Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Generation and Characterisation of Friedreich Ataxia YG8R Mouse Fibroblast and Neural Stem Cell Models

Background Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease caused by GAA repeat expansion in the first intron of the FXN gene, which encodes frataxin, an essential mitochondrial protein. To further characterise the molecular abnormalities associated with FRDA pathogenesis and to hasten drug screening, the development and use of animal and cellular models is considered essential. Studies of lower organisms have already contributed to understanding FRDA disease pathology, but mammalian cells are more related to FRDA patient cells in physiological terms. Methodology/Principal Findings We have generated fibroblast cells and neural stem cells (NSCs) from control Y47R mice (9 GAA repeats) and GAA repeat expansion YG8R mice (190+120 GAA repeats). We then differentiated the NSCs in to neurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes as confirmed by immunocytochemical analysis of cell specific markers. The three YG8R mouse cell types (fibroblasts, NSCs and differentiated NSCs) exhibit GAA repeat stability, together with reduced expression of frataxin and reduced aconitase activity compared to control Y47R cells. Furthermore, YG8R cells also show increased sensitivity to oxidative stress and downregulation of Pgc-1α and antioxidant gene expression levels, especially Sod2. We also analysed various DNA mismatch repair (MMR) gene expression levels and found that YG8R cells displayed significant reduction in expression of several MMR genes, which may contribute to the GAA repeat stability. Conclusions/Significance We describe the first fibroblast and NSC models from YG8R FRDA mice and we confirm that the NSCs can be differentiated into neurons and glia. These novel FRDA mouse cell models, which exhibit a FRDA-like cellular and molecular phenotype, will be valuable resources to further study FRDA molecular pathogenesis. They will also provide very useful tools for preclinical testing of frataxin-increasing compounds for FRDA drug therapy, for gene therapy, and as a source of cells for cell therapy testing in FRDA mice.
Temperature distribution analysis of tissue water vaporization during microwave ablation: Experiments and simulations

The temperature distribution in the region near a microwave antenna is a critical factor that affects the entire temperature field during microwave ablation of tissue. It is challenging to predict this distribution precisely, because the temperature in the near-antenna region varies greatly. The effects of water vaporisation and subsequent tissue carbonisation in an ex vivo porcine liver were therefore studied experimentally and in simulations. The enthalpy and high-temperature specific absorption rate (SAR) of liver tissues were calculated and incorporated into the simulation process. The accuracy of predictions for near-field temperatures in our simulations has reached the level where the average maximum error is less than 5°C. In addition, a modified thermal model that accounts for water vaporisation and the change in the SAR distribution pattern is proposed and validated with experiment. The results from this study may be useful in the clinical practice of microwave ablation and can be applied to predict the temperature field in surgical planning.
Measuring Beliefs in Centimeters: Private Knowledge Biases Preschoolers' and Adults' Representation of Others' Beliefs

A novel task, using a continuous spatial layout, was created to investigate the degree to which (in centimeters) 3-year-old children's (N = 63), 5-year-old children's (N = 60), and adults' (N = 60) own privileged knowledge of the location of an object biased their representation of a protagonist's false belief about the object's location. At all ages, participants' knowledge of the object's actual location biased their search estimates, independent of the attentional or memory demands of the task. Children's degree of bias correlated with their performance on a classic change-of-location false belief task, controlling for age. This task is a novel tool for providing a quantitative measurement of the degree to which self-knowledge can bias estimates of others' beliefs. Successful perspective taking in the everyday world hinges on the ability to understand that others have beliefs, desires, and emotions that can differ from, and even contradict, one's own mental states. Research conducted under the umbrella of " theory of mind " has made impressive gains in uncovering the developmental origins of the understanding that others can have beliefs that differ from reality, as measured in the classic false belief task. Based on this work, many researchers have argued that there is a qualitative shift between 3 and 5 years of age in children's understanding that beliefs are representations of the world, not reflections of reality, and therefore can be incorrect and/or incomplete Adults and older children pass classic change-of-location false belief tasks, demonstrating that they appreciate that others can hold false beliefs. Nevertheless , it is the case that even in adults, one's own knowledge can contaminate or distort one's understanding of another person's beliefs. Indeed, many studies have demonstrated that adults' own knowledge and beliefs significantly bias their understanding of the beliefs and knowledge of other people Our goal was to create a new task that measures the degree to which children's and adults' own knowledge of an object's actual location biases their estimates of where a protagonist, who holds a false belief about the object's location, will search for the object. We devised a novel task that capitalizes on Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in the study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF or SSHRC. We are grateful to the parents and children who participated in this research. We would like to thank
Cultivating aesthetic practice for 21st century learning: Arts-based literacy as critical inquiry

This study is about art, literacy, and adolescents. It addresses a need for research that studies and theorizes arts-based learning for adolescents from sociocultural and critical perspectives, and a need for empirical research on the intersections among the arts, aesthetics, and critical literacy practice. Through participatory inquiry, I explore how arts-based literacy was taken up and understood by students over the course of one school year in two English classes in an arts-based high school. Through sociocultural critical literacy and aesthetic frameworks, I study how art was positioned and engaged in these classes and what this work meant to the teachers and students. Using ethnographic and qualitative methods, I study and theorize this work with and alongside teachers and students. The study analyzes how arts-based learning here meant art as an epistemology, a way of knowing, but it also meant the cultivation of an aesthetic practice, a way of doing, that was nurtured in ongoing ways through invented pedagogical design. In the study, I describe and analyze three domains of this aesthetic practice. Through the positioning of art as story, students came to see their lives as works of art; they learned to resist single stories, cultivate an anti-deterministic stance, and build agentive identities. Students used art as a theoretical instrument for world sense-making; they used art to theorize, inquire, and engage in the social imagination, positioning them as knowledge generators versus passive receivers. Using the relational space of art as a terrain for mapping diverse experience, students engaged in dialogue and came to understand compassion as a mode of critical inquiry and collective action. The teacher and student voices about what engages their hearts and minds, have implications for pedagogy, policy, and research related to the intersections between the arts and adolescent literacy in 21st century learning. The research shows ways that an aesthetic practice that required uncertainty, openness, and relational identity-building enhanced the goals of critical inquiry. Finally, the study makes an argument for the role of aesthetics in critical literacy education, a topic that has been largely absent from mainstream discourses on policy and practice. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor Susan L. Lytle
PENGARUH MODEL PEMBELAJARAN INKUIRI TERBIMBING TERHADAP SIKAP ILMIAH DAN HASIL BELAJAR IPA

Abstrak Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh model pembelajaran inkuiri terbimbing terhadap sikap ilmiah dan hasil belajar IPA dengan menggunakan rancangan the posttest-only control group design . Penelitian ini dilakukan pada siswa kelas IV SD Negeri di Kelurahan Kaliuntu. Populasi penelitian berjumlah 125 siswa dan sampel berjumlah 64 siswa. Data sikap ilmiah dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan metode kuesioner dan data hasil belajar IPA dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan metode tes. Data dianalisis menggunakan MANOVA berbantuan SPSS 17.00 for windows . Hasil penelitian menunjukkan: (1) terdapat perbedaan sikap ilmiah dan hasil belajar IPA antara siswa yang belajar dengan menggunakan model pembelajaran inkuiri terbimbing dan model pembelajaran konvensional (F=29,110; p<0,05), (2) terdapat perbedaan sikap ilmiah dalam pembelajaran IPA secara signifikan antara siswa yang belajar dengan menggunakan model pembelajaran inkuiri terbimbing dan model pembelajaran konvensional (F=22,649; p<0,05), dan (3) terdapat perbedaan hasil belajar secara signifikan antara siswa yang belajar dengan menggunakan model pembelajaran inkuiri terbimbing dan model pembelajaran konvensional (F=39,144; p<0,05). Kata Kunci: inkuiri terbimbing, sikap ilmiah, hasil belajar IPA. Abstract This research aims to investigate the effect of guided inquiry learning model upon scientific attitude and science learning achievement which uses the posttest-only control group design. This research is conducted at the fourth grade students of SD Negeri in Kaliuntu. The research populations are 125 students and samples are 64 students. Data of scientific attitude was collected by using questionnaire method, and the data of science learning achievement was collected by using test method. The data was analyzed using SPSS 17.00 for windows based MANOVA. The results show that: (1) there are significant differences of scientific attitude and science learning achievement between student studying by using guided inquiry learning model and conventional learning model (F=29.110;p<0,05), (2) there is significant difference of scientific attitude between student studying by using guided inquiry learning model and conventional learning model (F=22.649;p<0.05), (3) there is significant difference of science learning achievement between student studying by using guided inquiry learning model and conventional learning model (F=39.144;p<0.05). Keywords: guided inquiry, scientific attitude, student science learning achievement.
Study of the time lag effect of patent impact on profitability of U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry from innovation to profit

This study intends to stretch the extent of the successful innovation process from a novel conception not only to its adoption to the market , but also to its launch for profit from innovation, and focus on probing into the deferred results of patent impacts of the American pharmacy industry and their profitability at the firm level. We find there are obvious relationships between the indexes of patent impact and profitability such as ROE and EPS. Moreover, our empirical research finds there is a time lag of 4 years between the indexes of patent impact and ROE, and 5 years of time lag with EPS. We consider the time lag in the pharmaceutical industry is longer than the results of other industries in the previous study, and suggest that investors regard scientific measures of the quality and quantity of inventive output as useful indicators of the economic profitability tied to patenting impact. The sample of firms for this study are drawn from Compustat database, from which we screened 255 listed companies and only had 72 to 80 complete samples left eventually. We searched every company of the USA's patent database and sum up the patent materials for nine years from 1994 to 2002.
Association between sequevar and antibiotic treatment outcome in patients with Mycobacterium abscessus complex infections in Japan

Purpose. Macrolide susceptibility differs between subspecies in the Mycobacterium abscessus complex, likely due to differences in erm(41) sequevars. Patients with M. abscessus complex infection generally show poor clinical outcomes in response to antibiotic treatment. Here, the association between genotype and treatment outcome was investigated. Methodology. We collected 69 isolates from 35 patients with non‐cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis: 24 had M. abscessus complex lung disease and non‐cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, and 11 were colonized. Outcome analysis was performed in the 24 infected patients. Molecular analyses, including erm(41) and rrl sequencing, and variable‐number tandem‐repeat (VNTR) analysis of 69 isolates, from 24 infected and 11 colonized patients, were performed to elucidate the influence of genotype on antibiotic susceptibility. Results. Among the 24 patients, 18 (14 infected with M. abscessus subsp. abscessus and 4 with M. abscessus subsp. massiliense) showed unfavourable outcomes; six (three infected with M. abscessus subsp. abscessus and three with M. abscessus subsp. massiliense) exhibited favourable outcomes. Patients with unfavourable outcomes showed acquired clarithromycin resistance (33.3 vs 0 %), mixed sequevars (38.9 vs 16.7 %) and differing VNTR patterns between initial and serial isolates (33.3 vs 16.7 %). In contrast, in the 11 colonized patients, M. abscessus subsp. abscessus C28 (sequevar 02) and M. abscessus subsp. massiliense were the most prevalent subspecies. Conclusion. Patients infected with multiple sequevars and genotypes were more likely to exhibit treatment failure and/or recurrence. The precise identification of subspecies and analyses of mycobacterial characteristics may help to predict treatment outcomes in patients with M. abscessus complex lung disease.
Argument Formation in the Reasoning Process: Toward a Generic Model of Deception Detection

Research on deception detection has been mainly focused on two kinds of approaches. In one, people consider deception types and taxonomies, and use different counter strategies to detect and reverse deception. In the other, people search for verbal and non-verbal cues in the content of deceptive communication. However, general theories that study fundamental properties of deception which can be applied in computational models are still very rare. In this work, we propose a general model of deception detection guided by a fundamental principle in the formation of communicative deception. Experimental results using our model demonstrate that deception is distinguishable from unintentional misinformation.
Children as Philosophers: Learning Through Enquiry and Dialogue in the Primary Classroom

Section 1 Voices from the Classroom 1. Thought-provoking Conversations 2. Making Room for Children to Participate Section 2 Thinking about Thinking 3. A Distinctive Approach to Learning through Discussion 4. What Kind of Thinking are we Teaching? 5. Thinking, Democracy and Citizenship Section 3 Teaching Through Enquiry and Dialogue 6. Encouraging Listening 7. Respecting Children's Ideas 8. Relaxing, Meditating and Being Silent 9. Feeling for the Philosophical 10. Working with Different Age-Groups 11. Holding and Extending Threads of Thinking 12. Planning and Monitoring Progress in Enquiry Section 4 The Benefits of Philosophical Enquiry and Dialogue 13. Developing Teaching Skills through Philosophy 14. Teaching Thinking Across the Whole Curriculum 15. What Difference can Philosophy in the Classroom make to Children's Learning? Section 5 Resources Useful Addresses and Contacts for Philosophy with Children / Resources for Philosophy with Children / References
'A foot in two worlds': Young women and identity construction in the context of cancer.

Despite a large number of women being diagnosed with cancer in Australia annually, limited research, addresses the issue of young, women and identity construction in the context of living with cancer. This research adopted a qualitative research paradigm using semi-structured interviews and a multiple case research approach to explore this issue. Four young women aged 20-28 years were involved in multiple interviews (two participants in three interviews and the remaining two participants in two interviews), with each lasting approximately one hour. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and data analysis facilitated through the use of constant comparison. Findings suggest that the young women in our study had a ‘foot in two worlds’ – a medical world dominated by the treatment and management of their illness and a non-medical world where struggles to maintain their pre-diagnosis identity and incorporate a post-diagnosis identity were played out. Despite the reality of their illness with its physical and emotional ramifications, the young women in our study were unwilling to accept an identity compromised by cancer.
Ensemble method for dengue prediction

Background In the 2015 NOAA Dengue Challenge, participants made three dengue target predictions for two locations (Iquitos, Peru, and San Juan, Puerto Rico) during four dengue seasons: 1) peak height (i.e., maximum weekly number of cases during a transmission season; 2) peak week (i.e., week in which the maximum weekly number of cases occurred); and 3) total number of cases reported during a transmission season. A dengue transmission season is the 12-month period commencing with the location-specific, historical week with the lowest number of cases. At the beginning of the Dengue Challenge, participants were provided with the same input data for developing the models, with the prediction testing data provided at a later date. Methods Our approach used ensemble models created by combining three disparate types of component models: 1) two-dimensional Method of Analogues models incorporating both dengue and climate data; 2) additive seasonal Holt-Winters models with and without wavelet smoothing; and 3) simple historical models. Of the individual component models created, those with the best performance on the prior four years of data were incorporated into the ensemble models. There were separate ensembles for predicting each of the three targets at each of the two locations. Principal findings Our ensemble models scored higher for peak height and total dengue case counts reported in a transmission season for Iquitos than all other models submitted to the Dengue Challenge. However, the ensemble models did not do nearly as well when predicting the peak week. Conclusions The Dengue Challenge organizers scored the dengue predictions of the Challenge participant groups. Our ensemble approach was the best in predicting the total number of dengue cases reported for transmission season and peak height for Iquitos, Peru.
An empirical study of Unfairness and Oscillation in ETSI DCC

-Performance of Vehicular Adhoc Networks (VANETs) in high node density situation has long been a major field of studies. Particular attention has been paid to the frequent exchange of Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAMs) on which many road safety applications rely. In the present paper, se focus on the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) Decentralized Congestion Control (DCC) mechanism, particularly on the evaluation of its facility layers component when applied in the context of dense networks. For this purpose, a set of simulations has been conducted over several scenarios, considering rural highway and urban mobility in order to investigate unfairness and oscillation issues, and analyze the triggering factors. The experimental results show that the latest technical specification of the ETSI DCC presents a significant enhancement in terms of fairness. In contrast, the stability criterion leaves room for improvement as channel load measurement presents (i) considerable fluctuations when only the facility layer control is applied and (i.i) severe state oscillation when different DCC control methods are combined.
Isolation, cultivation and genomic analysis of magnetosome biomineralization genes of a new genus of South-seeking magnetotactic cocci within the Alphaproteobacteria

Although magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are ubiquitous in aquatic habitats, they are still considered fastidious microorganisms with regard to growth and cultivation with only a relatively low number of axenic cultures available to date. Here, we report the first axenic culture of an MTB isolated in the Southern Hemisphere (Itaipu Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Cells of this new isolate are coccoid to ovoid in morphology and grow microaerophilically in semi-solid medium containing an oxygen concentration ([O2]) gradient either under chemoorganoheterotrophic or chemolithoautotrophic conditions. Each cell contains a single chain of approximately 10 elongated cuboctahedral magnetite (Fe3O4) magnetosomes. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence shows that the coccoid MTB isolated in this study represents a new genus in the Alphaproteobacteria; the name Magnetofaba australis strain IT-1 is proposed. Preliminary genomic data obtained by pyrosequencing shows that M. australis strain IT-1 contains a genomic region with genes involved in biomineralization similar to those found in the most closely related magnetotactic cocci Magnetococcus marinus strain MC-1. However, organization of the magnetosome genes differs from M. marinus.
BLOOD PARASITES OF SOME BIRDS FROM SENEGAL

A total of 809 birds from Senegal, including 43 species and 21 families, were examined for hematozoans; 93 birds (11.5%) harbored blood parasites, with only 7 (7.5%) harboring mixed infections. Species of Haemoproteus occurred in 81.7% of the infected birds while species of Plasmodium, Trypanosoma, microfilaria and Leucocytozoon were encountered less frequently. The majority of the sample was composed of species of ploceids and estrildids and blood parasites were most prevalent in the colonial-nesting ploceids. Prevalence of blood parasites in Senegal was low in comparison to that seen in birds from other parts of Africa.
Testing the hypothesis that amphiphilic antineoplastic lipid analogues act through reduction of membrane curvature elastic stress

The alkyllysophospholipid (ALP) analogues Mitelfosine and Edelfosine are anticancer drugs whose mode of action is still the subject of debate. It is agreed that the primary interaction of these compounds is with cellular membranes. Furthermore, the membrane-associated protein CTP: phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CCT) has been proposed as the critical target. We present the evaluation of our hypothesis that ALP analogues disrupt membrane curvature elastic stress and inhibit membrane-associated protein activity (e.g. CCT), ultimately resulting in apoptosis. This hypothesis was tested by evaluating structure–activity relationships of ALPs from the literature. In addition we characterized the lipid typology, cytotoxicity and critical micelle concentration of novel ALP analogues that we synthesized. Overall we find the literature data and our experimental data provide excellent support for the hypothesis, which predicts that the most potent ALP analogues will be type I lipids.