing explanations for the gender gap in political engagement in the US. We examined moral motivations for civic engagement in a sample of 1578 high school seniors, using a mixed-methods analysis of survey and interview data. Multiple regression confirmed that girls were more civically involved and expressed greater future civic intention. However, analysis of motivations suggested that differences in moral motivations might impact ongoing political development, as girls were more likely to take political action out of desire to help, while boys were more often motivated to act on values. Case studies of two interviewees—one male and one female—were analyzed to examine how civic commitment emerges in the interaction of desire to help, to act on civic values and another moral motivation that emerged in the qualitative analysis—to empower others.
“It’s Not Just a Job”

This article explores the impact of the World Trade Center disaster on the meanings that people attach to their work. In the wake of the attacks, several examples of people changing occupations appeared in the media. An analysis of people’s need for increased meaning in their work, and their exodus into work that they view as a calling, is given. It appears that for many, the disaster served to focus attention on what their work was contributing to the wider world. As a result, thousands of people in the United States have decided to pursue different careers.
Strategic use of dual regimens of boosted protease inhibitors plus maraviroc in poorly adherent subjects in view of long-acting drugs

Abstract In view of the forthcoming long-acting antiretrovirals, measures should be taken to prevent the selection of HIV drug resistance mutations. All subjects who had been switched to boosted protease inhibitors plus maraviroc (bPIs/MVC) with baseline HIV-1 RNA >50 copies/mL between June, 2014, and April, 2015, were retrospectively evaluated. HIV-1 RNA, CD4+ T-cells, serum glucose, creatinine, ALT, and adverse events were controlled every 3 to 4 months. We retrospectively analyzed 44 patients: 18 were taking darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) and 26 atazanavir/ritonavir (ATV/r) once daily, plus MVC 300 mg once daily. Seven subjects were in CDC stage C. All had a follow-up of at least 24 weeks, 28 exceeded 48 weeks, and 21 exceeded 72 weeks. All had experienced at least 1 viral failure and had selected at least 1 resistance-associated mutation (RAM). At baseline, 38 had plasma HIV-1 RNA 50-499 copies/mL and 6 had ≥500. At week 24, none had viremia >500 and 30 (68.2%) had suppressed HIV-1 RNA below 50 copies/mL. Of the subgroup with 48 weeks’ follow-up, 23 had HIV-1 RNA 50-499 copies/mL, 5 had ≥500, and 20/28 suppressed to <50 copies/mL. Of the longest observed subgroup (72 weeks), 17 had HIV-1 RNA 50-499 copies/mL, and 4 had ≥500 copies/mL and 15/21 (71.4%) suppressed to <50 copies/mL. This combination allowed fair suppression of viral replication, with minor genotypic evolution in 6 subjects, and seems to be a feasible strategy to prevent damaging future options.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the National Institute of Corrections' “Thinking for a Change” Program Among Probationers

Abstract This study evaluated the effectiveness of a National Institute of Corrections’ cognitive-behavioral program for adult offenders, entitled Thinking for a Change. One hundred male and 42 female probationers were studied. Probationers assigned to the Thinking for a Change program were matched with a comparison group not assigned to the program and contrasted on interpersonal problem-solving skills pre- and post-program completion, and on recidivism at three months to one year post-program. Results indicate a trend towards lower recidivism, with 33% fewer subjects who completed the program committing new offenses, compared to those who did not attend the program, over a period of up to 12 months. Technical violations of probation were significantly higher for program dropouts than for completers or comparisons. Program completers improved significantly on interpersonal problem-solving skills after Thinking for a Change, while the dropout and comparison groups had no such gains.
Redefining Public Service Broadcasting

This article investigates how the communicative relationship between public broadcasters and their audiences is being cultivated through new possibilities for participation offered by new technology. The aim, in the first part of the article, is to examine the strategic functions of multi-platform participation for public service broadcasting ( PSB). In order to analyse how programming that has strong associations with the commercial sector is constructed within the context of PSB, the second part presents a case study of the multi-platform format Test the Nation. The article engages with current debates on the role of PSB in a changing technological environment and explores the dilemma faced by public service broadcasters caught between attracting large audiences while also representing an alternative to the commercial channels. The article draws on analysis of institutional documents from the British BBC, the Swedish SVT, the Norwegian NRK and the US PBS. The documents range from official policy documents and mission statements to press releases and homepages, assembled between 2004 and 2006. The document analysis sheds light on the emergence of audience participation as a strategy for institutional legitimacy and platform expansion, as well as a way to develop new sources of revenue. A basic finding is that audience participation is a central strategy in the media companies under scrutiny. The `Reithian trinity', through several decades, has been in a process of redefinition, and the article suggests that public service broadcasting in the digital era may best be described as `entertainment, education and participation'.
Simple Amortized Proofs of Shortness for Linear Relations over Polynomial Rings

For a public value y and a linear function f , giving a zero-knowledge proof of knowledge of a secret value x that satisfies f(x) = y is a key ingredient in many cryptographic protocols. Lattice-based constructions, in addition, require proofs of “shortness” of x. Of particular interest are constructions where f is a function over polynomial rings, since these are the ones that result in efficient schemes with short keys and outputs. All known approaches for such lattice-based zero-knowledge proofs are not very practical because they involve a basic protocol that needs to be repeated many times in order to achieve negligible soundness error. In the amortized setting, where one needs to give zero-knowledge proofs for many equations for the same function f , the situation is more promising, though still not yet fully satisfactory. Current techniques either result in proofs of knowledge of x’s that are exponentially larger than the x’s actually used for the proof (i.e. the slack is exponential), or they have polynomial slack but require the number of proofs to be in the several thousands before the amortization advantages “kick in”. In this work, we give a new approach for constructing amortized zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge of short solutions over polynomial rings. Our proof has small polynomial slack and is practical even when the number of relations is as small as the security parameter.
Listening for Self-Reflective Talk in Visitors’ Conversations: A Case Study of the Exploratorium's Mind Collection

ABSTRACT Self-reflection is critical for visitors to make sense of an exhibit collection in which they are the subject of investigation and may play an important role in any informal learning context. This study examines this construct by listening for self-reflective talk at Mind, an exhibit collection focused on helping visitors explore aspects of themselves rather than external objects or phenomena. It addresses 3 questions: (a) What does self-reflective talk sound like in such a collection? (b) What categories of self-reflective talk are prevalent? (c) What types of exhibits engender what categories of self-reflective talk? Findings indicate that self-reflective talk comes in various forms. Self-monitoring talk, including self-assessments about how visitors are feeling and doing and what they know, is more prevalent than self-connecting talk, comments about visitors’ own lives, values, and their sense of self. Comparisons among different types of exhibits suggest that exhibits designed for multiple users prompt high frequencies of self-connecting talk and self-monitoring talk, whereas interactive exhibits and exhibits that pose a challenge elicit high frequencies of self-monitoring but not self-connecting talk. Additional work is needed to better understand self-reflection, its role in informal learning, and effective means of fostering self-reflection in science museums.
Distributed under Creative Commons Cc-by 4.0 Sub-millisievert Ultralow-dose Ct Colonography with Iterative Model Reconstruction Technique

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the technical and diagnostic performance of sub-milliSievert ultralow-dose (ULD) CT colonograpy (CTC) in the detection of colonic and extracolonic lesions. Materials and Methods. CTC with standard dose (SD) and ULD acquisitions of 64 matched patients, half of them with colonic findings, were reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP), hybrid (HIR) and iterative model reconstruction techniques (IMR). Image noise in six colonic segments, in the left psoas muscle and aorta were measured. Image quality of the left adrenal gland and of the colon in the endoscopic and 2D view was rated on a five point Likert scale by two observers, who also completed the reading of CTC for colonic and extracolonic findings. Results. The mean radiation dose estimate was 4.1 ± 1.4 mSv for SD and 0.86 ± 0.17 mSv for ULD for both positions (p < 0.0001). In ULD-IMR, SD-IMR and SD-HIR, the endoluminal noise was decreased in all colonic segments compared to SD-FBP (p < 0.001). There were 27 small (6–9 mm) and 17 large (≥10 mm) colonic lesions that were classified as sessile polyps (n = 38), flat lesions (n = 3), or as a mass (n = 3). Per patient sensitivity and specificity were 0.82 and 0.93 for ULD-FBP, 0.97 and 0.97 for ULD-HIR, 0.97 and 1.0 for ULD-IMR. Per polyp sensitivity was 0.84 for ULD-FBP, 0.98 for ULD-HIR, 0.98 for ULD-IMR. Significantly less extracolonic findings were detected in ULD-FBP and ULD-HIR, but in the E4 category by C-RADS (potentially important findings), the detection was similar. Conclusion. Both HIR and IMR are suitable for sub-milliSievert ULD CTC without sacrificing diagnostic performance of the study.
Inpatient rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury: the influence of age on treatments and outcomes.

BACKGROUND Elderly persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are increasingly admitted to inpatient rehabilitation, but we have limited knowledge of their characteristics, the treatments they receive, and their short-term and medium-term outcomes. This study explored these issues by means of comparisons between age groups. METHODS Data on 1419 patients admitted to 9 inpatient rehabilitation facilities for initial rehabilitation after TBI were collected by means of (1) abstraction from medical records; (2) point-of care forms completed by therapists after each treatment session; and (3) interviews at 3 months and 9 months after discharge, conducted with the patient or a proxy. RESULTS Elderly persons (65 or older) had a lower brain injury severity, and a shorter length of stay (LOS) in acute care. During rehabilitation, they received fewer hours of therapy, due to a shorter LOS and fewer hours of treatment per day, especially from psychology and therapeutic recreation. They regained less functional ability during and after inpatient rehabilitation, and had a very high mortality rate. CONCLUSIONS Elderly people can be rehabilitated successfully, and discharged back to the community. The treatment therapists deliver, and issues surrounding high mortality need further research.
Effect of Similarity on Social Schemas

Kuethe (1962), using the Felt Figure Replacement Technique, found that non-identical human figures (man-woman) were replaced closer together than identical non-human figures (two identical rectangles). This finding was attributed to the operation of a social schema that humans “go together. ” The present experiment examined this finding, with similarity of form held constant and similarity of dimension varied. Perception of dimensional differences rather than social schemas may be a more viable explanation for the differences in replacement of the figures. These results add to the growing evidence that the technique must be subjected to much closer scrutiny before being widely accepted.
The effects of reading purpose and working memory capacity on the processing of expository text.

The extent to which low- and high-WMC (working memory capacity) readers adjust cognitive processes to fit the reading purpose was examined. Participants performed a verbal protocol task as they read an expository text under 1 of 2 reading purpose conditions, entertainment or study, and then completed a free-recall task. When reading to study, low-WMC readers emphasized less demanding processes over more demanding processes to a greater extent than high-WMC readers and recalled less. When reading for entertainment, patterns of processes and recall were similar across readers. Thus, all readers adjusted processing to fit the reading purpose; however, when reading for study, low-WMC readers emphasized processes that were the least demanding on their resources but not necessarily beneficial for recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Reproductive isolation with little genetic divergence in sympatric populations of brown trout (Salmo trutta).

Two reproductively isolated demes of brown trout coexist in a small Swedish mountain lake, Lake Bunnersjörna. We electrophoretically examined 102 specimens from that lake for 27 enzymes encoded by 54 loci. The two demes are fixed for different alleles at a lactate dehydrogenase locus (LDH-1); statistically significant allele frequency differences at five other loci further support the complete lack of gene flow between these demes. There are significant differences in growth rates between fish in the two demes, but no further morphological differentiation h-s been detected. --In light of these findings, the genetic distance between these populations is surprisingly small (Nei's I = 0.975). These demes represent one of the least genetically divergent, reproductively isolated sympatric pair of vertebrate populations that have been identified. The results are discussed from both an evolutionary and ecological perspective.
Identity specific adaptation with composite faces

A composite face, made from the top half of a celebrity face and the bottom half of an unfamiliar face, appears to be a single, “new” face (e.g., Young, Hellawell, & Hay, 1987). Composite faces were used within the face identity aftereffect (FIAE) paradigm, in which prolonged exposure to a face reduces sensitivity to it (adaptation). Adaptation occurred both with an intact face and with composites containing its upper half, but only when composites were explicitly recognized during the adaptation phase. Unrecognized composites produced no adaptation. These findings imply that the FIAE is a relatively high-level perceptual effect, given that identical stimuli either did or did not produce adaptation depending on whether or not they were recognized. They also suggest a perceptual locus for the “composite face effect”.
Not Just about Time: Instructional Practices and Productive Time in School

Student learning is a pervading concern for national governments, states, and local school boards. Additional time is commonly seen as a potent administrative lever to affect student learning. One administrative premise equates allocated time with productive time, assuming that students take advantage of the time resources available to them. This study uses an innovative measurement strategy to show that students are disengaged a large portion of the time in academic classes, and that the current array of instructional methods and strategies produces low rates of productive time, especially for minority students. The study concludes that instructional reforms rather than the simple addition of time may be more productive in raising standards and in bringing about greater social equality in education.
Acute massive necrosis of the liver induced by antibody/complement, not by T‐cells

Acute fulminant hepatic injury was induced in rats within 1 hour after a single intravenous injection of a monoclonal antibody to rat liver cell membrane (MoAb). The liver injury induced by MoAb was characterized by multiple focal hepa‐tocellular necrosis which was associated with marked increase in serum AST, ALT, and LDH activity. Inflammatory cell infiltration was not observed in the necrotic foci. Immunohistological study showed marked deposition of complement in the necrotic area, suggesting that the membrane‐damaging action of the complement system activated by the antigen‐antibody reaction between the hepatocyte membrane and MoAb may play an important role in the pathogenesis of MoAb‐in‐duced hepatic injury in rats.
Elucidating Essential Role of Conserved Carboxysomal Protein CcmN Reveals Common Feature of Bacterial Microcompartment Assembly*

Background: CcmN is a conserved carboxysomal protein of unknown function in β-cyanobacteria. Results: The N-terminal domain of CcmN binds the encapsulated protein CcmM; the C-terminal peptide of CcmN interacts with the major carboxysomal shell protein. Conclusion: CcmN is an essential carboxysomal component; its C-terminal peptide is essential for carboxysome biogenesis. Significance: Diverse bacterial microcompartment-encapsulated proteins contain a similar peptide, suggesting that it is a common feature of bacterial microcompartment biogenesis. Bacterial microcompartments are organelles composed of a protein shell that surrounds functionally related proteins. Bioinformatic analysis of sequenced genomes indicates that homologs to shell protein genes are widespread among bacteria and suggests that the shell proteins are capable of encapsulating diverse enzymes. The carboxysome is a bacterial microcompartment that enhances CO2 fixation in cyanobacteria and some chemoautotrophs by sequestering ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and carbonic anhydrase in the microcompartment shell. Here, we report the in vitro and in vivo characterization of CcmN, a protein of previously unknown function that is absolutely conserved in β-carboxysomal gene clusters. We show that CcmN localizes to the carboxysome and is essential for carboxysome biogenesis. CcmN has two functionally distinct regions separated by a poorly conserved linker. The N-terminal portion of the protein is important for interaction with CcmM and, by extension, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and the carbonic anhydrase CcaA, whereas the C-terminal peptide is essential for interaction with the carboxysome shell. Deletion of the peptide abolishes carboxysome formation, indicating that its interaction with the shell is an essential step in microcompartment formation. Peptides with similar length and sequence properties to those in CcmN can be bioinformatically detected in a large number of diverse proteins proposed to be encapsulated in functionally distinct microcompartments, suggesting that this peptide and its interaction with its cognate shell proteins are common features of microcompartment assembly.
Revisiting the Effects of Case Reports in the News

Synthesizing several theories about the likely impact of case reports in the news, we propose that the impact of featuring identified victims in a news story is contingent on the degree of similarity between the audience member and the identified victims. We execute a population-based survey experiment involving immigration policy to examine our theory. Our results suggest that featuring specific, identified victims in a news story will promote more supportive policy opinions than otherwise identical stories about unidentified victims, but only when the victim is highly similar to the audience member. Conversely, case reports featuring identified people who are dissimilar to the audience member will decrease the extent to which the story encourages victim-supportive policy attitudes. Overall, our experimental findings shed light on the conditions under which the inclusion of case reports increases versus decreases the policy relevance of news stories. Our findings also help explain previous inconsistencies in findings about the impact of case reports. Additional analyses allow us to speculate as to the reasons for the differential direction of effects.