Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short wavelength fundus autofluorescence versus near-infrared fundus autofluorescence, with microperimetric correspondence, in patients with geographic atrophy due to age-related macular degeneration

Aim To compare standard short-wavelength fundus autofluorescence (SW-FAF) and near infrared-wavelength fundus autofluorescence (NIR-FAF) in detecting geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration, and its retinal sensitivity impairment. Methods Twenty-five consecutive patients (36 eyes) affected by GA were studied by means of fundus autofluorescence imaging, using both SW-FAF (excitation: 488 nm, emission >500 nm) and NIR-FAF (excitation: 787 nm, emission >800 nm). All patients underwent microperimetry to assess fixation characteristics and retinal sensitivity. Results In the extrafoveal region, the total hypoautofluorescent (hypo-FAF) area was significantly wider with NIR-FAF than with SW-FAF (8.03±6.68 mm2 vs 7.37±6.34 mm2 respectively; p=0.005). In the foveal area, the total hypo-FAF area was smaller with NIR-FAF than with SW-FAF (0.19±0.03 mm2 versus 0.42±0.12 mm2 respectively; p=0.008). Foveal sparing was larger at NIR-FAF compared with SW-FAF (p=0.021). In nine cases (25%) the site of fixation was hypoautofluorescent on SW-FAF, but normal on NIR-FAF with preserved retinal sensitivity. Conclusions Standard SW-FAF may overestimate GA in the foveal area, correctly detected by NIR-FAF. In the extrafoveal area, SW-FAF may underestimate GA. Standard SW-FAF should be integrated with NIR FAF when detecting and following GA to avoid inconsistent results and misinterpretation, from both a morphological and functional perspective. Microperimetry helps to quantify retinal sensitivity in GA.
Gq pathway regulates proximal C-type lectin-like receptor-2 (CLEC-2) signaling in platelets

Platelets play a key role in the physiological hemostasis or pathological process of thrombosis. Rhodocytin, an agonist of the C-type lectin-like receptor-2 (CLEC-2), elicits powerful platelet activation signals in conjunction with Src family kinases (SFKs), spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk), and phospholipase γ2 (PLCγ2). Previous reports have shown that rhodocytin-induced platelet aggregation depends on secondary mediators such as thromboxane A2 (TxA2) and ADP, which are agonists for G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) on platelets. How the secondary mediators regulate CLEC-2-mediated platelet activation in terms of signaling is not clearly defined. In this study, we report that CLEC-2-induced Syk and PLCγ2 phosphorylation is potentiated by TxA2 and that TxA2 plays a critical role in the most proximal event of CLEC-2 signaling, i.e. the CLEC-2 receptor tyrosine phosphorylation. We show that the activation of other GPCRs, such as the ADP receptors and protease-activated receptors, can also potentiate CLEC-2 signaling. By using the specific Gq inhibitor, UBO-QIC, or Gq knock-out murine platelets, we demonstrate that Gq signaling, but not other G-proteins, is essential for GPCR-induced potentiation of Syk phosphorylation downstream of CLEC-2. We further elucidated the signaling downstream of Gq and identified an important role for the PLCβ-PKCα pathway, possibly regulating activation of SFKs, which are crucial for initiation of CLEC-2 signaling. Together, these results provide evidence for novel Gq-PLCβ-PKCα-mediated regulation of proximal CLEC-2 signaling by Gq-coupled receptors.
Distinct neural mechanisms for remembering when an event occurred

Events are often remembered as having occurred in a specific order, but almost nothing is known about how the brain encodes this temporal information. It is commonly assumed that temporal information is encoded via a single mechanism, based either on the temporal context in which the event occurred or inferred from the strength of the memory trace itself. By analyzing time‐dependent changes in activity patterns, we show that the distinctiveness of contextual representations in the hippocampus and anterior and medial prefrontal cortex was associated with accurate recency memory. In contrast, overall activation in the perirhinal and lateral prefrontal cortices predicted whether an object would be judged more recent, regardless of accuracy. These results demonstrate that temporal information was encoded through at least two complementary neural mechanisms. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Complementary Membranes Forming the Blood‐Brain Barrier

Brain capillary endothelial cells form the blood‐brain barrier. They are connected by extensive tight junctions, and are polarized into luminal (blood‐facing) and abluminal (brain‐facing) plasma membrane domains. The polar distribution of transport proteins allows for active regulation of brain extracellular fluid. Experiments on isolated membrane vesicles from capillary endothelial cells of bovine brain demonstrated the polar arrangement of amino acid and glucose transporters, and the utility of such arrangements have been proposed. For instance, passive carriers for glutamine and glutamate have been found only in the luminal membrane of blood‐brain barrier cells, while Na‐dependent secondary active transporters are at the abluminal membrane. This organization could promote the net removal of nitrogen‐rich amino acids from brain, and account for the low level of glutamate penetration into the central nervous system. Furthermore, the presence of a γ‐glutamyl cycle at the luminal membrane and Na‐dependent amino acid transporters at the abluminal membrane may serve to modulate movement of amino acids from blood‐to‐brain. Passive carriers facilitate amino acid transport into brain. However, activation of the γ‐glutamyl cycle by increased plasma amino acids is expected to generate oxoproline within the blood‐brain barrier. Oxoproline stimulates secondary active amino acid transporters (Systems A and B o,+ ) at the abluminal membrane, thereby reducing net influx of amino acids to brain. Finally, passive glucose transporters are present in both the luminal and abluminal membranes of the blood‐brain barrier. Interestingly, a high affinity Na‐dependent glucose carrier has been described only in the abluminal membrane. This raises the question whether glucose entry may be regulated to some extent. Immunoblotting studies suggest more than one type of passive glucose transporter exist in the blood‐brain barrier, each with an asymmetrical distribution. In conclusion, it is now clear that the blood‐brain barrier participates in the active regulation of brain extracellular fluid, and that the diverse functions of each plasma membrane domain contributes to these regulatory functions.
Specific Beliefs about Emotions Are Associated with Different Emotion-Regulation Strategies

Despite evidence pointing to the associations of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (ERS) with psychopathology, little is known about their underlying mechanisms. Coherently with cognitive models, this study tested the hypothesis that specific beliefs about emotions may be associated with difficulties in emotion regulation and the use of different ERS (reappraisal, suppression, acceptance, rumination, avoidant coping, experiential avoidance). Consistently with the role of avoidance in the cognitive model of worry, we sought testing a mediation pattern where negative beliefs about emotions were connected to maladaptive ERS through experiential avoidance. 309 participants filled out an online questionnaire that measured beliefs about emotions, difficulties in emotion-regulation, and the tendency to adopt different ERS. Results showed that negative beliefs and high fear of emotions were associated with the use of specific ERS and avoidance coping. Fear of depressed mood and anxiety was associated with rumination and emotional avoidance, whereas emotion suppression was mainly associated with fear of anger and positive affect. Also, we found that experiential avoidance mediated the association between beliefs about emotion, rumination and emotional avoidance. Results provided evidence about the specific associations between beliefs about emotions and emotion-regulation processes, suggesting that beliefs about emotions may play a role in orienting specific ER styles.
Critical analysis of the performance of double-contrast barium enema for detecting colorectal polyps > or = 6 mm in the era of CT colonography.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to perform a meta-analysis comparing the performance of double-contrast barium enema (DCBE) with CT colonography (CTC) for the detection of colorectal polyps > or = 6 mm using endoscopy as the gold standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS Prospective DCBE and CTC studies were identified. Percentages of polyps and of patients with polyps > or = 10 mm and 6-9 mm were abstracted. The performance of DCBE versus CTC was determined by separately evaluating each technique's performance versus that of endoscopy, and contrasting the techniques. The I-squared statistic and Fisher's exact test were used for heterogeneity, the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel and the Kruskal-Wallis tests for correlation, and the A(z) test for comparing pooled weighted estimates of performance. RESULTS Eleven studies of DCBE (5,995 patients, 1,548 polyps) and 30 studies of CTC (6,573 patients, 2,348 polyps) fulfilled inclusion criteria. For polyps > or = 10 mm, a 0.121-per-patient sensitivity difference favored CTC (p < 0.0001; DCBE, 0.702 [95% CI, 0.687-0.715]; CTC, 0.823 [0.809-0.836]). For polyps > or = 10 mm, a 0.031-per-polyp sensitivity difference favored CTC (p < 0.0001; DCBE, 0.715 [0.703-0.726]; CTC, 0.746 [0.735-0.757]). For polyps > or = 10 mm, a specificity difference of 0.104 favored CTC (p = 0.001; DCBE, 0.850 [0.847-0.855]; CTC, 0.954 [0.952-0.955]). DCBE was also significantly less sensitive for 6- to 9-mm polyps (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION DCBE has statistically lower sensitivity and specificity than CTC for detecting colorectal polyps > or = 6 mm.
Development of a measure to assess organizational change

Discusses the use of the act frequency approach methodology to develop and validate a measure of organizational support of revolutionary change. A total of nine unique behaviors, describing three constructs, were viewed by employees as supportive of revolutionary change; and 12 unique behaviors, describing two constructs, were perceived as being non‐supportive of revolutionary change. The measures developed were found to have high internal reliability. The measures were also found to be highly correlated with relevant individual and organizational outcome measures. These results provide empirical support for the idea that how an organization supports revolutionary change can have an impact on both the organization and its employees and that contextual variable may not influence perceptions.
Housing inequality in urban China in the 1990s

Access to housing of sufficient space and quality has been a central element in social stratification in urban China. We examine the sources of housing inequality in 1993 in Shanghai and Tianjin, when a market reform process had been underway in the national economy for nearly fifteen years. The Chinese housing allocation system favors people with political position and connections, those of higher socio-economic background, and those whose work units have greater organizational authority. There is only slight evidence that market reform has undermined this stratification order. To the contrary, there are reasons to believe that in some respects inequalities rooted in socialism are strengthened by institutional changes. These conclusions are reinforced by comparison to results of analyses of income inequality in the same cities. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1999.
Graduates' Work Experiences as Predictors of rganisational Commitment, Intention to Leave, and Turnover: Which Experiences Really Matter?

L'implication et le maintien au travail des employes est apparu comme etant un sujet de tres grand interet en psychologie appliquee ainsi que dans la gestion des ressources humaines. De recherches importantes ont porte sur l'implication dans l'organisation (OC) et l'intention de quitter (IL), mais peu d'entre elles ont examine l'effet qu'exercait sur elles une grande variete d'experience au travail. On a fait l'hypothese que la nature du travail et le developpement de la carriere auraient l'influence la plus forte parce que qu'elles tendent a refleter les raisons qu'ont les diplomes pour entrer chez un employeur, leurs preoccuptions d'evolution de carriere et leurs attentes et contrats psychologiques. Les donnees du questionnaire ont ete recueillies a partir de 474 diplomes anglais dans 8 organisations et ce a deux reprises, a une annee de distance. Des analyses par regression multiple, testant la force indicative de 7 experiences de travail, ont montre que les caracteristiques intrinseques du travail etaient les indicateurs qui predisaient le mieux le changement d'OC dans l'organisation sur la periode d'un an. L'evolution de la carriere etait naturellement le plus fort indicateur predisant le changement en IL et etait lie da facon tres significative au changement en OC. Les resultats sont discutes en termes de consistance avec des recherches precedentes, d'implications pour la theorie de l'evolution de carriere, et en termes d'applications pratiques.
Isolation and Identification of Two Novel Escherichia coli Bacteriophages and Their Application in Wastewater Treatment and Coliform's Phage Therapy

Background: Phage therapy or use of lytic bacteriophages for eliminating bacterial populations has been developed for several aspects of human affairs such as medicine, agriculture and food industries. Objectives: The high load of coliforms of treated wastewater effluents that are discharged into the rivers or agricultural lands is a serious concern of the Iran Department of Environment and the reduction of coliforms using phages to overcome this problem is an asset. This research aimed to isolate and identify specific lytic coliphages and investigate their effects on native and standard Escherichia coli strains as well as coliform populations in municipal wastewater. Materials and Methods: The wastewater sample was cultured on selective culture media to isolate a native coliform strain and characterized using molecular methods. River water was centrifuged and passed through a 0.45 μm filter and its lytic coliphages were enriched and purified against a native E. coli as well as a standard E. coli strain. Municipal wastewater was treated with isolated lytic coliphages and most probable number (MPN) reduction was examined. Results: E. coli SBSWF27, which is a native strain of E. coli from Isfahan municipal wastewater treatment plant, was isolated and characterized. Also two novel bacteriophages related to Myoviridae and Podoviridae families of bacteriophages from Zayandehrood River (Isfahan, Iran) were isolated. These coliphages had lytic effects on E. coli PTCC1399 and E. coli SBSWF27 as coliform's index. The myovirus had a hexagonal head measuring 27.28 nm and a noncontractile tail measuring 204.5 × 13.63 nm. The podovirus had an oval head measuring 98 × 35 nm and a tail, 14 nm in diameter. The treatment of municipal sewage with the coliphage mixture resulted in a 22-fold decrease of the coliform's MPN from 2400 to 110 after two hours of incubation. Conclusions: This is the first report on isolation and identification of two novel lytic myovirus and podovirus from Zayandehrood River in Isfahan that had lytic effects on E. coli PTCC1399 and E. coli SBSWF27 strains as well as coliform's population of Isfahan municipal wastewater. We suggest that the use of these lytic coliphages for reduction of coliform's population in sewage could be considered as an effective and simple alternative for costly replacement of instruments and establishments of the old wastewater treatment plants.
Titanium Nanoparticle Size Influences Trace Concentration Levels in Skin Appendages

As a result of biotribocorrosion, the surface of a titanium (Ti) biomedical device can be a potential source of systemic contamination with Ti nanoparticles (NPs). Although NPs can be chemically similar, differences in particle size may lead to different biological responses. The aim of this experimental study was to determine Ti trace levels in skin appendages and plasma and explore the influence of NP size on trace levels using a murine model. Results showed the presence of Ti traces in the nails, hair, and plasma. The concentration of the smallest NPs (5 Nm) was higher than that of 10 Nm NPs in all the studied samples. Irrespective of NP size, Ti levels were always lower in plasma than in skin appendages. Ti levels were higher in nails than in hair. Ti NPs size influenced trace concentration levels in hair/nails, suggesting that 5 Nm Ti particles are more easily eliminated through these skin appendages. Given that the nails showed the highest levels of Ti, and that these skin appendages are not exposed to agents that can leach out Ti, as occurs with hair, we propose the nails as the most suitable and reliable bioindicator for monitoring systemic contamination with Ti.
Underplating in the Himalaya-Tibet Collision Zone Revealed by the Hi-CLIMB Experiment

Himalayan-Tibetan Underplate The Himalayas formed from the collision of India with Eurasia beginning about 50 million years ago, but the fate and position of the subducted Indian crust was not well defined until the Hi-CLIMB seismic experiment was initiated. The centerpiece of the project is an 800-kilometer-long, closely spaced, linear array of broadband seismographs, extending from the Ganges lowland, across the Himalayas, and onto the central Tibetan plateau. Nábělek et al. (p. 1371) present images of the crust and upper mantle of the Southern Tibetan plateau underthrust northward by the Indian plate, in which they trace the base of the Indian plate to 31°N. The character of the crust-mantle interface in this region suggests that the Indian crust is at least partly decoupled from the mantle beneath. A seismic study delineates the position and local thickening of the Indian plate underlying the Himalayas and southern Tibet. We studied the formation of the Himalayan mountain range and the Tibetan Plateau by investigating their lithospheric structure. Using an 800-kilometer-long, densely spaced seismic array, we have constructed an image of the crust and upper mantle beneath the Himalayas and the southern Tibetan Plateau. The image reveals in a continuous fashion the Main Himalayan thrust fault as it extends from a shallow depth under Nepal to the mid-crust under southern Tibet. Indian crust can be traced to 31°N. The crust/mantle interface beneath Tibet is anisotropic, indicating shearing during its formation. The dipping mantle fabric suggests that the Indian mantle is subducting in a diffuse fashion along several evolving subparallel structures.
Student academic performance in rural clinical schools: The impact of cohort size and competition

Abstract Objectives: The Deakin University School of Medicine commenced in 2008 as a rurally focused medical school in south-eastern Australia. This research was designed to examine the effectiveness of the school’s adoption of small regional clinical school settings. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of the first two cohorts of students was employed to assess academic performance at each of five geographically dispersed clinical training sites, with varying student cohort sizes. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire provided quantitative data regarding the students’ perception of their educational environment. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: The highest examination scores, and greatest satisfaction with educational environment, were associated with the clinical school that had a small-sized group of students and was not co-located with another medical school. These differences remained after adjusting for multiple potential confounding factors. Conclusion: The smaller sites appear to have provided superior support for student learning in this new medical school. This advantage diminishes when smaller cohorts are co-located with students from other medical schools. Cohort size and co-location of medical school curricula may be important independent variables for researchers to consider when comparing the results of clinical education innovations in different settings.
The Nation as a Political Stage

This article offers a theoretical contribution to the question of how nations are `built' through the mass media and specifically in television fiction. The author criticizes the assumption that the nation is an anachronism in a globalized world, arguing instead that the concept of national culture should be revisited in terms of political negotiation. The article argues that television fiction is one of the most powerful mechanisms for reinventing national culture because of the banal and routine way in which this is portrayed. It is pointed out that, in television fiction, the process of national culture building is mainly grounded in four main elements: localization and territory; language issues and uses; cultural representation; and historical and institutional references. It is proposed that the `fictional nation' is a politically conceptualized stage on which stories can take place.
Emotional Competence and Early School Adjustment: A Study of Preschoolers at Risk

This short-term longitudinal study examined whether emotion regulation and emotion understanding made unique contributions towards at-risk preschoolers' classroom adaptation. To address this question, we assessed children's emotion regulation and their understanding of emotions in both self (self-awareness, emotion coping) and in others (emotion recognition, affective perspective taking, situation knowledge). Participants were 49 children (22 boys and 27 girls) who attended a Head Start program for low-income children. Seventy percent of this sample was Caucasian, with the remainder being of Latino, African American or biracial ethnicity. Emotion regulation at the start of the school year was associated with school adjustment at year's end, whereas early emotional lability/negativity predicted poorer outcomes. Children who made a smooth adjustment to preschool also were better able to take another person's affective perspective and to identify situations that would provoke different emotional responses. Emotion regulation and understanding made unique contributions towards school adjustment, even when controlling for potential confounds, including behavior problems and verbal abilities. Teachers appeared to influence children's emotional competence by serving an important regulatory function, especially for older preschoolers at-risk.