Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soluble Aβ Inhibits Specific Signal Transduction Cascades Common to the Insulin Receptor Pathway*

Numerous studies have now shown that the amyloid β-protein (Aβ), the principal component of cerebral plaques in Alzheimer disease, rapidly and potently inhibits certain forms of synaptic plasticity. The amyloid (or Aβ) hypothesis proposes that the continuous disruption of normal synaptic physiology by Aβ contributes to the development of Alzheimer disease. However, there is little consensus about how Aβ mediates this inhibition at the molecular level. Using mouse primary hippocampal neurons, we observed that a brief treatment with cell-derived, soluble, human Aβ disrupted the activation of three kinases (Erk/MAPK, CaMKII, and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-activated protein Akt/protein kinase B) that are required for long term potentiation, whereas two other kinases (protein kinase A and protein kinase C) were stimulated normally. An antagonist of the insulin receptor family of tyrosine kinases was found to mimic the pattern of Aβ-mediated kinase inhibition. We then found that soluble Aβ binds to the insulin receptor and interferes with its insulin-induced autophosphorylation. Taken together, these data demonstrate that physiologically relevant levels of naturally secreted Aβ interfere with insulin receptor function in hippocampal neurons and prevent the rapid activation of specific kinases required for long term potentiation.
Transient Receptor Potential Canonical Channels Regulate the Induction of Cerebellar Long-Term Depression

In the cerebellum, synaptic strength at the synapses between parallel fibers and Purkinje cells is best known to be modulated via metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGluR1)-dependent cerebellar long-term depression (LTD). An increase in intracellular calcium levels plays an important role in inducing mGluR1-dependent cerebellar LTD. Downstream of mGluR1, there are two major sources of calcium: transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channels and inositol trisphosphate receptors (IP3R). IP3R triggers a calcium release from the intracellular calcium store. Here, we show that TRPC channels mediate mGluR1-evoked slow currents to regulate cerebellar LTD in Sprague Dawley rats. We found that the inhibition of TRPC channels blocks the induction of cerebellar LTD. Moreover, we show that processes known to underlie cerebellar LTD induction, such as increases in intracellular calcium concentration, the activation of protein kinase C, and the internalization of GluR2, are also hindered by blocking TRPC. These results suggest that the mGluR1-evoked activation of TRPC channels is required for the induction of cerebellar LTD.
Building resilience and resistance against racism and discrimination among Salvadorian female youth in Canada

This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative study (32 in-depth interviews) with Salvadorian mothers and their daughters. In particular this paper focuses on the strategies that mothers and daughters utilized to resist prejudice and racism in their settlement country, Canada. Findings contribute to the literature specifically by drawing attention to the importance of ethnic pride in helping mothers and their daughters bridge significant strains that arise in their acculturation process.
Schooling and students′ epistemological beliefs about learning

Abstract This study examined university students′ epistemological beliefs as a function of their educational level and field of study. A stratified random sampling technique was used to assess the epistemological beliefs of 386 students at three universities in central Illinois. Confirming previous research, the results suggest that epistemological beliefs can be represented in terms of five factors: (a) certainty of knowledge, (b) omniscient authority, (c) orderly process, (d) innate ability, and (e) quick learning. Students who study in the "soft" fields (i.e., social science and arts/ humanities) have a stronger tendency to believe that knowledge is uncertain, are more reliant on their independent reasoning ability, and have a stronger feeling that learning is not an orderly process than students in "hard" fields (i.e., engineering and business). Graduate students showed a stronger tendency than undergraduate students to believe that knowledge is often uncertain, that learning is not usually an orderly process, and that knowledge is best acquired from independent reasoning. The results of this study suggest that students′ beliefs about learning are a product of the activity, the culture, and the context in which they are cultivated.
Deep BLSTM neural networks for unconstrained continuous handwritten text recognition

Recently, two different trends in neural network-based machine learning could be observed. The first one are the introduction of Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BLSTM) neural networks (NN) which made sequences with long-distant dependencies amenable for neural network-based processing. The second one are deep learning techniques, which greatly increased the performance of neural networks, by making use of many hidden layers. In this paper, we propose to combine these two ideas for the task of unconstrained handwriting recognition. Extensive experimental evaluation on the IAM database demonstrate an increase of the recognition performance when using deep learning approaches over commonly used BLSTM neural networks, as well as insight into how different types of hidden layers affect the recognition accuracy.
The Sleeping Beauty: How Reproductive Diapause Affects Hormone Signaling, Metabolism, Immune Response and Somatic Maintenance in Drosophila melanogaster

Some organisms can adapt to seasonal and other environmental challenges by entering a state of dormancy, diapause. Thus, insects exposed to decreased temperature and short photoperiod enter a state of arrested development, lowered metabolism, and increased stress resistance. Drosophila melanogaster females can enter a shallow reproductive diapause in the adult stage, which drastically reduces organismal senescence, but little is known about the physiology and endocrinology associated with this dormancy, and the genes involved in its regulation. We induced diapause in D. melanogaster and monitored effects over 12 weeks on dynamics of ovary development, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, as well as expression of genes involved in endocrine signaling, metabolism and innate immunity. During diapause food intake diminishes drastically, but circulating and stored carbohydrates and lipids are elevated. Gene transcripts of glucagon- and insulin-like peptides increase, and expression of several target genes of these peptides also change. Four key genes in innate immunity can be induced by infection in diapausing flies, and two of these, drosomycin and cecropin A1, are upregulated by diapause independently of infection. Diapausing flies display very low mortality, extended lifespan and decreased aging of the intestinal epithelium. Many phenotypes induced by diapause are reversed after one week of recovery from diapause conditions. Furthermore, mutant flies lacking specific insulin-like peptides (dilp5 and dilp2-3) display increased diapause incidence. Our study provides a first comprehensive characterization of reproductive diapause in D. melanogaster, and evidence that glucagon- and insulin-like signaling are among the key regulators of the altered physiology during this dormancy.
Writing: The Process of Discovering Meaning

Since writers do not seem to know beforehand what it is they will say, writing is a process through which meaning is created. This suggests composition instruction that recognizes the importance of generating, formulating, and refining one's ideas. It implies that revision should become the main component of this instruction, that writing teachers should intervene throughout the process, and that students should learn to view their writing as someone else's reading. Methods that emphasize form and correctness ignore how ideas get explored through writing and fail to teach students that writing is essentially a process of discovery. Research on composition has traditionally been concerned with the written product. The studies reported by Braddock et al. (1963) reflect this concern since, by and large, researchers investigated the effects that certain teaching methodologies had on writing. In many cases these studies sought to prove the efficacy of one grammar over another, thus perpetuating the belief that a better pedagogical approach, particularly one that focused on usage, structure, or correct form, would improve writing. Since this line of research depended upon the evaluation of compositions that students wrote after having received certain types of instruction, little attention was paid to other, more important considerations such as purpose, audience, and the process of composing itself. Questions dealing with why or for whom students were writing were not taken into account. The whole notion of how writers write-where ideas come from, how they are formulated and developed, what the various stages of composing entail--was ignored. And this state of the art was both influenced by and, in turn, influenced classroom practices and the textbooks that were written (Young 1978: 31-2). Given the emphasis on the composed product, teach
Prevalence of resistance to second-line tuberculosis drug among multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients in Viet Nam, 2011

Introduction Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) represents an emerging public health problem worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 9.7% of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases are defined as XDR-TB globally. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of drug resistance to second-line TB drugs among MDR-TB cases detected in the Fourth National Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey in Viet Nam. Methods Eighty clusters of TB cases were selected using a probability-proportion-to-size approach. To identify MDR-TB cases, drug susceptibility testing (DST) was performed for the four major first-line TB drugs. DST of second-line drugs (ofloxacin, amikacin, kanamycin, capreomycin) was performed on isolates from MDR-TB cases to identify pre-XDR and XDR cases. Results A total of 1629 smear-positive TB cases were eligible for culture and DST. Of those, DST results for first-line drugs were available for 1312 cases, and 91 (6.9%) had MDR-TB. Second-line DST results were available for 84 of these cases. Of those, 15 cases (17.9%) had ofloxacin resistance and 6.0% were resistant to kanamycin and capreomycin. Five MDR-TB cases (6.0%) met the criteria of XDR-TB. Conclusion This survey provides the first estimates of the proportion of XDR-TB among MDR-TB cases in Viet Nam and provides important information for local policies regarding second-line DST. Local policies and programmes that are geared towards TB prevention, early diagnosis and treatment with effective regimens are of high importance.
New Perspectives on the Expression of Quantity

The expression of quantity is central to many acts of communication, both formal and casual. Expressions of quantity, whether in numbers and percentages or in language, are used to convey information about frequency, certainty, risk, and degrees of association. It has typically been supposed that the many linguistic expressions that convey quantities are merely vague ways of indicating information that would be better conveyed by numbers and percentages, whenever possible. However, we show that such a view is too simplistic and is misleading. Language expressions can be more informative than numerical information alone. Language expressions carry built-in perspectives that affect the inferences and decisions made by listeners and readers. We also show that information presented through numbers (e.g., the depiction of fat content of foods) is not necessarily neutral, but also induces perspective. Failure to recognize effects of perspective may have led to some false conclusions about how people attribute causation.
Habitual Creativity: Revising Habit, Reconceptualizing Creativity

Current psychological scholarship is based on a dichotomy between habit, associated with automatic reflex behavior, and creativity, which involves deliberation, purpose and heuristic procedures. However, this account is problematic and contradicts everyday experience where mastery, for instance, is one of the highest levels of creative performance achieved within a habitual practice. This article argues that such a separation misrepresents both habit and creativity with important theoretical and practical consequences. A first step toward reconciling the two terms is made by revisiting a series of foundational strands of theory from psychology and related disciplines. In light of these sources, habit is reformulated as a social, situated, and open system, and habitual creativity defined as the intrinsically creative nature of customary action, reflected in the way habits adjust to dynamic contexts, the way they are used, combined, and ultimately perfected. Further distinctions are then made between habit, improvisation, and innovation. Both improvisational and innovative creativity are embedded in habitual forms and this is well illustrated by craftwork: a practiced type of activity on the basis of which artisans improvise, whenever obstacles or difficulties are encountered, and even get to innovate when their intention is to generate novel artifacts or work techniques.
Are periodontal diseases really silent? A systematic review of their effect on quality of life.

AIM Periodontal diseases (PDs) may play an important role in the effect oral health status has on a person's quality of life (QoL). The objective was to investigate the influence of PDs (gingivitis and periodontitis) on oral health-related QoL (OHRQoL) by systematically reviewing the literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS Studies using clinical periodontal examinations and validated survey instruments were included. Among 1134 citations initially identified through electronic and hand searching, 37 were eligible and data were extracted from full texts. A vote counting method was used for synthesis of the results. RESULTS Included studies were published between 2001 and 2014 and revealed considerable heterogeneity in participant selection, clinical assessments, and OHRQoL measures. A significant association between PDs and OHRQoL was reported in 28 studies, of which eight reported increasing impact with greater disease severity or extent. CONCLUSIONS Within the limits of the available literature, OHRQoL was affected by clinically assessed PDs. There was evidence for increased impairment with greater severity and extent of PDs, and the recognition of the association was increased when full mouth recording protocols were applied.
Integrated education in Northern Ireland in the context of critical multiculturalism

Although Northern Ireland is commonly perceived as a society comprised almost exclusively of Catholics or Protestants, this is not the total reality as other ethnic and religious minorities are becoming increasingly visible (Richardson, 2002). The recently published 2001 census figures show that over twenty religions and philosophies other than Christianity are represented in Northern Ireland. In addition, the number of people with "no religion" or choosing not to state a religion has risen from ten percent in 1991 to nearly fourteen percent (seventeen percent in Belfast) in 2001 (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency [NISRA], 2003). Greater societal diversity may not be welcomed by all as research suggests that racist prejudice occurs twice as frequently as sectarian prejudice (Connolly and Keenan, 2000). As elsewhere in the world, multiculturalism is no longer an option but a reality that demands a response from the education system (Kincheloe and Steinberg, 1997).
Anti-A b Drug Screening Platform Using Human iPS Cell-Derived Neurons for the Treatment of Alzheimer ’ s Disease

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes progressive memory and cognitive decline during middle to late adult life. The AD brain is characterized by deposition of amyloid b peptide (Ab), which is produced from amyloid precursor protein by band c-secretase (presenilin complex)-mediated sequential cleavage. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells potentially provide an opportunity to generate a human cell-based model of AD that would be crucial for drug discovery as well as for investigating mechanisms of the disease. Methodology/Principal Findings: We differentiated human iPS (hiPS) cells into neuronal cells expressing the forebrain marker, Foxg1, and the neocortical markers, Cux1, Satb2, Ctip2, and Tbr1. The iPS cell-derived neuronal cells also expressed amyloid precursor protein, b-secretase, and c-secretase components, and were capable of secreting Ab into the conditioned media. Ab production was inhibited by b-secretase inhibitor, c-secretase inhibitor (GSI), and an NSAID; however, there were different susceptibilities to all three drugs between early and late differentiation stages. At the early differentiation stage, GSI treatment caused a fast increase at lower dose (Ab surge) and drastic decline of Ab production. Conclusions/Significance: These results indicate that the hiPS cell-derived neuronal cells express functional band csecretases involved in Ab production; however, anti-Ab drug screening using these hiPS cell-derived neuronal cells requires sufficient neuronal differentiation. Citation: Yahata N, Asai M, Kitaoka S, Takahashi K, Asaka I, et al. (2011) Anti-Ab Drug Screening Platform Using Human iPS Cell-Derived Neurons for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. PLoS ONE 6(9): e25788. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0025788 Editor: Hitoshi Okazawa, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan Received May 26, 2011; Accepted September 10, 2011; Published September 30, 2011 Copyright: 2011 Yahata et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This study was supported by Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency (HI & NI), and a research grant from the NOVARTIS Foundation for Gerontological Research (HI). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: haruhisa@cira.kyoto-u.ac. jp (HI); iwata-n@nagasaki-u.ac. jp (NI)
Romaphobia among adolescents: the role of perceived threat, nationalism, and acculturation expectations

The purpose of the research presented in this thesis was to gain insight into social-psychological mechanisms that underlie negative attitudes towards the Roma, i.e. Romaphobia, among adolescents. Drawing from the threat theory (Stephan & Stephan, 1996, 2000), we found evidence that the perception of economic and symbolic threat mediates relationships between national in-group attitudes and acculturation preferences, on the one hand, and Romaphobia on the other. Perceived threat to the continued transmission of and support for one’s heritage culture and economic welfare was the basis for nationalistic adolescents’ Romaphobia. Moreover, adolescents who endorsed ethnocentric acculturation strategies, characterized by a relative degree of rejection of Roma’s culture (assimilation), contact with Roma (segregation), or both (marginalization), perceived more threat and Romaphobia. In contrast, youth who favored Roma integration perceived lower levels of threat and more favorable attitudes toward the Roma. This model of relationships appeared to be structurally similar between the Netherlands and Serbia, two countries that clearly differ with respect to minority proportion and status. Explanations are discussed as well as implications for theory and prejudice reduction in diverse intercultural settings.
A National Survey of Violence in the Practice of Social Work

Social workers are at risk of violence in the workplace. Some of this violence has been attributed to deinstitutionalization and the very nature of problems addressed by social workers. Yet, we know very little about nationwide prevalence of such incidents. In this study, the authors look at a national sample of social workers drawn from the membership of the National Association of Social Workers, with particular attention to race, gender, and practice context. Data suggest that verbal abuse is quite common, whereas threats of assault and actual assault are less common, but problematic. Being young and male places a worker at higher risk, and public and nonprofit agency practitioners report many more incidents than workers in private practice.
Execution Monitoring of High-Level Temporal Programs

We propose a domain independent execution monitoring technique for a class of restartable logic-based temporal programs. The execution of a temporal program is interleaved with monitoring. Given a remaining part of a program, an execution trace, and the current time, if at this time no plan satisfying temporal constraints can be generated from the remaining program, the monitor backtracks (if possible) to a previous computation state of the restartable program where a new plan and an appropriate schedule can be constructed. We provide a declarative framework and its implementation on a mobile robot.
Influencia de los modelos sociales en el consumo de alcohol de los adolescentes

El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la relacion entre el consumo de alcohol en adolescentes y el de sus modelos mas cercanos. La muestra se compuso de 536 estudiantes de ESO de una zona rural. Mediante analisis de regresion logistica se establecieron modelos del consumo utilizando como criterio el consumo de los padres, hermanos y mejor amigo del adolescente. Se observo que el consumo de estos modelos explica el consumo del adolescente, la actitud hacia la droga, la intencion de consumo, la percepcion normativa y la percepcion de riesgo. El analisis revelo que el principal indicador del consumo de alcohol es el consumo del mejor amigo (OR= 13.04; IC 95%= 8.14-20.91), seguido del consumo de los hermanos (OR= 1.85; IC 95%= 1.12-3.04). La intencion de consumo aumenta cuando el padre es bebedor (OR= 2.70; IC 95%= 1.68-4.36), el hermano (OR= 2.83; IC 95%= 1.56-5.15), y sobre todo el mejor amigo (OR= 4.33; IC 95%= 2.55-7.36). Influence of social models on alcohol use among adolescents. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the consumption of alcohol among adolescents and that of their close model figures. The sample was made up of 536 secondary students from rural areas. Predictive models of alcohol consumption were established by means of logistic regression analysis and the criterion used was the consumption by parents, siblings, and the adolescent’s best friend. It was observed that alcohol use of these models conditioned the adolescents’ consumption; their attitude towards the drug, their intention to consume, their normative perception and perception of risk. The analysis revealed that the main predictor of alcohol use is the consumption by the best friend (OR= 13.04, IC 95%= 8.14-20.91), followed by the consumption by siblings (OR= 1.85, IC 95%= 1.12-3.04). The intention of consumption increases when the father is an alcohol user (OR= 2.70, IC 95%= 1.68-4.36), sibling (OR= 2.83, IC 95%= 1.56-5.15), and mainly best friend (OR= 4.33, IC 95%= 2.55-7.36).