Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cilostazol prevents retinal ischemic damage partly via inhibition of tumor necrosis factor-α-induced nuclear factor-kappa B/activator protein-1 signaling pathway

Cilostazol is a specific inhibitor of phosphodiesterase III and is widely used to treat ischemic symptoms of peripheral vascular disease. We evaluated the protective effects of cilostazol in a murine model of ocular ischemic syndrome in which retinal ischemia was induced by 5‐h unilateral ligation of both the pterygopalatine artery (PPA) and the external carotid artery (ECA) in anesthetized mice. The effects of cilostazol (30 mg/kg, p.o.) on ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)‐induced retinal damage were examined by histological, retinal vascular permeability, and electrophysiological analyses. Using immunoblotting, the protective mechanism for cilostazol was evaluated by examining antiinflammatory effects of cilostazol on the expression of tumor necrosis factors‐α (TNF‐α) and tight junction proteins (ZO‐1 and claudin‐5), and the phosphorylations of nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB) and c‐Jun. The histological analysis revealed that I/R decreased the cell number in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) and the thicknesses of the inner plexiform layer (IPL) and inner nuclear layer (INL), and that cilostazol attenuated these decreases. Additionally, cilostazol prevented the hyperpermeability of blood vessels. Electroretinogram (ERG) measurements revealed that cilostazol prevented the I/R‐induced reductions in a‐, b‐, and oscillatory potential (OP) wave amplitudes seen at 5 days after I/R. Cilostazol inhibited the increased expression of TNF‐α and the phosphorylation levels of NF‐κB and c‐Jun in the retina after I/R. In addition, cilostazol prevented TNF‐α‐induced reduction of ZO‐1 and claudin‐5 expression in human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMECs). These findings indicate that cilostazol may prevent I/R‐induced retinal damage partly through inhibition of TNF‐α‐induced NF‐κB/AP‐1 signaling pathway.
Sexual differentiation of the brain: a model for drug-induced alterations of the reproductive system.

The process of the sexual differentiation of the brain represents a valuable model system for the study of the chemical modification of the mammalian brain. Although there are numerous functional and structural sex differences in the adult brain, these are imposed on an essentially feminine or bipotential brain by testicular hormones during a critical phase of perinatal development in the rat. It is suggested that a relatively marked structural sex difference in the rat brain, the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA), is a morphological signature of the permanent or organizational action of estradiol derived from the aromatization of testicular testosterone. The SDN-POA of the male rat is severalfold larger in volume and is composed of more neurons than that of the female. The observation that the mitotic formation of the neurons of the SDN-POA is specifically prolonged has enabled us to identify the time course and pathway of neuronal migration into the nucleus. Study of the development of the SDN-POA suggests that estradiol in the male increases the number of neurons which survive a phase of neuronal death by exerting a neurite growth promoting action and/or a direct neuronotrophic action. It may not be possible to extrapolate this trophic effect of estradiol to all other structural sex differences since in the anteroventral periventricular nucleus, steroid exposure reduces the number of immunohistochemically defined dopaminergic neurons. Finally, although it is clear that gonadal hormones have dramatic permanent effects on the brain during perinatal development, even after puberty and in adulthood gonadal steroids can alter neuronal structure and, perhaps as a corollary to this, have permanent effects on reproductive function. For example, in the lightly androgenized rat which exhibits the delayed anovulation syndrome, exposure to estrogen prepubertally delays the onset of ovulatory failure, whereas estrogen exposure peri- or post-pubertally has an inhibitory effect on ovulation. Although the brain may be most sensitive to gonadal hormones or exogenous chemical factors during perinatal development, such sensitivity does not appear limited to this period. ImagesFIGURE 1.FIGURE 7.
A Mid-DESD Review

This article lists the key outcomes and recommendations of Phase I of the monitoring and evaluation of the DESD. Phase I focused on a review of the structures, provisions and conditions countries and regions have put in place in order to facilitate the development and implementation of ESD. The author also touches upon the constraints and limitations of conducting such a review on a global scale. In a concluding personal reflection, the author calls for more engaging local forms of monitoring and evaluating, using locally determined indicators, appropriate languages and multiple literacies (not just print based) as well as for more equitable and dialogical forms of interaction as a first step towards monitoring and evaluation systems that are better aligned with the foundations of sustainability.
Self-Report of Crimes Committed by Sex Offenders

Using a computer-administered interview, self-reports of past criminal behavior were obtained from 99 institutionalized sex offenders. The sample contained both rapists and child molesters who had been mandated to receive specialized treatment. Offenders disclosed an enormous amount of undetected sexual aggression, a finding consistent with other self-report studies. Also striking was the high rate and variety of nonsex offenses. According to interview responses, nearly 20,000 nonsex crimes were committed during the year prior to institutionalization, with rapists contributing a disproportionate share. Still, child molesters, including those whose only known crime was incest, were very active in assault and property crime. The potential for utilizing sex offender self-reports in empirical research is discussed. Preliminary evidence of validity is presented.
Slow stochastic Hebbian learning of classes of stimuli in a recurrent neural network.

We study unsupervised Hebbian learning in a recurrent network in which synapses have a finite number of stable states. Stimuli received by the network are drawn at random at each presentation from a set of classes. Each class is defined as a cluster in stimulus space, centred on the class prototype. The presentation protocol is chosen to mimic the protocols of visual memory experiments in which a set of stimuli is presented repeatedly in a random way. The statistics of the input stream may be stationary, or changing. Each stimulus induces, in a stochastic way, transitions between stable synaptic states. Learning dynamics is studied analytically in the slow learning limit, in which a given stimulus has to be presented many times before it is memorized, i.e. before synaptic modifications enable a pattern of activity correlated with the stimulus to become an attractor of the recurrent network. We show that in this limit the synaptic matrix becomes more correlated with the class prototypes than with any of the instances of the class. We also show that the number of classes that can be learned increases sharply when the coding level decreases, and determine the speeds of learning and forgetting of classes in the case of changes in the statistics of the input stream.
Perceptions of Effective Listeners: A Management Study

Listening is a vital management skill. To find out more about how managers' listening is perceived in an organizational context, researchers administered a questionnaire to 144 managers and 827 of their subordinates in 6 hospitality organizations. Managers were asked to rate 26 of their own listening behaviors using a 7-point scale. Subor dinates were asked to indicate their perceptions of their managers' listening behavior on each of the same 26 items. Profiles are presented of those managers who were per ceived as particularly "good" or particularly "poor" listeners according to the ratings given them by their subordinates. Characteristics of those employees who gave their managers the highest and lowest ratings are also described. This information con tributes to a better understanding of how managers' listening is perceived in organiza tional contexts.
Approximate Traveling Waves in Linear Reaction-Hyperbolic Equations

Linear reaction‐hyperbolic equations arise in the transport of neurofilaments and membrane‐bound organelles in axons. The profile of the solution was shown by simulations to be approximately that of a traveling wave; this was also suggested by formal calculations [M. C. Reed, S. Venakides, and J. J. Blum, SIAM J. Appl. Math., 50 (1990), pp. 167–180]. In this paper we prove such a result rigorously.
Motivational influences on school‐prompted interest

Some argue that the goal of education is to influence out‐of‐school learning activity, yet little research exists on how teachers can help students develop an interest in a topic and continue to pursue that interest outside of school. The current study tested classroom context variables from self‐determination theory (teachers’ autonomy support) and from achievement goal theory (teachers’ mastery goals) that may predict students’ school‐prompted interest above and beyond students’ mastery goals and self‐efficacy. Survey data were collected from 178 high school students in 15 mathematics classes. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that students’ perceptions of a teacher who focuses on mastery goals account for little variance above and beyond students’ own motivation, whereas perceived teachers’ autonomy support emerged as a significant predictor. While the results are correlational and do not support causal claims, they suggest that teachers who support student autonomy might foster school‐prompted interest.
Critical Reflection in a Social Studies Methods Semester.

Abstract This paper reports on an investigation of the extent, nature, and development of critical reflection among three preservice teachers in a semester-long secondary social studies methods course. An action research case study methodology was used to investigate the study participants' deliberation about the ethical and moral basis of their work as teachers, and reflection on the broader social conditions of schooling, The results of this study suggest that, in different ways and measures, teacher educators can influence preservice teachers to become more critically reflective. Furthermore, while encouraging some amount of critical reflection about teaching appears a realistic aim for teachers of preservice secondary social studies teachers, influencing the quality and content of such reflection seems to be the greater challenge.
Culture Across Borders: Mexican Immigration and Popular Culture (review)

Sobek note in their introductory review of the growing field of immigration studies, despite the continued impÃ ́t tance of Mexican immigration to both nations, surprisingly little has been written about the cultural or artistic representations that these immigration processes have inspired. This volume brings together scholars from the fields of art history and criticism, cultural studies, film analysis, folklore, cultural history, literary criticism, and political science for an interdisciplinary exploration of the cultural aspects of Mexican immigration on both sides of the border. In the first article in the collection, '"What Goes Around Comes Around': Political Practice and Cultural Response in the Internationalization of Mexican Labor, 1890-1997," Juan GÃ3mez-QuiÃ±ones and David R. Maciel provide an excellent historical framework through which both the migratory movements of Mexican immigrants and related political and cultural practices can be better understood. GÃ3mez-QuiÃ±ones and Maciel assert that the developing international capitalist system is the propelling force that drives immigration, and that it is necessary to understand the connections between changing economic forces and the cultutal and political ideologies that arise in response to Mexican immigration. The authors summarize the historical development of these economic transformations and the resulting waves of Mexican immigration and then connect these changes to particular political, legal, and cultural responses such as the perennial scapegoating of Mexican immigrants for U.S. economic decline despite hard empirical data to the contrary. GÃ3mezQuiÃ±ones and Maciel's article provides a critical historical context for the other articles in the collection.
Emotions on diabetes: a design case of user mock-ups by young people living with diabetes

This paper reports a design research case on mobile learning technology for children and teenagers living with the chronic illness diabetes. A central focus in the design process was to understand the young people's perspective on their chronic illness and on mobile technology support. Towards this end, a design workshop was facilitated to promote the articulation of their emotions towards design. This presentation outlines this design activity and discusses the results of 12 mock-ups created by a group of young people living with diabetes. The analysis and reflections of the user mock-ups highlight three aspects related to their identity of self, the burden of being young with a chronic illness, and the need to feel connected and safe in a society generally unaware of or uninformed about their illness.
A Bateria de Provas de Raciocínio (BPR-5) aplicada a um contexto organizacional

This study shows the results of a test-norms establishment research for the Bateria de Provas de Raciocinio (BPR-5) and the investigation of relations between demographic and occupational variables and the performance of employees on the battery. The test-norms were established specifically for employees of the electricity sector of an energy company when the psychological assessment process was reintroduced. The sample consisted of 57 employees who had achieved high school at least. Because of that, only the B type of the battery was used in the research. The results showed significative relations among the age, schooling and general performance on the battery. Therefore, the importance of establishing test-norms for the company became evident, since the organizational sample shows peculiar characteristics when compared to the original study sample of the battery.
How Do High School Students Justify Internet Plagiarism?

Internet plagiarism continues unabated and may even be increasing. Questions pertaining to the ethical-moral construct employed by students to justify Internet plagiarism among high school students have remained relatively untouched. Understanding not simply the prevalence of Internet plagiarism but also the variety of explanations used by students to justify their plagiarism seems crucial to curtailing its practice. In this study, I surveyed 160 high school students and endeavored to understand and describe the practices of students who use the Internet for schoolwork and who engage in copy-paste plagiarism or paper-buying practices. The results indicate that students are more easily able to justify copy-paste plagiarism for a variety of reasons that mirror justifications of other forms of conventional plagiarism. Most students indicated they would never purchase a paper for reasons ranging from fear of getting caught to more principled and nuanced ethical claims. Based on these results I also offer educators suggestions for refining assignments and evaluation methods.
Correlation between mechanical strength of messenger RNA pseudoknots and ribosomal frameshifting

Programmed ribosomal frameshifting is often used by viral pathogens including HIV. Slippery sequences present in some mRNAs cause the ribosome to shift reading frame. The resulting protein is thus encoded by one reading frame upstream from the slippery sequence and by another reading frame downstream from the slippery sequence. Although the mechanism is not well understood, frameshifting is known to be stimulated by an mRNA structure such as a pseudoknot. Here, we show that the efficiency of frameshifting relates to the mechanical strength of the pseudoknot. Two pseudoknots derived from the Infectious Bronchitis Virus were used, differing by one base pair in the first stem. In Escherichia coli, these two pseudoknots caused frameshifting frequencies that differed by a factor of two. We used optical tweezers to unfold the pseudoknots. The pseudoknot giving rise to the highest degree of frameshifting required a nearly 2-fold larger unfolding force than the other. The observed energy difference cannot be accounted for by any existing model. We propose that the degree of ribosomal frameshifting is related to the mechanical strength of RNA pseudoknots. Our observations support the “9 Å model” that predicts some physical barrier is needed to force the ribosome into the −1 frame. Also, our findings support the recent observation made by cryoelectron microscopy that mechanical interaction between a ribosome and a pseudoknot causes a deformation of the A-site tRNA. The result has implications for the understanding of genetic regulation, reading frame maintenance, tRNA movement, and unwinding of mRNA secondary structures by ribosomes.
In-flight calibrations of IBIS/PICsIT ⋆

PICsIT (Pixellated Imaging CaeSium Iodide Telescope) is the high energy detector of the IBIS telescope on-board the INTEGRAL satellite. It consists of 4096 independent detection units,0.7 cm 2 in cross-section, operating in the energy range between 175 keV and 10 MeV. The intrinsically low signal to noise ratio in the gamma-ray astronomy domain implies very long observations, lasting 10 5 -10 6 s. Moreover, the image formation principle on which PICsIT works is that of coded imaging in which the entire detection plane contributes to each decoded sky pixel. For these two main reasons, the monitoring, and possible correction, of the spatial and temporal non-uniformity of pixel performances, expecially in terms of gain and energy resolution, is of paramount importance. The IBIS on-board 22 Na calibration source allows the calibration of each pixel at an accuracy of<0.5% by integrating the data from a few revolutions at constant temperature. The two calibration lines, at 511 and 1275 keV, allow also the measurement and monitoring of the PICsIT energy resolution which proves to be very stable at19% and9% (FWHM) respectively, and consistent with the values expected analytical predictions checked against pre-launch tests.
The predictive relationship between emotion management skills and Internet addiction

The relationship between emotion management skills and the use of the Internet was examined in this study to determine whether or not the emotion management skills of university students are a predictor of Internet addiction. The study was conducted in the 2008/2009 academic year with 345 students from different departments of a university in Turkey. Data were collected using the Emotion Management Skills Inventory (Cecen, 2006) and the Problematic Internet Usage Scale (Ceyhan, Ceyhan, & Gurcan, 2007). Results of regression analysis showed that the total measure of emotion management skills predicted the levels of Internet addiction.
The continuance and spillover of everyday tensions in distressed and nondistressed families.

This study compared 38 distressed and 35 nondistressed families on 2 interaction processes: the continuance of tensions involving the same family members and the spillover of tensions from one family subsystem to another. One parent reported perceptions of family tensions and satisfaction ratings each day for 2 weeks. Sequential analyses revealed that distressed, compared with nondistressed, families experienced (a) greater continuance of tensions, particularly tensions that occurred the following day during the same time period, and (b) more spillover, particularly between marital and child-related tensions. Correlations with daily satisfaction ratings indicated that marital dissatisfaction in distressed families is highly related to the occurrence of marital tensions. These data support the importance of examining daily events and multiple family subsystems in order to understand family distress.
High-Resolution Grating Spectroscopy of Gamma-Ray Bursts 030328 and 041006 with Chandra LETGS

We present high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of two recent γ-ray burst (GRB) afterglows observed with the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer on Chandra. The afterglows to GRBs 030328 and 041006 are detected beginning 15.33 and 16.8 hr after each burst, respectively, and are observed to fade in time during each ~90 ks observation. We fit for the continuum emission in each full data set and for the data sliced into half and quarter time sections. For both afterglows, the continuum emission is well described by an absorbed power-law model, and the model parameters describing the absorption and spectral slope do not appear to evolve in time. We perform a careful search for deviations from the model continua for the full and time-sliced data and find no evidence for significant (≳3 σ) narrow emission/absorption lines or edges. The lack of detections implies that line emission—if it is a general feature in GRB X-ray afterglows—occurs early (t ~ 0.3 days in the source frame) and/or is short-lived (dt ≲ 10 ks). We also comment on synchrotron fireball models for the X-ray and optical data.
Role of endocannabinoids in regulating drug dependence

This review will discuss the latest knowledge of how the endocannabinoid system might be involved in treating addiction to the most common illicit drugs. Experimental models are providing increasing evidence for the pharmacological management of endocannabinoid signaling not only to block the direct reinforcing effects of cannabis, opioids, nicotine and ethanol, but also for preventing relapse to the various drugs of abuse, including opioids, cocaine, nicotine, alcohol and metamphetamine. Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that the endocannabinoid system can be manipulated by the CB1 receptor antagonist SR141716A, that might constitute a new generation of compounds for treating addiction across different classes of abused drugs.
Listening to ‘the thick bunch’: (mis)understanding and (mis)representation of young people in jobs without training in the South West of England

Young people in jobs without training are ubiquitous but invisible, working in shops, cafes, and other low‐waged, low‐status occupations. Commonly elided with young people who are not in education, employment or training, they are positioned as the ‘thick bunch’ with empty and meaningless working lives. The main purpose of the research was to explore the experiences of this group of marginalised and socially disadvantaged young people through a deeper understanding of their interests and enthusiasms inside and outside work. These young people have been (mis)understood and (mis)represented. A more holistic and nuanced approach that is not uncritically founded upon a set of neo‐liberal stereotypes and assumptions, and instead recognises the complexity of their lives, would offer new opportunities for understanding and representation of their interests. Our findings challenge the conflation of identity with work and the notion that only certain forms of employment create meaning.