Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Student Development and Support using a Logotherapeutic Approach

This study reports on participants' meaning-centred experiences and perspectives after attending a logotherapy-based student development and support programme. Thirteen students who were enrolled in the first year of the academic programme, in health science programme at a South Africa university, were participants. Qualitative inquiry was used for the data collection and analysis. Findings suggest that a meaning-centred approach may prove to be beneficial for first year university students.
What Counts as Rape? The Effect of Offense Prototypes, Victim Stereotypes, and Participant Gender on How the Complainant and Defendant are Perceived

Jurors rely on a range of schemas when evaluating allegations of rape and sexual assault. For example, they may be influenced by the prototypicality of the alleged offense, the stereotypicality of the victim, or gender-related stereotypes. These schemas have often been conflated however, making it difficult to determine the unique impact of each on jurors’ perceptions. To be able to effectively counter any schema-related misconceptions, we must first identify which beliefs are important and when. An experiment (N = 420) examined the independent effects of offense prototypicality and victim stereotypicality on mock jurors’ perceptions. As expected, victim stereotypicality had a greater effect on judgments in the counter-prototypical (acquaintance) assault scenario than in the prototypical (stranger) assault scenario. When the complainant was described as being a counter-stereotypical victim in the acquaintance rape scenario, the defendant was seen as less likely to be guilty and evaluated more positively and the complainant less positively compared with when the complainant was described as being a stereotypical victim. Analysis of the qualitative data suggested a focus on different factors in reaching verdicts in the stranger and acquaintance rape scenarios. Results were interpreted as evidence that jurors “step down” through a hierarchy of schemas in their attempts to determine what happened in cases of rape and sexual assault.
Comparing the use of social networking and traditional media channels for promoting citizen science

This paper examines how social networks can be used to recruit and promote a crowdsourced citizen science project and compares this recruiting method to the use of tradition-al media channels including press releases, news stories, and participation campaigns. The target studied is Creek Watch, a citizen science project that allows anyone with an iPhone to submit photos and observations of their local waterways to authorities who use the data for water management, environmental programs, and cleanup events. The results compare promotional campaigns using a traditional press release with news pickups, a participation campaign through local organizations, and a social networking campaign through Facebook and Twitter. Results also include the trial of a feature that allows users to post automatically to Facebook or Twitter. Social networking is found to be a worthwhile avenue for increasing awareness of the project, increasing the conversion rate from browsers to participants, but that targeting existing communities with a participation campaign was a more successful means for increasing the amount of data collected by volunteers.
Evaluation of serum steroid hormones in schizophrenic patients.

BACKGROUND Recent studies have implicated the abnormalities in the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmmiter system in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. There are also evidences indicating that steroids of central or peripheral origin may modulate GABAergic system through direct interaction with the GABAA receptor complex. These raise the possibility that alternations in serum steroid hormones may contribute to the pathophysiological process in the schizophrenia. AIMS The purposes of this study were first, to determine whether alternations in steroid serum levels occur in schizophrenic patients, and secondly to determine whether such alternations normalize with clinical improvement. METHODS AND MATERIAL Serum concentrations of testosterone (T), estradiol (E), progesterone (P) and cortisol (C) were determined in male schizophrenic patients (N = 49) before treatment, during treatment and after recovery and in age-matched healthy male subjects (N = 17). All steroid hormones were assayed by ELISA method. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED Differences in steroids concentrations between groups were assayed by One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), followed by Tukey's post hoc test. The level of significance was considered at P < 0.05. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION The serum concentrations of E, P and C were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in male schizophrenic patients in all three stages of the study, compared with healthy subjects. Serum concentrations of T were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in male schizophrenic patients before and during treatment, but not after recovery, compared with healthy subjects. These findings support the occurrence of abnormal steroid concentrations in schizophrenic patients and suggest that lower T level in this disorder is related to the illness and normalizes with remission, while trait-related factors may contribute to lower serum E and C levels in schizophrenia.
Breaking the Curse of Dimensionality Using Decompositions of Incomplete Tensors: Tensor-based scientific computing in big data analysis

Higher-order tensors and their decompositions are abundantly present in domains such as signal processing (e.g., higher-order statistics [1] and sensor array processing [2]), scientific computing (e.g., discretized multivariate functions [3]? [6]), and quantum information theory (e.g., representation of quantum many-body states [7]). In many applications, the possibly huge tensors can be approximated well by compact multilinear models or decompositions. Tensor decompositions are more versatile tools than the linear models resulting from traditional matrix approaches. Compared to matrices, tensors have at least one extra dimension. The number of elements in a tensor increases exponentially with the number of dimensions, and so do the computational and memory requirements. The exponential dependency (and the problems that are caused by it) is called the curse of dimensionality. The curse limits the order of the tensors that can be handled. Even for a modest order, tensor problems are often large scale. Large tensors can be handled, and the curse can be alleviated or even removed by using a decomposition that represents the tensor instead of using the tensor itself. However, most decomposition algorithms require full tensors, which renders these algorithms infeasible for many data sets. If a tensor can be represented by a decomposition, this hypothesized structure can be exploited by using compressed sensing (CS) methods working on incomplete tensors, i.e., tensors with only a few known elements.
Joint Angular Sensor Based on Distributed Biaxial MEMS Accelerometers

This paper presents the analysis for joint angle measurement on rigid body that is based on distributed biaxial MEMS accelerometers. It focuses on two methods, one called CMR and another DCMR, and utilizes the property of rigid body kinematics to explain their advantages and weaknesses. Unlike CMR method, DCMR method has no requirement on placing the sensors close to the joint center. This provides greater flexibility for the sensor installation. On the basis of the error model of CMR method, we give an analysis outlining the advantage of theoretically error-free DCMR method. The sensor calibration and alignment is described and both methods are characterized on a rigid body robot arm model. The experiment shows the angular error up to 0.4 rad from CMR method whereas just 0.03 rad from DCMR method. The noise level from both methods is also compared and analyzed The result reveals a larger but tunable noise for DCMR method.
Transforming growth factor-beta 1 regulates axon/Schwann cell interactions

We have investigated the potential regulatory role of TGF-beta in the interactions of neurons and Schwann cells using an in vitro myelinating system. Purified populations of neurons and Schwann cells, grown alone or in coculture, secrete readily detectable levels of the three mammalian isoforms of TGF-beta; in each case, virtually all of the TGF- beta activity detected is latent. Expression of TGF-beta 1, a major isoform produced by Schwann cells, is specifically and significantly downregulated as a result of axon/Schwann cell interactions. Treatment of Schwann cells or Schwann cell/neuron cocultures with TGF-beta 1, in turn, has dramatic effects on proliferation and differentiation. In the case of purified Schwann cells, treatment with TGF-beta 1 increases their proliferation, and it promotes a pre- or nonmyelinating Schwann cell phenotype characterized by increased NCAM expression, decreased NGF receptor expression, inhibition of the forskolin-mediated induction of the myelin protein P0, and induction of the Schwann cell transcription factor suppressed cAMP-inducible POU protein. Addition of TGF-beta 1 to the cocultures inhibits many of the effects of the axon on Schwann cells, antagonizing the proliferation induced by contact with neurons, and, strikingly, blocking myelination. Ultrastructural analysis of the treated cultures confirmed the complete inhibition of myelination and revealed only rudimentary ensheathment of axons. Associated defects of the Schwann cell basal lamina and reduced expression of laminin were also detected. These effects of TGF-beta 1 on Schwann cell differentiation are likely to be direct effects on the Schwann cells themselves which express high levels of TGF-beta 1 receptors when cocultured with neurons. The regulated expression of TGF- beta 1 and its effects on Schwann cells suggest that it may be an important autocrine and paracrine mediator of neuron/Schwann cell interactions. During development, TGF-beta 1 could serve as an inhibitor of Schwann cell proliferation and myelination, whereas after peripheral nerve injury, it may promote the transition of Schwann cells to a proliferating, nonmyelinating phenotype, and thereby enhance the regenerative response.
Learning 2 D Linear Dynamics in Image Space Using Neural Networks

Grasping and manipulating a previously unknown object without assumptions about structure or relevant features in the environment is an especially challenging problem in robotics. Motivated by recent work on feature learning with deep neural networks, we approach this problem by learning a dynamical system that relates robotic control inputs (e.g., motor torques) to features learned from raw sensory data (e.g., images) using a deep neural network. We present an algorithm for inferring the most likely parameters of this system using approximate expectation maximization. Initial experiments show that the method is able to predict the next image of a pendulum in a 2D simulator to less than 1 pixel of mean squared error using only the current image and the control inputs to the system.
ANXIETY SENSITIVITY IN ADOLESCENCE AND YOUNG ADULTHOOD: THE ROLE OF STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS, 5HTTLPR AND THEIR INTERACTION

Cognitive biases have long been hypothesized to influence the development and maintenance of symptoms of internalizing problems. Anxiety sensitivity represents one such bias and refers to sensitivity to the physical and emotional symptoms of anxiety and the belief that these are harmful. Twin studies indicate a role for both environmental and genetic influences on anxiety sensitivity. However, little work has been done specifying environments or genes involved in this phenotype. In light of this, we looked at the association between stressful life events, the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5HTTLPR), and anxiety sensitivity in a longitudinal sample of adolescents.
Anxiety, Anxiety Sensitivity, and Perceived Stress as Predictors of Recent Drinking, Alcohol Craving, and Social Stress Response in Heavy Drinkers

Background Stress and anxiety are widely considered to be causally related to alcohol craving and consumption, as well as development and maintenance of alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, numerous preclinical and human studies examining effects of stress or anxiety on alcohol use and alcohol‐related problems have been equivocal. This study examined relationships between scores on self‐report anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and stress measures and frequency and intensity of recent drinking, alcohol craving during early withdrawal, as well as laboratory measures of alcohol craving and stress reactivity among heavy drinkers with AUD. Methods Media‐recruited, heavy drinkers with AUD (N = 87) were assessed for recent alcohol consumption. Anxiety and stress levels were characterized using paper‐and‐pencil measures, including the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Anxiety Sensitivity Index‐3 (ASI‐3), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Eligible subjects (N = 30) underwent alcohol abstinence on the Clinical Research Unit; twice daily measures of alcohol craving were collected. On day 4, subjects participated in the Trier Social Stress Test; measures of cortisol and alcohol craving were collected. Results In multivariate analyses, higher BAI scores were associated with lower drinking frequency and reduced drinks/drinking day; in contrast, higher ASI‐3 scores were associated with higher drinking frequency. BAI anxiety symptom and ASI‐3 scores also were positively related to Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test total scores and AUD symptom and problem subscale measures. Higher BAI and ASI‐3 scores but not PSS scores were related to greater self‐reported alcohol craving during early alcohol abstinence. Finally, BAI scores were positively related to laboratory stress‐induced cortisol and alcohol craving. In contrast, the PSS showed no relationship with most measures of alcohol craving or stress reactivity. Conclusions Overall, clinically oriented measures of anxiety compared with perceived stress were more strongly associated with a variety of alcohol‐related measures in current heavy drinkers with AUD.
Suppression of dysplasia and hyperplasia by calcium in organ-cultured urinary bladder epithelium.

The cause for the development of endophytic growth (nodular downgrowth) in rat urinary bladder epithelia cultured in protein-free medium was traced to a deficiency of Ca2+ in the culture medium. Endophytic growth, which is a characteristic in vivo histological feature of the preneoplastic phase of experimental bladder cancer, was induced in vitro by 0.3 mm Ca2+ but was suppressed by 1.8 mm Ca2+. Magnesium at 1.8 mm had no effect on endophytic growth. Ca2+ deficiency was also found to be a significant cause of hyperplasia. Ca2+ concentrations above 0.9 mm resulted in a substantial inhibition of hyperplasia in the bladder epithelium; a greater than 50% inhibition was observed with 1.8 mm Ca2+. Conditions were found, however, which caused the suppression of endophytic growth without an apparent suppression of hyperplasia. When the Ca2+ concentration was decreased to 0.075 mm and below, epithelial cells lost cohesiveness and infiltrated into the stroma. Epithelial cells were observed individually and in clusters within the lamina propria. Evidence of lytic activity was also observed in the lamina propria. Epithelial cells that infiltrated into the stroma displayed occasional mitotic figures and frequently contained abnormally appearing nucleoli. The ability of low Ca2+ concentration in the culture medium to induce epithelia to mimic some of the growth patterns that appear during the development of experimental bladder cancer in vivo , suggests that there may be an early change in some aspect of cellular Ca2+ in epithelia and/or stroma that have been exposed to bladder carcinogens.
The effect of inflammation on the central 5-HT system in mood disorders

Inflammation appears to play a major role in the pathogenesis of Major Depression, and understanding the relationship between the immune system and mood disorders is a growing area of research. Patients undergoing cytokine therapy frequently develop depressive-like signs which cease upon termination of treatment. In addition, depressed patients often present with high levels of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. There are also significant behavioural correlates between inflammation-associated sickness behaviours and Major Depression, suggesting there is a bidirectional relationship between the immune system and central systems regulating behaviour. Both sickness behaviours in animals and cytokine-induced depression in humans can be reversed with antidepressants targeting the serotonergic (5-HT) system. Against this background, this thesis sought to investigate the role of inflammation in the development of certain specific characteristics of depressive-like states in animal models. Specifically, a single systemic endotoxin challenge (LPS) was used to model acute sickness behaviour and to study the behaviour and molecular effects of this challenge on the 5-HT system. These studies indicated that a single systemic challenge changed the function of the 5-HT system, as well as increasing expression levels of a number of 5-HT-related genes, and markers of inflammation in the CNS. A rodent chronic stress paradigm was employed to investigate whether these changes also occur in animals displaying depressive-like signs. Chronically stressed mice were shown to display significant features of rodent depression; decreased sucrose preference and increased forced swim immobility. These changes were also accompanied by increased expression of 5-HT-related genes and inflammatory markers within the CNS. Importantly, many of the molecular changes observed in LPS-induced sickness behaviour were conserved in the model of stress-induced Major Depression. In particular, increased TNF expression within the CNS was highlighted as a feature in both models. Novel anti-inflammatory agents were used to study the role of TNF in the development of sickness behaviours. Anti-TNF therapy, specifically the fusion protein etanercept, ameliorated sickness behaviour induced by LPS. Together, these data demonstrate that inflammation is capable of significantly changing the 5-HT system, and that stress per se is capable of inducing an inflammatory state within the CNS, which support the thesis that sickness and Major Depression are closely related at a molecular level.
Development of a Real-Time Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer PCR To Detect Arcobacter Species

ABSTRACT A real-time PCR targeting the gyrase A subunit gene outside the quinolone resistance-determining region has been developed to detect Arcobacter species. The species identification was done by probe hybridization and melting curve analysis, using fluorescence resonance energy transfer technology. Discrimination between Arcobacter species was straightforward, as the corresponding melting points showed significant differences with the characteristic melting temperatures of 63.5°C, 58.4°C, 60.6°C, and 51.8°C for the Arcobacter butzleri, Arcobacter cryaerophilus, Arcobacter cibarius, and Arcobacter nitrofigilis type strains, respectively. The specificity of this assay was confirmed with pure cultures of 106 Arcobacter isolates from human clinical and veterinary specimens identified by phenotypic methods and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The assay was then used to screen 345 clinical stool samples obtained from patients with diarrhea. The assay detected A. butzleri in four of these clinical samples (1.2%). These results were confirmed by a conventional PCR method targeting the 16S rRNA gene with subsequent sequencing of the PCR product. In conclusion, this real-time assay detects and differentiates Arcobacter species in pure culture as well as in the competing microbiota of the stool matrix. The assay is economical since only one biprobe is used and multiple Arcobacter species are identified in a single test.
Sex Differences in Autism-Like Behavioral Phenotypes and Postsynaptic Receptors Expression in the Prefrontal Cortex of TERT Transgenic Mice

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains unexplained and untreated despite the high attention of research in recent years. Aside from its various characteristics is the baffling male preponderance over the female population. Using a validated animal model of ASD which is the telomerase reverse transcriptase overexpressing mice (TERT-tg), we conducted ASD-related behavioral assessments and protein expression experiments to mark the difference between male and females of this animal model. After statistically analyzing the results, we found significant effects of TERT overexpression in sociability, social novelty preference, anxiety, nest building, and electroseizure threshold in the males but not their female littermates. Along these differences are the male-specific increased expressions of postsynaptic proteins which are the NMDA and AMPA receptors in the prefrontal cortex. The vGluT1 presynaptic proteins, but not GAD, were upregulated in both sexes of TERT-tg mice, although it is more significantly pronounced in the male group. Here, we confirmed that the behavioral effect of TERT overexpression in mice was male-specific, suggesting that the aberration of this gene and its downstream pathways preferentially affect the functional development of the male brain, consistent with the male preponderance in ASD.
Characterization of a Rice Gene Family Encoding Type-A Diterpene Cyclases

We have previously isolated and characterized the rice (Oryza sativa) cDNAs, OsCyc1/OsCPS4, OsCyc2/OsCPS2, OsKS4, OsDTC1/OsKS7, OsDTC2/OsKS8 and OsKS10, which encode cyclases that are responsible for diterpene phytoalexin biosynthesis. Among the other members of this gene family, OsCPS1 and OsKS1 have been suggested as being responsible for gibberellin biosynthesis, OsKSL11 has recently been shown to encode stemodene synthase, and the functions of the three other diterpene cyclase genes in the rice genome, OsKS3, OsKS5 and OsKS6, have not yet been determined. In this study, we show that recombinant OsKS5 and OsKS6 expressed in E. coli converted ent-copalyl diphosphate into ent-pimara-8(14),15-diene and ent-kaur-15-ene, respectively. Neither product is a hydrocarbon precursor required in the biosynthesis of either gibberellins or phytoalexins. OsKS3 may be a pseudogene from which the translated product is a truncated enzyme. These results suggest that the diterpene cyclase genes responsible for gibberellin and phytoalexin biosynthesis are not functionally redundant.
Efficient visual tracking using particle filter

The paper presents a spatial-color model of object and develops an efficient visual tracking algorithm based on particle filter. This spatial-color model captures richer information than the general color histogram because it incorporates spatial distribution of pixels in addition to color. In order to fast compute the weight of each particle, the Integral Images for computation of histogram, mean and variance are proposed, with which the parameters of spatial-color histograms can be computed by using only simple arithmetic operations and thus the computation load is reduce to linear complexity. Experiments on real image sequences show our method results in more accurate tracking than a standard color particle filter.