Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the epidemiological data of Staphylococcus aureus food poisoning occurred in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil

Staphylococcal food poisoning is one of the most frequent foodborne illnesses worldwide and it is caused by the ingestion of food contaminated with enterotoxins produced by some strains of Staphylococcus (S.) aureus. In the State of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Southern Brazil, S. aureus has been identified as the second most frequent agent of foodborne illnesses in the last two decades. The aim of the present study was to assess and analyse the epidemiological data of S. aureus food poisoning occurred in the State of RS during the years of 2000 to 2002. The official records of epidemiological investigations carried out by the Sanitary Surveillance Services of the State of RS were analysed. Among foodborne outbreaks for which aetiology was determined, S. aureus was identified as the responsible agent of 57 foodborne outbreaks, being 42 (74%) confirmed by microbiological analyses and 15 (26%) confirmed by clinical symptoms and/or epidemiological data. Staphylococcal outbreaks were responsible for the exposition of 5,991 persons, of which 1,940 (32%) were interviewed by the Sanitary Surveillance officers. The most affected age group corresponded to people with 20 to 49 years old (48%), where men (48%) and women (52%) were affected similarly. The main involved food vehicles were meats servings (35%), followed by pastries (25%), cheese (23%), pasta (11%) and potato salad with homemade mayonnaise (11%). The majority of the outbreaks occurred inside private homes (33%) followed by commercial food establishments (28%). Inadequate control of temperature and failures in general hygiene practices were identified as the main factors responsible for the outbreaks. In conclusion, S. aureus was an important food poisoning etiological agent in the State of RS during 2000 to 2002 and its prevention depends on control measures involving different parts of the food chain.
Hot vs. Cold Cases: Examining Time to Clearance for Homicides Using NIBRS Data

Very little attention has been devoted to studying factors associated with how quickly murders are cleared. This dearth of knowledge is mainly due to a lack of available data, especially at the national level. Currently the Uniform Crime Reporting Program is undergoing a large-scale conversion from its traditional summary system form of data collection to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). One benefit of NIBRS is that it enables law enforcement agencies to report incident-level clearance information, including the incident and clearance dates. The present study utilizes NIBRS data to compare characteristics of homicides that are cleared quickly with those cleared over a longer period of time and those that are not cleared. Findings from this exploratory study confirm the conventional belief that murders are cleared quickly if at all, as a large drop in the percentage of cleared cases is observed one week after a murder occurs. The present research also suggests that incident characteristics play a dynamic role in predicting not only whether a murder is cleared, but how quickly. These findings provide new insights for studying clearance and suggest policy implications.
Non-Asymptotical Postural Stabilization Strategy during Human Quiet Stance

Postural sway, i.e., center of pressure and center of mass (CoM) and electromyograms (EMGs) from ankle muscles were measured during human quiet stance. It was confirmed that EMG activity of ankle extensors correlated with the CoM and CoM velocity, as reported earlier. However, the EMG activity was phasic and burst-like, compared to slow and smooth changes in CoM. It was demonstrated that the phasic EMG activity tended to appear only at specific periods mostly when the acceleration of CoM was close to zero and to terminate when CoM velocity changed its sign from positive to negative. We claimed that a simulated human stance model with a conventional PID feedback controller could not account for such phasic EMG activity. The phasic EMG activity was then associated with the active ankle torque, which is defined as the residual component of the stiffness torque in the total ankle torque. To this end, the active torque was estimated by assuming that the ankle stiffness was not large enough to make the upright posture asymptotically stable. The active torque and the phasic EMG activity were sharply correlated, implying that the phasic EMG activity might generate the active torque, and it might be produced based on a strategy other than the conventional PID feedback control
Cell cycle kinetics in fetal rat cerebral cortex: effects of prenatal treatment with ethanol assessed by a cumulative labeling technique with flow cytometry.

The effects of ethanol on the cell cycle kinetics of cortical precursor cells during the period of cortical neuronogenesis [between gestational day (G) 12 and G21] was systematically examined. Samples of dissociated cortical cells were harvested from the cerebral cortices of 13-, 15-, 17-, 19-, and 21-day-old fetuses. The fetuses were obtained from pregnant rats: (a) fed a liquid diet containing 6.7% (v/v) ethanol (Et) ad libitum, (b) pair-fed an isocaloric liquid control diet (Ct), or (c) fed chow and water (Ch) ad libitum. Before harvesting the cells, the fetuses were administered a series of 1-5 injections of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). The proportion of cells that incorporated the BrdU was assessed. Using these raw data, the S-phase length (Ts), total cell cycle length (Tc), and the growth fraction (GF; the fraction of the total population that was actively cycling) were determined with a cumulative labeling procedure. The Ts was approximately 8-9 hr, regardless of either the date of the injection or the dietary treatment of the dam. On the other hand, the Tc for the Ct- and Ch-treated rats increased over the gestational period. That is, the Tc was shortest on G13 and longest on G21. The Tc for Et-treated rats, however, did not change between G13 and G21. For the Ch- and Ct-treated groups, the GF decreased > 15-fold between G13 and G21. The decline (5-fold) for the Et-treated group over the same period, however, was not as great as it was for the Ct-treated fetuses. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Function and Regulation of Vibrio campbellii Proteorhodopsin: Acquired Phototrophy in a Classical Organoheterotroph

Proteorhodopsins (PRs) are retinal-binding photoproteins that mediate light-driven proton translocation across prokaryotic cell membranes. Despite their abundance, wide distribution and contribution to the bioenergy budget of the marine photic zone, an understanding of PR function and physiological significance in situ has been hampered as the vast majority of PRs studied to date are from unculturable bacteria or culturable species that lack the tools for genetic manipulation. In this study, we describe the presence and function of a horizontally acquired PR and retinal biosynthesis gene cluster in the culturable and genetically tractable bioluminescent marine bacterium Vibrio campbellii. Pigmentation analysis, absorption spectroscopy and photoinduction assays using a heterologous over-expression system established the V. campbellii PR as a functional green light absorbing proton pump. In situ analyses comparing PR expression and function in wild type (WT) V. campbellii with an isogenic ΔpR deletion mutant revealed a marked absence of PR membrane localization, pigmentation and light-induced proton pumping in the ΔpR mutant. Comparative photoinduction assays demonstrated the distinct upregulation of pR expression in the presence of light and PR-mediated photophosphorylation in WT cells that resulted in the enhancement of cellular survival during respiratory stress. In addition, we demonstrate that the master regulator of adaptive stress response and stationary phase, RpoS1, positively regulates pR expression and PR holoprotein pigmentation. Taken together, the results demonstrate facultative phototrophy in a classical marine organoheterotrophic Vibrio species and provide a salient example of how this organism has exploited lateral gene transfer to further its adaptation to the photic zone.
Thrombin Regulation by Physiological Inhibitors: The Role of Vitronectin

The generation of thrombin and its various activities have to be tightly controlled in the circulation as well as at extracellular sites to prevent pathological situations. Both vessel wall-associated thrombomodulin and circulating serine protease inhibitors meet the requirements for regulation of thrombin function. The final products of thrombin inhibition are ternary complexes together with the adhesion protein vitronectin. Due to a conformational switch in the vitronectin molecule, ternary complexes are endowed with heparin-binding properties and become specifically bound to cell surface sites on endothelial and other cells. This interaction appears to be responsible for the clearance and translocation of ternary complexes in the vasculature and at other sites. In addition, ternary complexes may provoke other cellular activities by binding to nonintegrin cell surface receptors. Along the vasculature, extracellular-associated vitronectin serves as a binding and stabilizing cofactor for plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, which thereby becomes a slow-reacting thrombin inhibitor. It is believed that clot-associated vitronectin-PAI-1 complex not only stabilizes initial thrombus formation, but is also responsible for thrombin neutralization and the necessary switch towards fibrinolysis. Vitronectin thereby becomes an integral cofactor for regulation and control of thrombin multifunctional activities.
Scalable Non-linear Learning with Adaptive Polynomial Expansions

Can we effectively learn a nonlinear representation in time comparable to linear learning? We describe a new algorithm that explicitly and adaptively expands higher-order interaction features over base linear representations. The algorithm is designed for extreme computational efficiency, and an extensive experimental study shows that its computation/prediction tradeoff ability compares very favorably against strong baselines.
Volunteer tourism, subjectivity and the psychosocial

Volunteer tourism is an increasingly popular practice that provides tourists with the opportunity to contribute to community development or environmental projects, usually in Third World countries. This research explores the potential of volunteer tourism to develop cross-cultural understanding, transform tourists into more charitable, ethical subjects and foster more reciprocal relations between tourists and visited communities. The research uses a longitudinal methodology to follow ten young people from the UK through time and space as they embark on a journey to Kenya with a commercial volunteer tourism provider. Using a combination of repeated in-depth interviews and participant observation, I show how volunteer tourists produce understandings, or ‘imaginaries’, of poverty, authenticity and care that simultaneously enable and constrain their ability to act ethically. I argue that the complexities of the volunteer tourism encounter can only be understood through a psychosocial account of subjectivity that articulates the point of suture between the social and the psychological. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalytic theory to interpret the volunteer tourists’ narratives, I show that it is possible to approach the psychological in tourism studies in a non-reductive and culturally engaged way. This psychoanalytic reading provides insight into how volunteer tourists’ perceptions are refracted through cultural fantasies of the non-Western Other, how they are confronted by the demands of contradictory ideological injunctions and how their investment in consumer identities presents a barrier to ethical transformation. The thesis concludes that in order to harness volunteer tourism’s potential as a means of achieving social transformation, greater attention must be paid to subjectivity and the psychosocial as a way of understanding the social demands, desire and investments experienced by volunteer tourists.
Are Endothelial Progenitor Cells the Real Solution for Cardiovascular Diseases? Focus on Controversies and Perspectives

Advanced knowledge in the field of stem cell biology and their ability to provide a cue for counteracting several diseases are leading numerous researchers to focus their attention on “regenerative medicine” as possible solutions for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the lack of consistent evidence in this arena has hampered the clinical application. The same condition affects the research on endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), creating more confusion than comprehension. In this review, this aspect is discussed with particular emphasis. In particular, we describe biology and physiology of EPCs, outline their clinical relevance as both new predictive, diagnostic, and prognostic CVD biomarkers and therapeutic agents, discuss advantages, disadvantages, and conflicting data about their use as possible solutions for vascular impairment and clinical applications, and finally underline a very crucial aspect of EPCs “characterization and definition,” which seems to be the real cause of large heterogeneity existing in literature data on this topic.
Towards a cross-platform microbenchmark suite for evaluating hardware performance counter data

As useful as performance counters are, the meaning of reported aggregate event counts is sometimes questionable. Questions arise due to unanticipated processor behavior, overhead associated with the interface, the granularity of the monitored code, hardware errors, and lack of standards w.r. t. event definitions. To explore these issues, we are conducting a sequence of studies using carefully-crafted microbenchmarks that permit the accurate prediction of event counts and investigation of the differences between hardware-reported and predicted event counts. This paper presents the methodology employed, some of the microbenchmarks developed, and some of the information uncovered to date. The information provided by this work allows application developers to better understand the data provided by hardware performance counters and better utilize it to tune application performance. A goal of this research is to develop a cross-platform microbenchmark suite that can be used by application developers for these purposes. Some of the microbenchmarks in this suite are discussed in the paper.
Teenagers learning Chinese as a foreign language in a European Confucius Institute: the relationship between language learner strategies and successful learning factors

The present research aims to identify the factors involved in the successful completion of the Young Chinese Test 2-A1 (YCT 2-A1) at Spanish Confucius Institute (Canary Islands). Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) entails several learning difficulties compared with other European languages. This study was conducted on 61 monolingual and bilingual secondary students, aged 14, from different schools. The personal information gathered to identify individual variables as well as the results of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning provided answers to several questions: What strategy is most often employed by teenage students? Is it possible to identify differences between the strategies employed according to personal variables (monolingualism/bilingualism and gender)? Which factors analysed relate more closely to the grade obtained on the YCT 2-A1? This article aims to serve as an empirical contribution to the knowledge of CFL young learners in the European context and their necessary development as independent learners. The methodology adopted entailed performing a quantitative ANCOVA statistical analysis using the XLSTAT program version 2014.3. 01 (developed by Addisoft). The findings relate higher YCT academic scores to bilingual students, with the employment of effective strategies and an increased usage of language learner strategies in girls.
Variables affecting the emergence of untaught equivalence relations in children with and without autism

Abstract Objective: This study examined the formation of equivalence classes among children with ASD and typically developing children. Design: A single-subject AB and BA design was used. Methods: Two of the six equivalence relations were taught. Participants were then tested to determine whether the remaining four equivalence relations were acquired without teaching. Half of the children were taught naming responses first, then selecting responses. Half were taught in the reverse order. Results: Five out of 10 participants with ASD demonstrated the emergence of all four untaught relations. The remaining five participants showed variability. Nine of the 10 typically developing children demonstrated emergence of all untaught relations. Variation in teaching conditions had no significant effect on outcomes. Conclusions: Many children with ASD are capable of generalising to untaught equivalence relations. The results fail to support the claim that acquisition of naming responses is a pre-requisite for the emergence of untaught equivalence relations.
Antitumor Effects of Vitamin D Analogs on Hamster and Mouse Melanoma Cell Lines in Relation to Melanin Pigmentation

Deregulated melanogenesis is involved in melanomagenesis and melanoma progression and resistance to therapy. Vitamin D analogs have anti-melanoma activity. While the hypercalcaemic effect of the active form of Vitamin D (1,25(OH)2D3) limits its therapeutic use, novel Vitamin D analogs with a modified side chain demonstrate low calcaemic activity. We therefore examined the effect of secosteroidal analogs, both classic (1,25(OH)2D3 and 25(OH)D3), and novel relatively non-calcemic ones (20(OH)D3, calcipotriol, 21(OH)pD, pD and 20(OH)pL), on proliferation, colony formation in monolayer and soft-agar, and mRNA and protein expression by melanoma cells. Murine B16-F10 and hamster Bomirski Ab cell lines were shown to be effective models to study how melanogenesis affects anti-melanoma treatment. Novel Vitamin D analogs with a short side-chain and lumisterol-like 20(OH)pL efficiently inhibited rodent melanoma growth. Moderate pigmentation sensitized rodent melanoma cells towards Vitamin D analogs, and altered expression of key genes involved in Vitamin D signaling, which was opposite to the effect on heavily pigmented cells. Interestingly, melanogenesis inhibited ligand-induced Vitamin D receptor translocation and ligand-induced expression of VDR and CYP24A1 genes. These findings indicate that melanogenesis can affect the anti-melanoma activity of Vitamin D analogs in a complex manner.
CLINICAL AND EEG STUDIES IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE STATES

1. A series of 31 patients presenting as a dominant feature in their clinical picture obsessive-compulsive phenomena were studied clinically and electroencephalographically. Twenty-four of these cases were classifiable as psychoneurotic, obsessive-compulsive type, 2 as epileptic and the remaining 5 as schizophrenia. 2. Twenty of the total of 31 patients, or 64 per cent, exhibited patterns which were classifiable as abnormal. Of these 20 cases 14 showed serial 2-4 cps potentials of high amplitude either before or after a two minutes period of hyperventilation. Approximately 29 per cent of the obsessive-compulsive patients studied exhibited records which were classified as definitely normal. 3. The greatest incidence of records exhibiting electrocortical dysfunction occurred in the age group below 30 years of age. 4. Approximately 35 per cent of the entire group gave definite positive histories of psychopathy in the family. Of the cases showing electrocortical dysfunction 40 per cent gave positive histories.
Inhibition of GLI1 Expression by Targeting the CRD-BP–GLI1 mRNA Interaction Using a Specific Oligonucleotide

The stabilization of glioma-associated oncogene 1 (GLI1) mRNA by coding region determinant binding protein (CRD-BP) through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is implicated in the proliferation of colorectal cancer and basal cell carcinoma. Here, we set out to characterize the physical interaction between CRD-BP and GLI1 mRNA so as to find inhibitors for such interaction. Studies using CRD-BP variants with a point mutation in the GXXG motif at each KH domain showed that KH1 and KH2 domain are critical for the binding of GLI1 RNA. The smallest region of GLI1 RNA binding to CRD-BP was mapped to nucleotides (nts) 320–380. A 37-nt S1 RNA sense oligonucleotide, containing two distinct stem-loops present in nts 320–380 of GLI1 RNA, was found to be effective in blocking CRD-BP–GLI1 RNA interaction. Studies using various competitor RNAs with modifications to S1 RNA oligonucleotide further displayed that both the sequences and the structure of the two stem-loops are important for CRD-BP–GLI1 RNA binding. The role of the two-stem-loop motif in influencing CRD-BP–RNA interaction was further investigated in cells. The 2′-O-methyl derivative of the S1 RNA oligonucleotide significantly decreased GLI1, c-myc, and CD44 mRNA levels, in a panel of colon and breast cancer cells. The results from this study demonstrate the potential importance of the two-stem-loop motif as a target region for the inhibition of the CRD-BP–GLI1 RNA interaction and Hedgehog signaling pathway. Such results pave the way for the development of novel inhibitors that act by destabilizing the CRD-BP–GLI1 mRNA interaction.
C. G. Jung, Mystical Experience and Inflation

In this article I address the question: Given Jung’s insistence that he was a scientist or empiricist, rather than a mystic, can we circumscribe Jung’s interest in mysticism: that is identify which type or types of mystical experience he valued and which he did not? Since I cannot address this question comprehensively in this article, I focus my attention in the ensuing discussion on one particular form of psychopathology, preoccupying Jung throughout the post-Freudian phase of his career, which I regard as providing a key for interpreting Jung’s relationship to a variety of mystical experi¬ences: inflation. The question I want to address is whether Jung’s definition of inflation forces him to distinguish the experience of individuation from some, or perhaps even all, types of mystical experience, even to conceive of individuation and mystical experience to be in opposition to one another. To what extent is mystical experience, according to Jung, inflationary and therefore irreconcilable with the individuation process? Did Jung regard some mystical experiences as free of inflation and therefore consistent with the individuation process, but not others?