Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reconstitution of the complete rupture in musculotendinous junction using skeletal muscle-derived multipotent stem cell sheet-pellets as a “bio-bond”

Background. Significant and/or complete rupture in the musculotendinous junction (MTJ) is a challenging lesion to treat because of the lack of reliable suture methods. Skeletal muscle-derived multipotent stem cell (Sk-MSC) sheet-pellets, which are able to reconstitute peripheral nerve and muscular/vascular tissues with robust connective tissue networks, have been applied as a “bio-bond”. Methods. Sk-MSC sheet-pellets, derived from GFP transgenic-mice after 7 days of expansion culture, were detached with EDTA to maintain cell–cell connections. A completely ruptured MTJ model was prepared in the right tibialis anterior (TA) of the recipient mice, and was covered with sheet-pellets. The left side was preserved as a contralateral control. The control group received the same amount of the cell-free medium. The sheet-pellet transplantation (SP) group was further divided into two groups; as the short term (4–8 weeks) and long term (14–18 weeks) recovery group. At each time point after transplantation, tetanic tension output was measured through the electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve. The behavior of engrafted GFP+ tissues and cells was analyzed by fluorescence immunohistochemistry. Results. The SP short term recovery group showed average 64% recovery of muscle mass, and 36% recovery of tetanic tension output relative to the contralateral side. Then, the SP long term recovery group showed increased recovery of average muscle mass (77%) and tetanic tension output (49%). However, the control group showed no recovery of continuity between muscle and tendon, and demonstrated increased muscle atrophy, with coalescence to the tibia during 4–8 weeks after operation. Histological evidence also supported the above functional recovery of SP group. Engrafted Sk-MSCs primarily formed the connective tissues and muscle fibers, including nerve-vascular networks, and bridged the ruptured tendon–muscle fiber units, with differentiation into skeletal muscle cells, Schwann cells, vascular smooth muscle, and endothelial cells. Discussion. This bridging capacity between tendon and muscle fibers of the Sk-MSC sheet-pellet, as a “bio-bond,” represents a possible treatment for various MTJ ruptures following surgery.
Efficacy of Turmeric Extracts and Curcumin for Alleviating the Symptoms of Joint Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

Abstract Although turmeric and its curcumin-enriched extracts have been used for treating arthritis, no systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have been conducted to evaluate the strength of the research. We systemically evaluated all RCTs of turmeric extracts and curcumin for treating arthritis symptoms to elucidate the efficacy of curcuma for alleviating the symptoms of arthritis. Literature searches were conducted using 12 electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Korean databases, Chinese medical databases, and Indian scientific database. Search terms used were “turmeric,” “curcuma,” “curcumin,” “arthritis,” and “osteoarthritis. ” A pain visual analogue score (PVAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) were used for the major outcomes of arthritis. Initial searches yielded 29 articles, of which 8 met specific selection criteria. Three among the included RCTs reported reduction of PVAS (mean difference: −2.04 [−2.85, −1.24]) with turmeric/curcumin in comparison with placebo (P < .00001), whereas meta-analysis of four studies showed a decrease of WOMAC with turmeric/curcumin treatment (mean difference: −15.36 [−26.9, −3.77]; P = .009). Furthermore, there was no significant mean difference in PVAS between turmeric/curcumin and pain medicine in meta-analysis of five studies. Eight RCTs included in the review exhibited low to moderate risk of bias. There was no publication bias in the meta-analysis. In conclusion, these RCTs provide scientific evidence that supports the efficacy of turmeric extract (about 1000 mg/day of curcumin) in the treatment of arthritis. However, the total number of RCTs included in the analysis, the total sample size, and the methodological quality of the primary studies were not sufficient to draw definitive conclusions. Thus, more rigorous and larger studies are needed to confirm the therapeutic efficacy of turmeric for arthritis.
Accountability and Transparency in Regulation: Critiques, Doctrines and Instruments

This book suggests that the scope and breadth of regulatory reforms since the mid-1980s and particularly during the 1990s, are so striking that they necessitate a reappraisal of current approaches to the study of the politics of regulation. The authors call for the adoption of different and fresh perspectives to examine this area.
A sensitive functional assay reveals frequent loss of genomic imprinting in human placenta

Loss of imprinting (LOI) is the gain of expression from the silent allele of an imprinted gene normally expressed from only one parental copy. LOI has been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and reproductive abnormalities. The mechanisms of imprinting are varied, with DNA methylation representing only one. We have developed a functional transcriptional assay for LOI that is not limited to a single mechanism of imprinting. The method employs allele-specific PCR analysis of RT-PCR products containing common readout polymorphisms. With this method, we are able to measure LOI at the sensitivity of 1%. The method has been applied to measurement of LOI in human placentas. We found that RNA was stable in placentas stored for more than 1 hour at 4°C following delivery. We analyzed a test panel of 26 genes known to be imprinted in the human genome. We found that 18 genes were expressed in placenta. Fourteen of the 18 expressed genes contained common readout polymorphisms in the transcripts with a minor allele frequency >20%. We found that 5 of the 14 genes were not imprinted in placenta. Using the remaining 9 genes, we examined 93 heterozygosities in 27 samples. The range of LOI was 0% - 96%. Among the 93 heterozygosities, we found 23 examples (25%) had LOI >3% and 8 examples (9%) had LOI 1 - 3%. Our results indicate that LOI is common in human placentas. Because LOI in placenta is common, it may be an important new biomarker for influences on prenatal epigenetics.
The political economy of external exploitation. A comparative investigation of China's foreign relations

On the basis of the selectorate theory, this article examines the link between distributional policies, autocratic cooperation, and its potential for autocratic stability. It compares to what extent Cambodia, Myanmar, and Mongolia complied with China's key external interests in the period 1990–2010. Against this background, the article examines the cooperation between winning coalitions in these countries and China and thereby links a political economy argument to the discussion on regime type and regime stability in autocracy research. The article finds that autocratic exploitation is beneficial to authoritarian powers, such as China, but that hybrid regimes rather than closed autocracies are most vulnerable to such exploitation.
From Crisis Management to Academic Achievement: A University Cluster-mentoring Model for Black Undergraduates

In spite of the widening racial achievement gap among U.S. college students (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011), some universities are achieving success in supporting the graduation and postcollege goals of Black undergraduates (Apprey, Bassett, Preston-Grimes, Lewis, & Wood 2014/this issue; Baker, 2006; Hrabowski, 2003; Hrabowski & Maton, 2009). Although research has documented efforts to improve students’ college academic success in mathematics, science, and engineering (Maton & Hrabowski, 2004), little research has examined the role of undergraduate support programs across the academic disciplines to bridge success for students from high school graduation through graduate school matriculation. This is a key link in the pipeline to career and lifelong achievement for Black students. The following case study describes an inclusive cluster-mentoring model for Black undergraduates at a Research I university that includes four elements—(a) student peer-advising, (b) faculty–student academic mentoring and advising, (c) culturally sensitive initiatives, and (d) organized parental support—to create high impact with measurable results. This university-based model can serve as a guide to improve and expand services that support the academic and leadership success of Black undergraduate students in other higher education settings.
Impact of the Absence of Stem-Specific β-Glucosidases on Lignin and Monolignols1[W]

Monolignol glucosides are thought to be implicated in the lignin biosynthesis pathway as storage and/or transportation forms of cinnamyl alcohols between the cytosol and the lignifying cell walls. The hydrolysis of these monolignol glucosides would involve β-glucosidase activities. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), in vitro studies have shown the affinity of β-GLUCOSIDASE45 (BGLU45) and BGLU46 for monolignol glucosides. BGLU45 and BGLU46 genes are expressed in stems. Immunolocalization experiments showed that BGLU45 and BGLU46 proteins are mainly located in the interfascicular fibers and in the protoxylem, respectively. Knockout mutants for BGLU45 or BGLU46 do not have a lignin-deficient phenotype. Coniferin and syringin could be detected by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in Arabidopsis stems. Stems from BGLU45 and BGLU46 mutant lines displayed a significant increase in coniferin content without any change in coniferyl alcohol, whereas no change in syringin content was observed. Other glucosylated compounds of the phenylpropanoid pathway were also deregulated in these mutants, but to a lower extent. By contrast, BGLU47, which is closely related to BGLU45 and BGLU46, is not implicated in either the general phenylpropanoid pathway or in the lignification of stems and roots. These results confirm that the major in vivo substrate of BGLU45 and BGLU46 is coniferin and suggest that monolignol glucosides are the storage form of monolignols in Arabidopsis, but not the direct precursors of lignin.
Adolescent Peer Networks as a Context for Social and Emotional Support

The findings reported here emerged from a larger study of the social support networks and help-seeking experiences of low-income, Mexican-origin adolescents in San Diego, California. This larger study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and included special attention to those instances in which participating adolescents found in their friends the support necessary to withstand emotionally challenging circumstances (e.g., school-related problems) and to cope in effective ways. The analyses presented in this article highlight such instances but also examine those instances in which peer relationships failed to provide the safety and consistent support adolescents sought. Among the key findings, we describe how platonic (non-romantic) relationships between adolescent males and females emerged as an important avenue for acquiring the multiple and positive benefits of mature adolescent friendship (e.g., emotional support), particularly for the males. Study participants who reported platonic friendships also tended to report ample and diversified peer networks.
Sen's Idea of Justice and the locus of normative reasoning

Amartya Sen’s The Idea of Justice (IJ) shows what I think is the right way forward in thinking about justice. John Rawls’ (1971) Theory of Justice (TJ) has been dominating political philosophy for a long time now and however fruitful his contribution was, the marginal benefits of further exploring the theory of justice as fairness as he put it forward in that book may well be finite. There are other efforts too to overcome the Rawlsian dominance. But of the proposals that primarily attract attention today, Sen’s, I think, is by far the most attractive and promising. In a nutshell, what Sen proposes is this. Justice should be understood as a movement away from what are perceived to be problematic social arrangements – relationships, institutions or distributive patterns. Sen calls this concept of justice nyaya, which means ‘justice’ in Sanskrit (p. 21). But there is a second word for ‘justice’ in Sanskrit – niti. Sen associates niti with another tradition in Indian ethics and jurisprudence. According to this tradition, the concept of justice is understood as concerned with a set of principles that ideally govern social institutions and individual behavior, where what is considered ideal is quite independent of actual social arrangements. Sen argues that Rawls’ ‘transcendental institutionalist’ theory of justice as fairness, as he proposed it in his 1971 book, is a typical example of justice as niti. Other examples in this tradition are G. A. Cohen’s (2008) Rescuing Justice and Equality and Robert Nozick’s (1974) Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Sen rejects the niti concept of justice; instead of identifying principles that ideally characterize just institutions or just behavior, justice should be concerned with improving how we live together in this – our – world. Specifically, Sen proposes a conception of justice based on Adam Smith’s impartial spectator. Sen argues that justice as niti is neither necessary nor sufficient (pp. 98– 102). It is not sufficient because even when justice as niti is preserved, problematic social arrangements might still prevail. To give an example from the context of Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness, even in a society where the basic structure satisfies the two principles of justice, injustices in the context of the family or in relation to the treatment of immigrants might still remain. Justice as niti is not necessary, according to Sen, because we might be able to bring about an improvement in social arrangements for reasons unrelated to, say, Rawls’ two principles of justice. Before I say more about Sen’s idea of justice, I want to contrast justice as either niti or nyaya with a further approach that is currently discussed. Some contemporary theorists favor Hume’s evolutionary approach, which tries to eschew as far as possible the normative dimension. Let me focus on Ken Binmore’s Natural Justice here. Binmore’s view is that Rawls is right about the content of norms of justice but wrong about the need
Avidity Binding of Human Adenovirus Serotypes 3 and 7 to the Membrane Cofactor CD46 Triggers Infection

ABSTRACT The species B human adenoviruses (HAdVs) infect cells upon attaching to CD46 or desmoglein 2 (DSG-2) by one or several of their 12 fiber knob trimers (FKs). To test whether DSG-2 and CD46 simultaneously serve as virus receptors for adenovirus type 3 (Ad3), we performed individual and combined CD46/DSG-2 loss-of-function studies in human lung A549 and 16HBE14o cells. Our results suggest that in these cells, DSG-2 functions as a major attachment receptor for Ad3, whereas CD46 exerts a minor contribution to virus attachment and uptake in the range of ∼10%. However, in other cells the role of CD46 may be more pronounced depending on, e.g., the expression levels of the receptors. To test if avidity allows Ad3/7 to use CD46 as a receptor, we performed gain-of-function studies. The cell surface levels of ectopically expressed CD46 in CHO or human M010119 melanoma cells lacking DSG-2 positively correlated with Ad3/7 infections, while Ad11/35 infections depended on CD46 but less on CD46 levels. Antibody-cross-linked soluble CD46 blocked Ad3/7/11/35 infections, while soluble CD46 alone blocked Ad11/35 but not Ad3/7. Soluble Ad3/7-FKs poorly inhibited Ad3/7 infection of CHO-CD46 cells, illustrating that Ad3/7-FKs bind with low affinity to CD46. This was confirmed by Biacore studies. Ad3/7-FK binding to immobilized CD46 at low density was not detected, unlike that of Ad11/35-FK. At higher CD46 densities, however, Ad3/7-FK bound to CD46 with only 15-fold-higher dissociation constants than those of Ad11/35-FK. These data show that an avidity mechanism for Ad3/7 binding to CD46 leads to infection of CD46-positive cells.
Efficient Regularization of Squared Curvature

Curvature has received increased attention as an important alternative to length based regularization in computer vision. In contrast to length, it preserves elongated structures and fine details. Existing approaches are either inefficient, or have low angular resolution and yield results with strong block artifacts. We derive a new model for computing squared curvature based on integral geometry. The model counts responses of straight line triple cliques. The corresponding energy decomposes into submodular and supermodular pairwise potentials. We show that this energy can be efficiently minimized even for high angular resolutions using the trust region framework. Our results confirm that we obtain accurate and visually pleasing solutions without strong artifacts at reasonable run times.
The role of psychological flexibility in the demands–exhaustion–performance relationship

Employees in the service sector deal with a variety of emotional job demands due to interactions with clients. Emotional job demands often result in heightened levels of emotional exhaustion and decreased levels of performance. The current study aims to explore whether the adaptive behavioural pattern of psychological flexibility diminishes the negative impacts of emotional job demands on emotional exhaustion and subsequent performance. Data were collected from 116 nonprofit service workers, using self-report questionnaires (i.e., baseline) and diaries (i.e., follow-up). The results suggest that psychological flexibility is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and positively associated with performance. In addition, psychological flexibility is found to attenuate the negative effects of emotional job demands on emotional exhaustion and performance. Finally, the results reveal that the attenuating role of psychological flexibility diminishes if employees are already exhausted. The results support the importance of personal resources, like psychological flexibility, in buffering the negative effects of emotional job demands on emotional exhaustion and performance. However, employees no longer benefit from high levels of psychological flexibility when facing high levels of exhaustion due to excessive emotional job demands.
Plasma lncRNA GAS8-AS1 as a Potential Biomarker of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma in Chinese Patients

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) were recently shown to have potential in the diagnosis and prognosis for numerous cancers. lncRNA GAS8-AS1 is decreased in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) tissue, but its plasma expression and clinical value in patients with PTC remain unknown. Materials and Methods We investigated the expression profile of plasma GAS8-AS1 in 97 patients with PTC and 39 patients with nodular goiter by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results GAS8-AS1 expression in plasma was downregulated in patients with PTC in comparison with those in nodular goiters (P < 0.001). A low level of plasma GAS8-AS1 expression was correlated with lymph node metastasis (LNM) (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that a reduced GAS8-AS1 level in plasma was associated with LNM (P < 0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for GAS8-AS1 was 0.746 in LNM prediction (P < 0.001). Conclusion The present study indicates that circulating GAS8-AS1 is a potential biomarker for PTC diagnosis and LNM prediction.
Interactional prosody: High onsets in reason-for-the-call turns

The present study demonstrates how prosody – specifically, onset level – is deployed in situated interaction to cue frames of interpretation for talk. It shows not only that final pitch level in intonational contours is a relevant parameter, but also that, under certain conditions, initial pitch level may provide a situationally specific contextualization cue. In calls to radio phone-in programs, for instance, there is a so-called anchor position where callers can be expected to announce the reason for their calls. Close empirical analysis of data from such a program reveals that it is here that the first turn-constructional unit is routinely formatted with high onset. The studio moderator displays an orientation to this kind of prosodic formatting by withholding further talk until the caller has made a recognizably complete statement of the reason for the call. On occasion, turn-constructional units in anchor position are heard to lack a high onset. When this happens, the moderator responds in a way that shows he is not treating callers' talk as the reason for the call, but rather as a preface to the statement of reason.
When consumers and brands talk: Storytelling theory and research in psychology and marketing

Storytelling is pervasive through life. Much information is stored, indexed, and retrieved in the form of stories. Although lectures tend to put people to sleep, stories move them to action. People relate to each other in terms of stories—and products and brands often play both central and peripheral roles in their stories. To aid storytelling research in consumer psychology, this article develops a narrative theory that describes how consumers use brands as props or anthropomorphic actors in stories they report about themselves and others. Such drama enactments enable these storytellers to experience powerful myths that reflect psychological archetypes. The article includes findings from case study research that probes propositions of the theory. Implications for consumer psychology and marketing practice follow the discussion of the findings. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.