Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mutagenic exploration of the cross‐seeding and fibrillation propensity of Alzheimer's β‐amyloid peptide variants

Amyloid formation is a nucleation‐dependent process that is accelerated dramatically in vivo and in vitro upon addition of appropriate fibril seeds. A potent species barrier can be effective in this reaction if donor and recipient come from different biological species. This species barrier is thought to reflect differences in the amino acid sequence between seed and target polypeptide. Here we present an in vitro mutagenic cross‐seeding analysis of Alzheimer's Aβ(1‐40) peptide in which we mapped out the effect of systematically varied amino acid replacements on the propensity of seed‐dependent amyloid fibril formation. We find that the susceptibility of different peptides toward cross‐seeding relates to the intrinsic aggregation propensity of the respective polypeptide chain and, therefore, to properties such as β‐sheet propensity and hydrophobicity. These data imply that the seed‐dependent formation of amyloid‐like fibrils is affected by the intrinsic properties of the polypeptide chain in a manner that is similar to what has been described previously for aggregation reactions in general. Hence, the nucleus acts in this case as a catalyst that promotes the fibrillation of different polypeptide chains according to their intrinsic structural predilection.
Hybrid sentiment analyser for Arabic tweets using R

Harvesting meaning out of massively increasing data could be of great value for organizations. Twitter is one of the biggest public and freely available data sources. This paper presents a Hybrid learning implementation to sentiment analysis combining lexicon and supervised approaches. Analysing Arabic, Saudi dialect Twitter tweets to extract sentiments toward a specific topic. This was done using a dataset consisting of 3000 tweets collected in three domains. The obtained results confirm the superiority of the hybrid learning approach over the supervised and unsupervised approaches.
Uses and Misuses of Student Evaluations of Teaching

Student evaluations of teaching are among the most accepted and important indicators of college teachers’ performance. However, faculty and administrators can overinterpret small variations in mean teaching evaluations. The current research examined the effect of including statistical information on the interpretation of teaching evaluations. Study 1 (N = 121) showed that faculty members interpreted small differences between mean course evaluations even when confidence intervals and statistical tests indicated the absence of meaningful differences. Study 2 (N = 183) showed that differences labeled as nonsignificant still influenced perceptions of teaching qualifications and teaching ability. The results suggest the need for increased emphasis on the use of statistics when presenting and interpreting teaching evaluation data.
AIS Electronic

An information system can be regarded as successful when a significant number of users use the system in a continued basis. Satisfaction is often regarded as the basis of continued usage, while dissatisfaction may cause users to discontinue the system use. While many studies in information system have investigated user satisfaction, user dissatisfaction seems to be ignored. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that generate user satisfaction and the factors that generate user dissatisfaction. Drawing the theoretical assumptions from Oliver’s expectation-confirmation theory and Herzberg’s two-factor theory, we propose a generic theoretical framework that posits environmental factors and job-specific outcome factors may cause satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The framework extends our understanding of user satisfaction and dissatisfaction and helps to underpin and categorize the factors that are salient for causing user satisfaction and dissatisfaction. By collecting text data responses using open ended survey questions and qualitatively analyzing them, we identify a list of factors that generate educators’ satisfaction and a list of factors that generate dissatisfaction in the e-learning tool utilization context. Our study reveals that satisfaction is generated by both environmental and job-specific factors, while dissatisfaction is generated by environmental factors only.
Development of Social Variation in Reproductive Schedules: A Study from an English Urban Area

Background There is striking social variation in the timing of the onset of childbearing in contemporary England, with the mean age at first motherhood about 8 years earlier in the most deprived compared to the least deprived neighbourhoods. However, relatively little is known about how these social differences in reproductive schedule develop in childhood. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied the development of differences in reproductive schedules, using a cross-sectional survey over 1000 school students aged 9–15 in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside. Students from more deprived neighbourhoods had earlier ideal ages for parenthood than those from more affluent ones, and these differences were fully apparent by age 11. We found evidence consistent with three mechanisms playing a role in maintaining the socioeconomic gradient. These were: vertical intergenerational transmission (students whose own parents were younger at their birth wanted children younger); oblique intergenerational transmission (students in neighbourhoods where parents were younger in general wanted children earlier); and low parental investment (students who did not feel emotionally supported by their own parents wanted children at a younger age). Conclusions/Significance Our results shed some light on the proximate factors which may be involved in maintaining early childbearing in disadvantaged communities. They help understand why educational initiatives aimed at adolescents tend to have no effect, whereas improving the well-being of poor families with young children may do so. Our results also suggest that there will be considerable intergenerational inertia in the response of reproductive schedules to changing socioecological conditions.
Efficient −2 frameshifting by mammalian ribosomes to synthesize an additional arterivirus protein

Programmed −1 ribosomal frameshifting (−1 PRF) is a gene-expression mechanism used to express many viral and some cellular genes. In contrast, efficient natural utilization of −2 PRF has not been demonstrated previously in eukaryotic systems. Like all nidoviruses, members of the Arteriviridae (a family of positive-stranded RNA viruses) express their replicase polyproteins pp1a and pp1ab from two long ORFs (1a and 1b), where synthesis of pp1ab depends on −1 PRF. These polyproteins are posttranslationally cleaved into at least 13 functional nonstructural proteins. Here we report that porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), and apparently most other arteriviruses, use an additional PRF mechanism to access a conserved alternative ORF that overlaps the nsp2-encoding region of ORF1a in the +1 frame. We show here that this ORF is translated via −2 PRF at a conserved G_GUU_UUU sequence (underscores separate ORF1a codons) at an estimated efficiency of around 20%, yielding a transframe fusion (nsp2TF) with the N-terminal two thirds of nsp2. Expression of nsp2TF in PRRSV-infected cells was verified using specific Abs, and the site and direction of frameshifting were determined via mass spectrometric analysis of nsp2TF. Further, mutagenesis showed that the frameshift site and an unusual frameshift-stimulatory element (a conserved CCCANCUCC motif 11 nucleotides downstream) are required to direct efficient −2 PRF. Mutations preventing nsp2TF expression impair PRRSV replication and produce a small-plaque phenotype. Our findings demonstrate that −2 PRF is a functional gene-expression mechanism in eukaryotes and add another layer to the complexity of arterivirus genome expression.
Monocyte Signal Transduction Receptors in Active and Latent Tuberculosis

The mechanisms that promote either resistance or susceptibility to TB disease remain insufficiently understood. Our aim was to compare the expression of cell signaling transduction receptors, CD14, TLR2, CD206, and β2 integrin LFA-1 on monocytes from patients with active TB or nonmycobacterial lung disease and healthy individuals with M.tb latency and uninfected controls to explain the background of the differences between clinical and subclinical forms of M.tb infection. A simultaneous increase in the expression of the membrane bound mCD14 receptor and LFA-1 integrin in patients with active TB may be considered a prodrome of breaking immune control by M.tb bacilli in subjects with the latent TB and absence of clinical symptoms.
Operational Space Control of Constrained and Underactuated Systems

The operational space formulation (Khatib, 1987), applied to rigid-body manipulators, describes how to decouple task-space and null space dynamics, and write control equations that correspond only to forces at the end-effector or, alternatively, only to motion within the null space. We would like to apply this useful theory to modern humanoids and other legged systems, for manipulation or similar tasks, however these systems present additional challenges due to their underactuated floating bases and contact states that can dynamically change. In recent work, Sentis et al. derived controllers for such systems by implementing a task Jacobian projected into a space consistent with the supporting constraints and underactuation (the so called support consistent reduced Jacobian). Here, we take a new approach to derive operational space controllers for constrained underactuated systems, by first considering the operational space dynamics within projected inverse-dynamics (Aghili, 2005), and subsequently resolving underactuation through the addition of dynamically consistent control torques. Doing so results in a simplified control solution compared with previous results, and importantly yields several new insights into the underlying problem of operational space control in constrained environments: 1) Underactuated systems, such as humanoid robots, cannot in general completely decouple task and null space dynamics. However, 2) there may exist an infinite number of control solutions to realize desired task-space dynamics, and 3) these solutions involve the addition of dynamically consistent null space motion or constraint forces (or combinations of both). In light of these findings, we present several possible control solutions, with varying optimization criteria, and highlight some of their practical consequences.
Extracting the mean size across the visual field in patients with mild, chronic unilateral neglect

Previous studies suggest that normal vision pools information from groups of objects in a display to extract statistical summaries (e.g., mean size). Here we explored whether patients with mild, chronic left neglect were able to extract statistical summaries on the right and left sides of space in a typical manner. We tested four patients using a visual search task and varied the mean size of a group of circles within the display. On each trial, a single circle first appeared in the center of the screen (the target). This circle varied in size from trial to trial. Then a multi-item display appeared with circles of various sizes grouped together either on the left or right side of the display. The instructions were to search the circles and determine whether the target was present or not. The circles were always accompanied by a group of task-irrelevant triangles that appeared on the opposite side of the display. On half the trials, the mean size of the circles was the size of the target. On the other half the mean size was different from the target. The patients were not told that this was the case, and no explicit report of the statistics was required. The results showed that when the targets were absent patients produced more false alarms to the mean than non-mean size when the circles were on the left (neglected) side of the display. This finding demonstrates that statistical information was implicitly extracted from the left group of circles. However, summary statistics on the right side were not limited to the circles. Rather it appears that participants pooled the distractors with the target circles, yielding a skewed statistical summary on the right side. These findings are discussed as they relate to statistical summary processing, visual search and segregation of right and left items in patients with mild, chronic unilateral neglect.
Poverty, segregation, and race riots : 1960 to 1993

Les AA. montrent que la theorie de la privation economique et celle qui met en exergue l'isolement social des minorites ethniques constituent les principales approches qui permettent d'expliquer le developpement des emeutes raciales entre 1960 et 1993 aux Etats-Unis. Ils presentent un certain nombre de donnees collectees au cours de cette periode concernant ces evenements. Ils examinent l'influence d'un certain nombre de facteurs comme la segregation residentielle, la competition economique, la pauvrete
Induction of low-T3 syndrome in exercising women occurs at a threshold of energy availability.

To investigate the relationship between energy availability (dietary energy intake minus energy expended during exercise) and thyroid metabolism, we studied 27 untrained, regularly menstruating women who performed approximately 30 kcal.kg lean body mass (LBM)-1.day-1 of supervised ergometer exercise at 70% of aerobic capacity for 4 days in the early follicular phase. A clinical dietary product was used to set energy availability in four groups (10.8, 19.0, 25.0, 40.4 kcal.kg LBM-1.day-1). For 9 days beginning 3 days before treatments, blood was sampled once daily at 8 A.M. Initially, thyroxine (T4) and free T4 (fT4), 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) and free T3 (fT3), and reverse T3 (rT3) were in the normal range for all subjects. Repeated-measures one-way analysis of variance followed by one-sided, two-sample post hoc Fischer's least significant difference tests of changes by treatment day 4 revealed that reductions in T3 (16%, P < 0.00001) and fT3 (9%, P < 0.01) occurred abruptly between 19.0 and 25.0 kcal.kg LBM-1.day-1 and that increases in fT4 (11%, P < 0.05) and rT3 (22%, P < 0.01) occurred abruptly between 10.8 and 19.0 kcal.kg LBM-1.day-1. Changes in T4 could not be distinguished. If energy deficiency suppresses reproductive as well as thyroid function, athletic amenorrhea might be prevented or reversed by increasing energy availability through dietary reform to 25 kcal.kg LBM-1.day-1, without moderating the exercise regimen.
Anterior cervical surgery for the treatment of cervical degenerative myelopathy.

OBJECT The objective of this systematic review was to use evidence-based medicine to examine the efficacy of anterior cervical surgery for the treatment of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). METHODS The National Library of Medicine and Cochrane Database were queried using MeSH headings and key words relevant to anterior cervical surgery and CSM. Abstracts were reviewed, and studies meeting inclusion criteria were selected. The guidelines group assembled an evidentiary table summarizing the quality of evidence (Classes I-III). Disagreements regarding the level of evidence were resolved through an expert consensus conference. The group formulated recommendations that contained the degree of strength based on the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines network. Validation was done through peer review by the Joint Guidelines Committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons. RESULTS Mild CSM (modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association [mJOA] scale scores > 12) responds in the short term (3 years) to either surgical decompression or nonoperative therapy (prolonged immobilization in a stiff cervical collar, "low-risk" activity modification or bed rest, and antiinflammatory medications) (Class II). More severe CSM responds to surgical decompression with benefits being maintained a minimum of 5 years and as long as 15 years postoperatively (Class III). CONCLUSIONS Treatment of mild CSM may involve surgical decompression or nonoperative therapy for the first 3 years after diagnosis. More severe CSM (mJOA scale score <or= 12) should be considered for surgery depending upon the individual case. The shortcomings of this systematic review are that the group was not able to determine whether an mJOA scale score of 12 was indicative of a more severe CSM disease course, and whether patients who received nonsurgical treatment for 3 years had a significant probability for clinical deterioration after that time point.
Autocontingencies: A Model for Subtle Behavioral Control.

SUMMARY In this article we are concerned with the often surprising degree of behavioral control exerted by what are, in many cases, unscheduled and unintended relationships between important experimental events. A distinction is proposed between traditional contingencies (i.e., if event X-then event Y) and a second class of relationships which are termed autocontingencies. The logical relationships which generate autocontingencies are derived from systematic constraints in the distribution of event Y itself, which allow prediction of the subsequent occurrence or absence of event Y. Supportive evidence for behavioral control by autocontingen cies is presented from a survey of operant and Pavlovian conditioning procedures which involve both appetitive and aversive stimuli. Autocontingency effects are examined within a variety of situations which include such well-established phenomena as "scalloping" under fixed-interval food schedules, as well as the "reverse scalloping" or negatively accelerated responding which occurs when food-reinforced responding is punished under a fixed-interval schedule. An analysis of several recently published experiments suggests the possibility that subjects may occasionally have become "aware" of an autocpntingency before the experimenter who programmed it did. These experiments, which typically yield puzzling behavioral effects, have often forced the underlying autocontingency into the investigator's attention. Such instances support the notion that autocontingencies involve subtle relationships, despite the fact that their effects are often far from subtle. An additional source of support for and elaboration of the concept of autocontingencies comes from our own conditioned suppression data. We exposed rats to different experimental arrangements of signal and shock. Subjects for whom no signal preceded each shock delivery learned to find "safety" in more subtle features of the experimental situation. For example, these subjects showed reliably increased responding in the brief periods following each shock delivery once they learned that shocks were separated by a minimum 3-min interval. Similarly, a constraint of three shock deliveries per session yielded a "subtle safety signal" and resulted in enhanced responding following offset of the third shock. These data also suggest the function of "need" (i.e., the simultaneous presence of other predictors) in determining the degree of control exerted by autocontingen cies. Subjects in our experiment for whom a traditional tone-shock contingency reliably produced warning did not show behavioral control by autocontingen cies which were simultaneously available. The use of the term subtle to describe the relationships underlying autocontingencies suggests that a certain degree of neurological sophistication may be necessary to integrate or process the information provided by autocontingen cies. Pre
A Framework for Assisting Student Affairs Staff in Fostering Moral Development

Student affairs professionals have an impact on the values and ethical behavior of students and need to address this responsibility. After examining factors cited as important in the development of moral behaviors, the author introduces a three-dimensional framework for examining moral development interventions consisting of the target of intervention, type of intervention, and intervention approach. Examples of specific strategies are provided for each category included in the framework.
Activation of Raf-1 Signaling by Protein Kinase C through a Mechanism Involving Raf Kinase Inhibitory Protein*

Protein kinase C (PKC) regulates activation of the Raf-1 signaling cascade by growth factors, but the mechanism by which this occurs has not been elucidated. Here we report that one mechanism involves dissociation of Raf kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP) from Raf-1. Classic and atypical but not novel PKC isoforms phosphorylate RKIP at serine 153 (Ser-153). RKIP Ser-153 phosphorylation by PKC either in vitro or in response to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate or epidermal growth factor causes release of RKIP from Raf-1, whereas mutant RKIP (S153V or S153E) remains bound. Increased expression of PKC can rescue inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signaling cascade by wild-type but not mutant S153V RKIP. Taken together, these results constitute the first model showing how phosphorylation by PKC relieves a key inhibitor of the Raf/MAP kinase signaling cascade and may represent a general mechanism for the regulation of MAP kinase pathways.
Emotion-focused therapy for eating disorders: enhancing emotional processing

Current literature highlights the importance of emotion in the development and maintenance of eating disorders. Deficits in emotional processing skills in this population have been supported by numerous studies. The cycle of bingeing, purging, and starving are believed to be some of the maladaptive mechanisms of gaining control over inchoate affective experiences in clients with eating disorders. The first goal of this article is to present a review of the emotional processing characteristics and deficits in individuals with eating disorder who either engage in dietary restriction or binge-purge behaviors. Secondly, an emotion-focused therapy: the process-experiential approach is proposed as a suitable treatment to address these deficits. Specific emotion-focused interventions that address the ways clients learn to regulate their emotions are discussed along with the potential challenges of working with eating disorders. Suggestions for overcoming these challenges using an emotion-focused therapy are presented.
Ezrin-mediated apical integrity is required for intestinal homeostasis

Individual cell types are defined by architecturally and functionally specialized cortical domains. The Ezrin, Radixin, and Moesin (ERM) proteins play a major role in organizing cortical domains by assembling membrane protein complexes and linking them to the cortical actin cytoskeleton. Many studies have focused on the individual roles of the ERM proteins in stabilizing the membrane–cytoskeleton interface, controlling the distribution and function of apical membrane complexes, regulating the small GTPase Rho, or establishing cell–cell junctions. We previously found that deletion of the mouse Ezrin gene yields severe defects in apical integrity throughout the developing intestinal epithelium, resulting in incomplete villus morphogenesis and neonatal death. However, the molecular function of Ezrin in building the apical surface of the intestinal epithelium was not clear. By deleting Ezrin in the adult mouse intestinal epithelium, we provide evidence that Ezrin performs multiple molecular functions that collaborate to build the functional apical surface of the intestinal epithelium in vivo. The loss of Ezrin-mediated apical integrity in the adult intestine yields severe morphological consequences during intestinal homeostasis, including defects in cell geometry, extrusion, junctional remodeling, and spindle orientation. Surprisingly, deletion of Ezrin either before or after villus morphogenesis yields villus fusion, revealing a previously unrecognized step in intestinal homeostasis. Our studies indicate that the function of Ezrin in building and maintaining the apical domain is essential not only for intestinal morphogenesis but also for homeostasis in the mature intestine.