Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
‘Decoy’ and ‘non-decoy’ functions of DcR3 promote malignant potential in human malignant fibrous histiocytoma cells

Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) is a soluble secreted protein that belongs to the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily. DcR3 inhibits the Fas ligand (FasL)/Fas apoptotic pathway by binding to FasL, competitively with Fas receptor. Previous studies have reported that overexpression of DcR3 has been detected in various human malignancies and that DcR3 functions as a ‘decoy’ for FasL to inhibit FasL-induced apoptosis. In addition, recent studies have revealed that DcR3 has ‘non-decoy’ functions to promote tumor cell migration and invasion, suggesting that DcR3 may play important roles in tumor progression by decoy and non-decoy functions. We have previously reported that overexpression of DcR3 was observed in human malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH), however, the roles of DcR3 in MFH have not been studied. In the present study, to elucidate the roles of DcR3 in tumor progression of MFH, we examined the effects of DcR3 inhibition on cell apoptosis, migration and invasion in human MFH cells. siRNA knockdown of DcR3 enhanced the FasL-induced apoptotic activity and significantly decreased cell migration and invasion with a decrease in the activation of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K)/Akt and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2. The findings in this study strongly suggest that DcR3 plays important roles in tumor progression of human MFH by decoy as well as non-decoy functions and that DcR3 may serve as a potent therapeutic target for human MFH.
Meaning Making through Occupations and Occupational Roles: A Heuristic Study of Worker-Writer Histories

Introduction: Occupations are recognised in occupational therapy and occupational science literature as vehicles to meaning and wellbeing. Yet, the question of how they are used to create meaning has not been investigated exhaustively. In this study, the researchers explored the life histories of worker-writers in the United Kingdom. These writers considered themselves as representatives of the most numerous but marginalised social class. The researchers considered how the worker-writers derived life meaning from their occupations and occupational roles. Method: Using heuristic research methods, 34 published autobiographies were analysed to elicit themes illuminating how meaning was created by the worker-writers through occupations and occupational roles. Results: Five themes emerged from the analysis. Worker-writers created meaning by engaging in occupations and occupational roles that fostered family life and other meaningful relationships; a sense of control over their lives; meaningful leisure pursuits; a contribution to or connection to greater causes; and a sense of wellbeing. Conclusion: No claims are being made in this study about the generalisability of the findings to clinical practice. However, occupational therapists may consider exploring ways of helping clients engage in occupations reflecting themes that emerged from the study, as a way of helping them to reconstruct their lives following life-changing events or conditions.
Effort reduction after self-control depletion: The role of cognitive resources in use of simple heuristics

Heuristics have been described as decision strategies that save time and effort. Given this advantageous property, heuristics should be more often used when cognitive resources are scarce. We tested this general view with respect to the fast and frugal recognition heuristic which assumes one-reason decision making based on recognition alone whenever one object in a paired comparison is recognised and the other is not. In an experiment, we manipulated cognitive resources through an executive control procedure previously used in ego-depletion research. From the choice frequencies, the probability of using the recognition heuristic was estimated by means of a multinomial processing tree model. Results confirmed that use of the recognition heuristic was indeed more likely under depleted resources and thus limited cognitive capacity. These findings corroborate the general notion that a need for effort reduction fosters use of simple decision heuristics.
Lbx1 Acts as a Selector Gene in the Fate Determination of Somatosensory and Viscerosensory Relay Neurons in the Hindbrain

Distinct types of relay neurons in the hindbrain process somatosensory or viscerosensory information. How neurons choose between these two fates is unclear. We show here that the homeobox gene Lbx1 is essential for imposing a somatosensory fate on relay neurons in the hindbrain. In Lbx1 mutant mice, viscerosensory relay neurons are specified at the expense of somatosensory relay neurons. Thus Lbx1 expression distinguishes between the somatosensory or viscerosensory fate of relay neurons.
The psychological status of a constraint on Japanese consonant alternation

The Japanese consonant alternation known as rendaku is a nonautomatic process whereby morphemes with an initial voiceless obstruent in isolation sometimes occur with an initial voiced obstruent as the second element of compounds or stem-affix formations. A putative phonological constraint known as Lyman's Law states that the initial consonant of a morpheme never undergoes rendaku if that morpheme already contains a voiced obstruent. There are only a handful of exceptions to this constraint in the existing vocabulary, but the experimental results presented here indicate that it is psychologically real only for a small minority of speakers. Since Lyman's Law appears to have been a part of Japanese for centuries, these results raise the problem of accounting for its persistence.
Differences Between Blacks and Whites, Women and Men, in Reasons for Living

Most research has shown that there are race differences in suicide rates (deCatanzaro, 1981), with Blacks being about half as likely to die by suicide as Whites (4.6 versus 11.3 per 100,000, annually). Among teenagers, a particularly high-risk group, there was a ratio of nearly one non-White suicide to two White suicides in 1981 (National Center for Health Statistics, 1984). There are also gender differences in suicide rates. Depending on age, the suicide rate for women in the United States is one-eighth to one-third that of men (McGinnis, 1987). The ratio of suicides by 20 to 24 year old men and women was nearly 5:1 in 1980 (Mercy, Tolsma, Smith, & Conn, 1984). The majority of research in the field of suicide has been directed at identifying maladaptive characteristics of suicidal persons. Adaptive, life-maintaining characteristics may be just as importantthey prevent suicide -but have received little research attention. There are also theoretical and clinical reasons for focusing on adaptive characteristics. From a theoretical perspective, Des Pres (1976) and Frankl (1959) independently proposed a model to investigate adaptive, life-maintaining characteristics in their studies of the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. From a clinical perspective, for every person who commits suicide when faced with realistically difficult problems, there are many others who find
Reactive Oxygen Species Signaling Facilitates FOXO-3a/FBXO-Dependent Vascular BK Channel β1 Subunit Degradation in Diabetic Mice

Activity of the vascular large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BK) channel is tightly regulated by its accessory β1 subunit (BK-β1). Downregulation of BK-β1 expression in diabetic vessels is associated with upregulation of the forkhead box O subfamily transcription factor-3a (FOXO-3a)–dependent F-box–only protein (FBXO) expression. However, the upstream signaling regulating this process is unclear. Overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a common finding in diabetic vasculopathy. We hypothesized that ROS signaling cascade facilitates the FOXO-3a/FBXO-mediated BK-β1 degradation and leads to diabetic BK channel dysfunction. Using cellular biology, patch clamp, and videomicroscopy techniques, we found that reduced BK-β1 expression in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mouse arteries and in human coronary smooth muscle cells (SMCs) cultured with high glucose was attributable to an increase in protein kinase C (PKC)-β and NADPH oxidase expressions and accompanied by attenuation of Akt phosphorylation and augmentation of atrogin-1 expression. Treatment with ruboxistaurin (a PKCβ inhibitor) or with GW501516 (a peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor δ activator) reduced atrogin-1 expression and restored BK channel-mediated coronary vasodilation in diabetic mice. Our results suggested that oxidative stress inhibited Akt signaling and facilitated the FOXO-3a/FBXO-dependent BK-β1 degradation in diabetic vessels. Suppression of the FOXO-3a/FBXO pathway prevented vascular BK-β1 degradation and protected coronary function in diabetes.
Fecundity of patients with schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, depression, anorexia nervosa, or substance abuse vs their unaffected siblings.

CONTEXT It is unknown how genetic variants conferring liability to psychiatric disorders survive in the population despite strong negative selection. However, this is key to understanding their etiology and designing studies to identify risk variants. OBJECTIVES To examine the reproductive fitness of patients with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders vs their unaffected siblings and to evaluate the level of selection on causal genetic variants. DESIGN We measured the fecundity of patients with schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, depression, anorexia nervosa, or substance abuse and their unaffected siblings compared with the general population. SETTING Population databases in Sweden, including the Multi-Generation Register and the Swedish Hospital Discharge Register. PARTICIPANTS In total, 2.3 million individuals among the 1950 to 1970 birth cohort in Sweden. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Fertility ratio (FR), reflecting the mean number of children compared with that of the general population, accounting for age, sex, family size, and affected status. RESULTS Except for women with depression, affected patients had significantly fewer children (FR range for those with psychiatric disorder, 0.23-0.93; P < 10-10). This reduction was consistently greater among men than women, suggesting that male fitness was particularly sensitive. Although sisters of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder had increased fecundity (FR range, 1.02-1.03; P < .01), this was too small on its own to counterbalance the reduced fitness of affected patients. Brothers of patients with schizophrenia and autism showed reduced fecundity (FR range, 0.94-0.97; P < .001). Siblings of patients with depression and substance abuse had significantly increased fecundity (FR range, 1.01-1.05; P < 10-10). In the case of depression, this more than compensated for the lower fecundity of affected individuals. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that strong selection exists against schizophrenia, autism, and anorexia nervosa and that these variants may be maintained by new mutations or an as-yet unknown mechanism. Bipolar disorder did not seem to be under strong negative selection. Vulnerability to depression, and perhaps substance abuse, may be preserved by balancing selection, suggesting the involvement of common genetic variants in ways that depend on other genes and on environment.
Determination of Drivers of Stock-Out Performance of Retail Stores using Data Mining Techniques

This research applies data mining techniques to give a picture of the interaction of performance variables such as between stock-outs and store attributes, and stock-outs and other variables including store sales, income and demographic data, as well as various aspects of inventory management data. This research uses three data mining techniques: multiple ordinary-least-squares (OLS) regression, logistic regression and data clustering. The first part of the research evaluates how the effect of stock-outs at the distribution center (DC) level impacts the downstream sales at the store-level. Using multiple regression techniques, it was observed that stock-outs at the distribution center level have a detrimental impact on the sales at the retail store level. The second part of the project focuses on understanding the relationships of store stock-out performance to various drivers. The variables that were determined to be drivers of store performance include income level of the area, demographic profile, years the store has been in operation, day of the week delivery from distribution center, distance of store from the distribution center and average inventory-on-hand. Using data clustering techniques, worse performing and good performing clusters of stores were identified. The two worse performing clusters were 'Low-Income, Newer' stores and 'Newer, Further from DC' stores. The three good performing clusters were 'High-Income, High-Inventory' stores, 'Closer to DC, Older' Stores and 'High-Income, Smaller' stores. Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Chris Caplice Title: Executive Director, Masters of Engineering in Logistics Program Executive Director, Center for Transportation and Logistics
On the Limits of Liberal Peace: Chiefs and Democratic Decentralization in Post-War Sierra Leone

Liberal peace, the explicit merging of international security and development policy, has arrived fairly late on the scene in Sierra Leone. One of its primary foci is regimes of customary governance and sociality associated with chiefdom administration. Many international agencies consider these regimes irredeemably oppressive towards the rural poor and a root cause of the recent civil war. While the present government of Sierra Leone remains supportive of chieftaincy, international donors are supporting a fast-track decentralization programme that, it is hoped, will supply a new system of democratic governance to a rural populace already straining against the leash of 'custom'. This article, drawing upon the author's recent fieldwork in Sierra Leone, undertakes a critical examination of this policy. It is argued that, popular grievances notwithstanding, chieftaincy is the historic focus of struggles for political control over the Sierra Leonean countryside. Both the national elite and the rural poor remain deeply engaged in these struggles, and many among the latter continue to value customary authority as a defence against the abuse of bureaucratic power. Fast-tracking decentralization in the war-ravaged countryside may therefore only succeed in shifting the balance of political power away from the poor. THE PROLIFERATION OF CIVIL CONFLICT IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA has prompted the merging of international development and security policy. A fundamental fear in the global North is that 'new wars' may create 'zones of lawlessness', open to exploitation by international criminal and terrorist organizations. ' Development is now perceived as having a vital role in combating violent instability. Its explicit aim is to transform societies in such a way as to avoid future conflict, employing guiding principles that Richard Fanthorpe (rfanthorpe@blueyonder.co.uk) is an independent consultant and visiting research fellow at the Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex. This article is an output from a research project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID. 1. The Africa Conflict Prevention Pool: An information document (DFID, London, 2004), p. iii. See also A More Secure World: Our shared responsibility. Report of the Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change (United Nations, New York, 2004); Mary Kaldor, New and Old Wars: Organized violence in a global era (Polity Press, Cambridge, 2001).
From action to language through gesture: A longitudinal perspective

The present study reports empirical longitudinal data on the early stages of language development. The main hypothesis is that the output systems of speech and gesture may draw on underlying brain mechanisms common to both language and motor functions. We analyze the spontaneous interaction with their parents of three typically-developing children (2 M, 1 F) videotaped monthly at home between 10 and 23 months of age. Data analyses focused on the production of actions, representational and deictic gestures and words, and gesture-word combinations. Results indicate that there is a continuity between the production of the first action schemes, the first gestures and the first words produced by children. The relationship between gestures and words changes over time. The onset of two-word speech was preceded by the emergence of gesture-word combinations. The results are discussed in order to integrate and support the evolutionary and neurophysiological views of language origins and development.
Meta-Review of CSF Core Biomarkers in Alzheimer’s Disease: The State-of-the-Art after the New Revised Diagnostic Criteria

Background: Current research criteria for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) include cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers into the diagnostic algorithm. However, spreading their use to the clinical routine is still questionable. Objective: To provide an updated, systematic and critical review on the diagnostic utility of the CSF core biomarkers for AD. Data sources: MEDLINE, PreMedline, EMBASE, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and CRD. Eligibility criteria: (1a) Systematic reviews with meta-analysis; (1b) Primary studies published after the new revised diagnostic criteria; (2) Evaluation of the diagnostic performance of at least one CSF core biomarker. Results: The diagnostic performance of CSF biomarkers is generally satisfactory. They are optimal for discriminating AD patients from healthy controls. Their combination may also be suitable for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) prognosis. However, CSF biomarkers fail to distinguish AD from other forms of dementia. Limitations: (1) Use of clinical diagnosis as standard instead of pathological postmortem confirmation; (2) variability of methodological aspects; (3) insufficiently long follow-up periods in MCI studies; and (4) lower diagnostic accuracy in primary care compared with memory clinics. Conclusion: Additional work needs to be done to validate the application of CSF core biomarkers as they are proposed in the new revised diagnostic criteria. The use of CSF core biomarkers in clinical routine is more likely if these limitations are overcome. Early diagnosis is going to be of utmost importance when effective pharmacological treatment will be available and the CSF core biomarkers can also be implemented in clinical trials for drug development.
Clinical norms, reliability and validity for the hopkins symptom checklist-21

The Hopkins Symptom Checklist-21 (HSCL-21) was administered to 141 psychotherapy clients attending for their first visit at an outpatient psychology department. Some preliminary normative data is provided along with support for the reliability and validity of the HSCL-21 with a clinical sample. The HSCL-21 showed sensitivity to change over the course of psychotherapy. Due to its brevity, it may be preferable to longer symptom-distress measures for repeated measurement in monitoring, client progress over therapy.
In-vitro simulation of tooth mobility for static and dynamic load tests: A pilot study

Abstract Objective. Simulation of tooth mobility in vitro with or without reduced bone support is an aspect of particular interest from the clinical perspective. To elucidate adequate simulation of the periodontal ligament in terms of tooth mobility, three materials were investigated. Methods. Human lower sound premolars were selected and randomly assigned to six groups (n = 5) and stored at 37°C in a 0.5%-chloramine solution. For tooth mobility simulation, roots were covered with a thin layer of three types of material: (i) polyurethane elastomeric material, (ii) polyether impression material and (iii) A-polysiloxane soft cushion material. Teeth were embedded in an acrylic resin block simulating no and 50% bone loss, respectively. Specimens were statically subjected up to a maximum load of 30 N perpendicular to tooth axis (crosshead speed = 1 mm/min) in a universal material testing machine. Load-deflexion curves and periotest values were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using 2-way Anova and post-hoc Bonferroni Test (p = 0.05). The Pearson's correlation coefficient between deflexion and periotest values was calculated. Results. Median horizontal deflexion values (μm) of specimen crowns with no bone loss were significant higher for polysiloxane (210) compared to polyurethan (24) (p < 0.001). The tooth deflexion, e.g. tooth mobility, increased significantly as the bone level decreased only when specimens were embedded in polysiloxane (iii) (1150) (p = 0.045). All specimens with reduced bone support layered with polyether were dislocated. Deflexion was significantly positive correlated with periotest values (p = 0.01). Conclusion. Using A-polysiloxane soft cushion material combined with autopolymerizing acrylic resin may be suitable to simulate increased tooth mobility in vitro.
Truncated product method for combining P‐values

We present a new procedure for combining P‐values from a set of L hypothesis tests. Our procedure is to take the product of only those P‐values less than some specified cut‐off value and to evaluate the probability of such a product, or a smaller value, under the overall hypothesis that all L hypotheses are true. We give an explicit formulation for this P‐value, and find by simulation that it can provide high power for detecting departures from the overall hypothesis. We extend the procedure to situations when tests are not independent. We present both real and simulated examples where the method is especially useful. These include exploratory analyses when L is large, such as genome‐wide scans for marker‐trait associations and meta‐analytic applications that combine information from published studies, with potential for dealing with the “publication bias” phenomenon. Once the overall hypothesis is rejected, an adjustment procedure with strong family‐wise error protection is available for smaller subsets of hypotheses, down to the individual tests. Genet. Epidemiol. 22:170–185, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Age and Sex Differences on the State-Trait Personality Inventory

The State-Trait Personality Inventory was administered to 150 volunteers whose ages ranged from 21 to 83 yr. Participants were placed into one of three groups on the basis of their chronological age: young adults (21 to 39 yr.), middle-age (49 to 59 yr.), and old (60 to 83 yr.). Analysis indicated no significant main effects for age group on any of the six subscales with education statistically controlled. Significant sex differences were found on the Trait Anxiety Scale; women had higher trait anxiety. There was no significant interaction of sex and age. Implications of results were discussed.