Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
aPKCζ affects directed cell migration through the regulation of myosin light chain phosphorylation

ABSTRACT Cell motility is an essential cellular process for a variety of biological events. It requires cross-talk between the signaling and the cytoskeletal systems. Despite the recognized importance of aPKCζ for cell motility, there is little understanding of the mechanism by which aPKCζ mediates extracellular signals to the cytoskeleton. In the present study, we report that aPKCζ is required for the cellular organization of acto-non-muscle myosin II (NMII) cytoskeleton, for proper cell adhesion and directed cell migration. We show that aPKCζ mediates EGF-dependent RhoA activation and recruitment to the cell membrane. We also show that aPKCζ mediates EGF-dependent myosin light chain (MRLC) phosphorylation that is carried out by Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK), and that aPKCζ is required for EGF-dependent phosphorylation and inhibition of the myosin phosphatase targeting subunit (MYPT). Finally, we show that aPKCζ mediates the spatial organization of the acto-NMII cytoskeleton in response to EGF stimulation. Our data suggest that aPKCζ is an essential component regulator of acto-NMII cytoskeleton organization leading to directed cell migration, and is a mediator of the EGF signal to the cytoskeleton.
Researching Education Policy: Ethical and Methodological Issues

Part 1 Theory, Scholarship and Research into Education Policy: Where we are now - reflections on the sociology of education policy, Charles D. Raab Coming to terms with research - the contract business, May Pettigrew Scholarship and sponsored research - contradiction, continuum or complementary activity? , Robert G. Burgess. Part 2 The Ethics of Research into Education Policy: The constraints of neutrality - the 1988 Education Reform Act and feminist research, Beverley Skeggs, Researching inside the state - issues in the interpretation of elite interviews, Stephen J. Ball Sex, lies and audiotape - interviewing the education policy elite, Jenny Ozga and Sharon Gewirtz. Part 3 Methodological Perspectives on Research into Education Policy: Ethnography, policy-making and practice in education, Martyn Hammersley Students' secondary school careers - research in a climate of "moving perspectives", Gwen Wallace, Jean Rudduck and Susan Harris.
A Mouse Model of Pulmonary Metastasis from Spontaneous Osteosarcoma Monitored In Vivo by Luciferase Imaging

Background Osteosarcoma (OSA) is lethal when metastatic after chemotherapy and/or surgical treatment. Thus animal models are necessary to study the OSA metastatic spread and to validate novel therapies able to control the systemic disease. We report the development of a syngeneic (Balb/c) murine OSA model, using a cell line derived from a spontaneous murine tumor. Methodology The tumorigenic and metastatic ability of OSA cell lines were assayed after orthotopic injection in mice distal femur. Expression profiling was carried out to characterize the parental and metastatic cell lines. Cells from metastases were propagated and engineered to express Luciferase, in order to follow metastases in vivo. Principal Findings Luciferase bioluminescence allowed to monitor the primary tumor growth and revealed the appearance of spontaneous pulmonary metastases. In vivo assays showed that metastasis is a stable property of metastatic OSA cell lines after both propagation in culture and luciferase trasduction. When compared to parental cell line, both unmodified and genetically marked metastatic cells, showed comparable and stable differential expression of the enpp4, pfn2 and prkcd genes, already associated to the metastatic phenotype in human cancer. Conclusions This OSA animal model faithfully recapitulates some of the most important features of the human malignancy, such as lung metastatization. Moreover, the non-invasive imaging allows monitoring the tumor progression in living mice. A great asset of this model is the metastatic phenotype, which is a stable property, not modifiable after genetic manipulation.
Increased Cognitive Functioning in Symptomatic Huntington's Disease As Revealed by Behavioral and Event-Related Potential Indices of Auditory Sensory Memory and Attention

Cognitive functions are thought to deteriorate globally in late stages of various neurodegenerative disorders. Here we describe that this general assumption is not justified and fails in Huntington's disease (HD). Presymptomatic gene mutation carriers (pHDs) and healthy controls performed worse compared with symptomatic HDs in an auditory signal detection task. During task performance, behavioral data and event-related potentials (ERPs) [i.e., MMN (mismatch negativity), P3a, and RON (reorienting negativity)] were recorded. Not only behavioral performance but also neurophysiological correlates of auditory sensory memory and attentional reorientation indicate enhanced performance occurring primal in late stages of a neurodegenerative disorder. Increased activity of the NMDA-receptor system, an assumed pathogenic mechanism in HD, might facilitate signal propagation at striatal level that enables more efficient task execution through a winner-take-all process. The results challenge the view that late stage neurodegeneration is necessarily related to a global decline in cognitive abilities in HD. In contrast, selectively enhanced cognitive functioning can emerge together with otherwise impaired cognitive functioning.
Drinfeld coproduct, quantum fusion tensor category and applications

The class of quantum affinizations (or quantum loop algebras) includes quantum affine algebras and quantum toroidal algebras. In general, they have no Hopf algebra structure, but have a ‘coproduct’ (the Drinfeld coproduct) which does not produce tensor products of modules in the usual way because it is defined in a completion. In this paper we propose a new process to produce quantum fusion modules from it: for all quantum affinizations, we construct by deformation and renormalization a new (non‐semi‐simple) tensor category Mod. For quantum affine algebras this process is new and different from the usual tensor product. So far, for general quantum affinizations, for example for toroidal algebras, no process to produce fusion modules was known. We derive several applications from it: we construct the fusion of (finitely many) arbitrary l‐highest weight modules, and prove that it is always cyclic. We establish exact sequences involving fusion of Kirillov–Reshetikhin modules related to new T‐systems extending results for quantum affine algebras (Nakajima, Hernandez). Eventually, for a large class of quantum affinizations we prove that the subcategory of finite‐length modules of Mod is stable under the new monoidal bifunctor.
Articulator movement associated with the development of prosodic control in children.

This study explored the relationship between articulator movement and prosody in children at different developmental ages. Jaw, lower lip, and upper lip kinematics were examined in 4-, 7-, and 11-year-old children as they produced the declarative and interrogative forms of utterances "Show Bob a bot" and "Show Pop a pot. " Articulator movement differences were found between declaratives and interrogatives during the production of vowel and consonant targets. The 7- and 11-year-olds differentiated the duration and displacement of their articulator movements to distinguish between declaratives and interrogatives. Several age-related differences in movement duration between the 4-year-olds and the older participants were associated with the production of these targets. Productions of declaratives and interrogatives were not associated with any significant differences in articulator movement variability, although variability did decrease significantly with maturation. The results suggest that children modify their articulator movements to meet the prosodic and linguistic demands of the task. While 4-year-olds appear to be able to modify lip and jaw movement to mark the declarative-interrogative contrast, refinement of these movements continues throughout childhood.
The pgaABCD Locus of Escherichia coli Promotes the Synthesis of a Polysaccharide Adhesin Required for Biofilm Formation

ABSTRACT Production of a polysaccharide matrix is a hallmark of bacterial biofilms, but the composition of matrix polysaccharides and their functions are not widely understood. Previous studies of the regulation of Escherichia coli biofilm formation suggested the involvement of an unknown adhesin. We now establish that the pgaABCD (formerly ycdSRQP) locus affects biofilm development by promoting abiotic surface binding and intercellular adhesion. All of the pga genes are required for optimal biofilm formation under a variety of growth conditions. A pga-dependent cell-bound polysaccharide was isolated and determined by nuclear magnetic resonance analyses to consist of unbranched β-1,6-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine, a polymer previously unknown from the gram-negative bacteria but involved in adhesion by staphylococci. The pga genes are predicted to encode envelope proteins involved in synthesis, translocation, and possibly surface docking of this polysaccharide. As predicted, if poly-β-1,6-GlcNAc (PGA) mediates cohesion, metaperiodate caused biofilm dispersal and the release of intact cells, whereas treatment with protease or other lytic enzymes had no effect. The pgaABCD operon exhibits features of a horizontally transferred locus and is present in a variety of eubacteria. Therefore, we propose that PGA serves as an adhesin that stabilizes biofilms of E. coli and other bacteria.
ESAP Students’ Comprehension of Multiple Technical Reading Texts: Insights from Personal Epistemological Beliefs

Given the importance associated with multiple-document literacy in the present-day knowledge societies and the dearth of research in English Language Teaching in general and English for Specific/Academic Purposes (ESAP) contexts in particular on multiple-document comprehension and the significance of reader beliefs in this type of comprehension, the present study was carried out with the aim of investigating the relationship between ESAP students’ personal epistemological beliefs and their inferential intratextual and intertextual understanding of multiple texts. To this aim, 64 first-semester midwifery students were selected as the participants of the study. They were required to read four passages on multi-fetal pregnancy which discussed different aspects of this phenomenon. Having filled out the Epistemological Beliefs Inventory, they were tested on the inferential intratextual and intertextual comprehension of the texts. Results of the analyses of the data revealed significant associations between epistemological beliefs and the inferential comprehension of multiple texts. The results also indicated the poorer performance of the participants in intertextual inferential understanding of the texts compared with the intratextual understanding of them. The study concludes with tentative implication of the findings for ESAP reading courses.
Co-operation in Inter-Firm Relations in Britain and Germany: The Role of Social Institutions

The first part of the paper will theoretically examine the social function of trust, the preconditions of the production of trust and the possibility of reconstructing power as a mechanism functionally similar to trust. The second part of the paper is based on empirical research and will elaborate from a comparative perspective (Britain and Germany) how industry associations and legal regulations influence the quality of inter-firm relations. The authors' central argument is that trust is more reliably produced when these institutions are strong and consistent and business relations are deeply embedded into their institutional environment. They will argue that power is more likely to function as an alternative mode of coordinating social expectations and interaction when the institutional framework and the embeddedness of social interaction is weak. But power produced by a comprehensive and stable institutional environment - what the authors call system power - appears to be fostering the production of trust rather than being detrimental to it
Systemic corticosteroid monotherapy for clinically diagnosed acute rhinosinusitis: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Patients with acute rhinosinusitis are frequently encountered in primary care. Although corticosteroids are being increasingly used for symptom control, evidence supporting their use is inconclusive. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of systemic corticosteroid monotherapy for clinically diagnosed, uncomplicated acute rhinosinusitis. Methods: We conducted a block-randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial at 54 primary care practices (68 family physicians) in the Netherlands between Dec. 30, 2008, and Apr. 28, 2011. Adult patients with clinically diagnosed acute rhinosinusitis were randomly assigned to receive either prednisolone 30 mg/d or placebo for 7 days and asked to complete a symptom diary for 14 days. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients with resolution of facial pain or pressure on day 7. Results: Of the 185 patients included in the trial (93 in the treatment group, 92 in the placebo group), 2 withdrew from the study and 9 were excluded from the primary analysis because of incomplete symptom reporting. The remaining 174 patients (88 in the treatment group, 86 in the placebo group) were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. The proportions of patients with resolution of facial pain or pressure on day 7 were 62.5% (55/88) in the prednisolone group and 55.8% (48/86) in the placebo group (absolute risk difference 6.7%, 95% confidence interval −7.9% to 21.2%). The groups were similar with regard to the decrease over time in the proportion of patients with total symptoms (combined symptoms of runny nose, postnasal discharge, nasal congestion, cough and facial pain) and health-related quality of life. Adverse events were mild and did not differ significantly between the groups. Interpretation: Systemic corticosteroid monotherapy had no clinically relevant beneficial effects among patients with clinically diagnosed acute rhinosinusitis. Netherlands Trial Register registration no. 1295 (www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp).
Docetaxel down‐regulates the expression of androgen receptor and prostate‐specific antigen but not prostate‐specific membrane antigen in prostate cancer cell lines: Implications for PSA surrogacy

Docetaxel (DOC) has potent anti‐tumor efficacy as a result of promoting microtubule assembly and microtubule bundling thereby impairing mitosis. Knowing that some anti‐microtubule agents affect the polarity of prostate‐specific membrane antigen (PSMA) expression and that androgen ablation can up‐regulate PSMA expression, we sought to determine any effect of DOC on PSMA expression in prostate cancer (PC) cell lines as a prelude to a clinical effort. As controls, we also looked at the expression of androgen receptor (AR) and prostate‐specific antigen (PSA).
Helicobacter infection and cirrhosis in hepatitis C virus carriage: is it an innocent bystander or a troublemaker?

Since it has been shown that Helicobacter hepaticus causes both chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in mice, it is suggested that differences in the progression of chronic hepatitis C may be due to a cofactor stemming from co-infection by bacteria, especially Helicobacter pylori, and/or other Helicobacter species. An assessment was made of the prevalence of H. pylori infection in HCV-positive cirrhotic patients. The presence of Helicobacter species (spp). was evaluated in resected liver tissue from HCC patients. Serum anti-H. pylori IgG antibodies were determined in 70 males with a clinical and/or histological diagnosis of cirrhosis and HCV infection and in 310 age-matched male blood donors. The prevalences of H. pylori antibody were 77% (54/70) and 59% (183/310) (P 0.004). Primers identifying 26 Helicobacter species were used to determine the presence of the genomic 16S rRNA of this genus in liver tissue resected from 25 cirrhotic HCC patients. Genomic sequences corresponding to H. pylori and H. pullorum were identified in 23 of these 25 livers. Together, these findings support the proposal that H. pylori is implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of cirrhosis, particularly in HCV-infected individuals. Involvement of Helicobacter spp. in HCC also seems highly possible.
Minimum delay routing protocol for DTN-enabled VANETs

In vehicular ad hoc networks, the end-to-end path between the source and destination vehicle is not guaranteed due to frequent network partitioning caused by fast moving vehicles. For such sparse networks, Delay Tolerant Networks are proposed where a packet is carried by an intermediate vehicle until it meets with another vehicle or destination. This approach introduces variable amounts of delays in the networks. Therefore, an intelligent decision is required to select the next intermediate vehicle that can deliver a packet to the destination as soon as possible without any further delays. In this paper, we introduce a minimum delay routing protocol that utilizes the neighbor vehicles' velocity and distance from destination information to calculate the delivery delay for intermediate vehicles. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with FFRDV. Using an ns-2 simulation, we have verified that our scheme shows better performance and reduces end-to-end delay and average inter-meeting time by 70% as compared to FFRDV.
Effects of Family Structure on Children's Self-Concepts

This study examined the effects of family structure (intact, stepparent, and single-parent) on children's self-concepts using Parish and Parish's Personal Attribute Inventory for Children (PAIC). One hundred and ninety-nine (199) students in grades 7 through 12 participated. Although children from stepfamilies checked fewer positive adjectives than students from single-parent or intact families, a statistically significant difference (.05 level) was not found.
Passive and active decision postponement in plan generation

In "least-commitment" decision making, decisions are postponed until constraints force them to be made; any decision made when it is not forced is an "early commitment. " Partial-Order Causal Link (POCL) planners typically postpone decisions about the ordering of plan steps, but rely to some degree on early commitments in making most other types of decisions. A prerequisite for the least-commitment approach is the ability to recognize when constraints force a decision to be made; most planners, however, take a "passive" approach to postponing most decisions, in which the relevant constraints are either not accessible or are not used by the planning algorithm. Part of this thesis looks at the inefficiencies that arise from passive postponement, and the extent to which these inefficiencies can be addressed by spending more time thinking about what to postpone. The Least-Cost Flaw Repair (LCFR) strategy (Joslin and Pollack, 1994) is one such response: postponed decisions are examined, and priority is given to decisions that are more tightly constrained. This approach increases planning efficiency, but is of limited effectiveness because interactions among postponed decisions are not recognized. Active postponement is a technique for allowing all constraints, including those that arise from postponed decisions and their interactions, to play a role in reasoning about the plan. Descartes, an algorithm that does active postponement, transforms planning problems into dynamic Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs). That formulation leads to a natural identification of static sub-problems that can be solved by standard CSP algorithms. Active postponement also makes it possible to take a least-commitment approach to all planning decisions. Experimental results, however, show that least-commitment is not always best; sometimes "early commitment" does increase planning efficiency.
Turnarounds: A Stage Theory Perspective

Abstract In strategic management, an impressive body of literature on turnaround has accumulated over the last three decades; however, the topic remains largely idiosyncratic and open-ended. Based mainly on the tenets of the life-cycle family of process theory, this paper presents a composite four-stage model that unfolds the dynamics of turnaround and provides a basis for the development of a theory on which to draw further. By categorizing the elements of turnaround as three critical requirements–incidents, events, and concepts–the model explains how the elements germane to each stage, when combined, facilitate the progression from a crippling deterioration in performance to an enduring success or to an eventual death. An analysis of the turnaround of Chrysler Corporation provides preliminary support for the model. The model's implications for theory, research, and practice are also given. Resume Au cours des trois dernieres decennies, un nombre impressionant d'etudes portant sur le redressement des entreprises ont ete menees en gestion strategique. Toutefois, ces etudes demeurent dans l'ensemble tres subjectives et manquent un encadrement methodique tres rigoureux. La presente etude, en prenant pour base certains postulats de la theorie du processus de la famille du cycle de vie, propose un modele a quatre etapes pour analyser le processus de redressement d'entreprise. Ce modele pose les premiers jalons d'une theorie qui peut faire l'objet d'etudes ulterieures plus approfondies. En definissant les trois etapes constitutives d'un redressement, a savoir les incidents, les evenements, et les concepts, notre modele explique comment les elements propres a chaque etape, une fois combines, facilitent le passage d'une performance mediocre a un succes stable, ou a une mort eventuelle de l'entreprise. L'etude du redressement de la compagnie Chrysler constitue l'illustration preliminaire du modele. Enfin, nous discutons l'apport possible du modele pour la theorie, la recherche et la mise en pratique des redressements d'entreprise.
The Toronto Bedside Swallowing Screening Test (TOR-BSST): Development and Validation of a Dysphagia Screening Tool for Patients With Stroke

Background and Purpose— Dysphagia occurs in 55% of all acute stroke patients. Early identification of dysphagia from screening can lead to earlier treatments and thereby reduce complications. We designed and validated a new bedside dysphagia screening tool—the Toronto Bedside Swallowing Screening Test (TOR-BSST) for stroke survivors in acute and rehabilitative settings. Methods— The TOR-BSST initially contained 5 items with proven high predictive ability for dysphagia. Trained screeners administer and score the TOR-BSST in less than 10 minutes. Trained nurses from 2 acute and 2 rehabilitation facilities administered the TOR-BSST to consecutively admitted stroke inpatients. A positive screen identified patients at risk for dysphagia. Blinded repeat screenings were conducted within 24 hours. Test-retest reliability was established with the first 50 administrations at an ICC=0.92 (CI, 0.85 to 0.96). Items were eliminated if they contributed ≤5% to the total score and were judged clinically impractical. 20% of all enrolled patients were randomly allocated to gold standard videofluoroscopic assessment of swallowing and findings rated independently by 4 blinded experts. Adequate validity was set at sensitivity ≥90% and negative predictive value ≥90%. Results— 311 stroke inpatients were enrolled; 103 acute and 208 rehabilitation. Screening was positive in 59.2% acute and 38.5% rehabilitation patients. The pharyngeal sensation item did not meet inclusion criteria and was eliminated. The TOR-BSST demonstrated excellent validity with sensitivity at 91.3% (CI, 71.9 to 98.7), and negative predictive values at 93.3% in acute and 89.5% in rehabilitation settings. Conclusion— The TOR-BSST is a simple accurate tool to identify stroke patients with dysphagia regardless of severity and setting.