Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fetal programming of autonomic and HPA function: do people who were small babies have enhanced stress responses?

Studies in several species have demonstrated that an adverse early environment can influence the development of the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. The autonomic nervous system and HPA axis are key components of the neuroendocrine response to stress and many of these animal models show altered biological responses to stress. Recent research now suggests that these processes operate in humans. An adverse early environment, as evidenced by reduced birth or infant weight, is associated with enhanced autonomic and HPA responses to experimental psychological stress. However, there appear to be marked sex differences in the mechanisms involved. Epidemiological studies demonstrate that physiological changes in these neuroendocrine systems may predispose to cardiovascular disease through their influence on risk factors such as plasma glucose and lipid concentrations and blood pressure. Thus the combination of enhanced stress susceptibility and the psychosocial stressors to which people are exposed may be an important component of the disease risk in human populations.
Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker Inhibits Neointimal Hyperplasia Through Regulation of Smooth Muscle–Like Progenitor Cells

Objectives—Angiotensin II (ATII) type 1 receptor (AT1R) blocker (ARB) has been shown to inhibit neointimal formation. Bone marrow–derived mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) give rise to smooth muscle (SM)-like cells at injured arterial wall and contribute to neointimal formation. However, role of the renin—angiotensin system in the homing process of SM-like cells during neointimal formation is unknown. Material and Methods—When human BM-MNCs and peripheral blood MNCs (PB-MNCs) were cultured under treatment with PDGF-BB and bFGF, these cells gave rise to SM-like cells with expression of &agr;SMA, SMemb, and SM1 proteins. RT-PCR showed the expression of AT1R, ATII type 2 receptor (AT2R), &agr;SMA, and SMemb mRNAs. ATII accelerated the differentiation of SM-like cells, which was inhibited by an ARB CV11974 (P<0.05). We then examined the effects of ATII, CV11974, and AT2R antagonist PD123319 on neointimal formation and BM-derived SM-like cell incorporation at injured arteries in vivo. BM from green fluorescence protein (GFP)-transgenic mice was transplanted to irradiated WT mice. GFP-BM chimera mice were subjected to wire injury on the left femoral artery. ATII (100 ng/kg/min) stimulated whereas CV11974 (1 mg/kg/d) inhibited neointimal formation. Number of GFP+&agr;SMA+ cells at neointima correlated with the intima/media ratio (r=0.69, P<0.05). Conclusion—BM-derived SM-like progenitor cells contributed to the neointimal formation after arterial injury. ATII accelerated whereas ARB suppressed this process. These are new aspects of the ARB-mediated inhibition of atherosclerotic disease progression.
Observation particle morphology of colloidal system by conventional SEM with an improved specimen preparation technique

On the basis of our previous report that polymer emulsion with different viscosity can be investigated by conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we have developed an improved specimen preparation technique for obtaining particle morphology and size of colloidal silver, collagen, glutin, and polymer microspheres. In this study, we expect to provide a means for charactering the three‐dimensional surface microstructure of colloidal particles. Dilution of the samples with appropriate volatile solvent like ethanol is effective for SEM specimen preparation. At a proper ratio between sample and ethanol, the colloidal particles are dispersed uniformly in ethanol and then deposited evenly on the substrate. Different drying methods are studied to search a proper drying condition, in which the small molecule solvent is removed without destroying the natural particle morphology. And the effects of ethanol in the specimen preparation process are described by analyzing the physicochemical properties of ethanol. The specimen preparation technique is simple and can be achieved in common laboratory for charactering the particle morphology of colloidal system. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Green Multiplier: A Study of Environmental Protection and the Supply Chain

List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Setting the Scene Managing the Natural Environment A Strategic Role for Purchasing and Supply The Green Multiplier Supply Chain Managers: What They Say and What They Do Some Good Guys: Electronics, Chemicals and Paper Barriers to Change in Manufacturing Supply Towards a Greener Future Appendix A: Research Methodology Appendix B: Schedule of Interview Questions Appendix C: Summary Results Notes Bibliography Index
The Role of Narrative in Discussing End-of-Life Care: Eliciting Values and Goals From Text, Context, and Subtext

This article reports a qualitative study of elderly veterans' perceptions of and preferences for end-of-life care. At a large urban Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital, we asked 30 veterans and 30 health care providers to define 4 terms in the VA form of the advance directive: life-sustaining treatment, terminal condition, state of permanent unconsciousness, and decision-making capacity. The veterans commonly used narratives to construct meaning, and analysis showed that the resulting texts had both a subtext (the values and goals driving the narrative) and a context (life experiences that filter and shape the current interpretation). We found that all 3 components—text, subtext, and context—are crucial to understanding the central theme of an individual's narrative and the decision-making processes associated with it. In this article we examine 1 lengthy narrative using Chafe's (1994) notion of intonation units. We then present a series of short narratives to demonstrate 3 subthemes that emerged from the data: quality of life versus quantity of life, benefit of treatment versus cost of treatment, and, most common, control versus lack of control. Our goal was to demonstrate the centrality and usefulness of storytelling in the patient–provider interaction when listeners are willing to consider the subtext and context of the story and its role in the decision-making process. As demonstrated in this study, deciphering people's stories gives us insight into their values, the mental constructs that drive their decision making, and the goals that they have for their own health care.
The Institutional Foundations of China’s Unbalanced Economy

Abstract China has become a fast-growing economy with an unbalanced economic structure. Economic policies, especially fiscal and financial policies, contribute to the current growth model by depressing household disposable income and reducing the social services provided by the government. Laws that have been used by the government to subsidise investment and production by distorting factor markets are also to blame. Finally, rebalancing China’s growth pattern has proven to be extremely difficult due to political obstacles, including pressure from interest groups, gridlock caused by factional politics, and ideological discrimination against private entrepreneurs.
Clinical Cure of Herpes Simplex Keratitis by 5-Iodo-2'-Deoxyuridine

To date specific chemotherapy has not been successfully employed for the treatment of disease caused by viruses other than the Chlamydozoaceae and Eaton agent. Vigorous research by Tamm, Horsfall, and others has yielded some agents which appear to inhibit virus growth(1) when applied at time of infection, but these effects have not been dramatic and have not been found to cure established viral lesions. Even with interferon, the reversal of established disease, to our knowledge, has not been demonstrated in any in vivo or in vitro situation. This paper will report the prompt cure of well established lesions of rabbit cornea produced by herpes simplex keratitis even when treatment is delayed for several days after infection. Methods. Treatment was administered with 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine (IDU)†(2). A saturated solution of IDU at pH 7.4 was prepared in distilled water at 56 degrees Centigrade and then refrigerated. The drug was administered as eye drops, one drop in each eye every 2 hours for 48 hours. In some cases treatment was continued every 2 hours from 8 a. m. to 4 p. m. after the first 2 days, but not in most experiments. Herpes simplex virus of the Virtue strain with a titer of 10-9 in rabbit kidney tissue culture was used for the inoculum (3). The virus had been isolated from a patient with herpetic keratitis and passed 6 times in rabbit kidney tissue culture. The inoculum, which was briefly stored at dry ice temperature, was in a medium 50% of which was Hanks' balanced salt solution containing 2% calf serum, and 50% of which was skim milk. Inoculation of the rabbit eyes was as previously described (3). The infection rate was 100% and the initial selection of animals for treatment was made on a random basis at the time of infection.
Do individual investors trade Stocks as gambling? Evidence from repeated natural experiments

Multiple natural experiments of large jackpot lotteries in Taiwan are used to document that some individual investors trade stocks as a form of gambling, whereby those investors substitute lottery gambling for stock trading. Our study accentuates the following findings. First, when the jackpot exceeds 500 million Taiwan dollars, the number of shares traded by individual investors decreases between 6% and 10% among stocks with high individual trading fraction, low market capitalization, high past returns, and high past turnover, and the effect is statistically significant. Second, the reduction in individual trading ranges between 5.4% and 7% among stocks with lottery features. Third, the magnitude of the decline increases monotonically with the jackpot size. Fourth, firm-level trading activity reacts negatively to large jackpots and is statistically significant for a sizable number of firms. Fifth, the aggregate trading activity by individual investors declines by about 5% on large jackpot days. Sixth, the substitution effect is preserved when the lottery sales and the size of the jackpot are employed as alternative instruments for gambling. Finally, the substitution effect is found to adversely affect the liquidity among certain types of stocks, while it fails to show up in the options market and in stock trading by institutional investors.
Do status quo choices reflect preferences?: Evidence from a discrete choice experiment in the context of water utilities’ investment planning

Discrete choice experiments are increasingly being used to assess preferences for services provided by regulated utilities. A commonly observed tendency of customers to opt for the status quo option may signal unwillingness to trade-off changes in service levels with bills, questioning the welfare theoretic interpretation of stated choices. In this paper, we examine status-quo choices and systematic non-trading behaviour in a discrete choice experiment encompassing a wide range of water-related service attributes. Our analysis is novel in several dimensions. First, we use a split sample design to vary the description of the status quo and the survey administration mode (online vs. in person). Second, we define service attributes to span both improvements and deterioration, so that the status quo is not necessarily the least-cost alternative. Third, we elicit information about the perception of the status quo and the impact of service attributes on day-to-day activities. Our results suggest that status quo choices largely reflect preferences.
Multicenter comparison of the efficacy on prevention of pressure ulcer in postoperative patients between two types of pressure-relieving mattresses in China.

OBJECTIVE Present study is designed to evaluate the effects of preventing pressure ulcer in surgical patients with two types of pressure-relieving mattresses. METHODS 1074 surgical patients from 12 hospitals in China were divided into A group (static air mattress with repositioning every 2 hours, n = 562) and B group (power pressure air mattress with repositioning every 2 hours, n = 512). The patient was subjected to a pressure-relieving mattress and observed from 0-5 days after surgery. Indications include the Braden scores, hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU) incidence and stage. RESULTS The Braden scores between two groups in five days after surgery were no significant (P > 0.05). The incidence of HAPU between two groups in same days also was no significant (1.07% vs. 0.98%, P > 0.05). The incidence of Stage I and stage II pressure ulcers in group A and B were 1.07% (6/562) and 0.98% (5/512), respectively (χ(2) = 0.148, P = 0.882). CONCLUSION The effects of preventing pressure ulcer in surgical patients with two types of pressure-relieving mattresses are similar, but the protocol by static air mattress with repositioning every 2 hours is benefit when no power.
Effects of sodium bicarbonate or sodium sesquicarbonate on lactating Holsteins fed a high grain diet.

Fifteen Holstein cows, 35 to 70 d postpartum, were assigned to five 3 x 3 Latin squares. Treatments were: control (60% concentrate, 40% corn silage, DM basis) or control supplemented with either . 71% sodium bicarbonate or . 65% sodium sesquicarbonate, DM basis. Orthogonal contrasts compared the effect of both buffered diets versus the control diet, and the effect of sodium bicarbonate supplementation vs. sodium sesquicarbonate supplementation. There were no differences among treatments for milk yield (34.9 kg/d), milk fat yield (.99 kg/d), 3.5% FCM (31.1 kg/d), or milk protein concentration (3.15%). There were no treatment effects on total chewing time. Milk fat concentration tended to be greater for cows fed sodium bicarbonate (2.92%) and sodium sesquicarbonate (2.89%) relative to control (2.82%). Relative to control, sodium bicarbonate and sodium sesquicarbonate supplementation increased DM intake (22.0 and 22.7 vs. 21.4 kg/d), digestible DM intake (16.7 and 16.2 vs. 14.8 kg/d), digestible organic matter intake (16.0 and 15.5 vs. 14.3 kg/d); and apparent digestibility of DM (77.3 and 74.8 vs. 73.3%) and NDF (62.6 and 56.5 vs. 54.7%). Relative to sesquicarbonate, bicarbonate supplementation increased apparent digestibilities of CP (82.3 vs. 78.8%) and NDF, and decreased milk protein yield (1.06 vs. 1.11 kg/d). Sesquicarbonate was as effective as bicarbonate in alleviating milk fat depression and increasing intake of digestible organic matter.
Resilience Only Gets You So Far: Volunteer Incivility and Burnout

ABSTRACT Although multiple factors have been found to induce burnout in volunteers, studies examining relationships among volunteer coworkers as a potential stressor are sorely lacking. Through the lens of conservation of resources (COR) theory, we investigated coworker (i.e., from both paid and unpaid coworkers) incivility as a predictor of burnout in a sample of volunteers. COR theory postulates that environmental stressors lead to burnout or other negative outcomes by depleting an individual’s resources. The present study also explored resilient coping as one factor that might help volunteers cope with the burnout emanating from incivility. Using regression, we found that incivility from paid and unpaid coworkers was positively associated with burnout. Resilient coping was tested and confirmed as a moderator of this relationship. Specifically, resilient coping was a useful buffer when the relationship between incivility and volunteer burnout was weaker, but was less effective at higher levels of incivility and burnout. Implications are discussed.
17β-Estradiol Stimulates Expression of Osteoprotegerin by a Mouse Stromal Cell Line, ST-2, via Estrogen Receptor-α.

Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a recently identified member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor superfamily that regulates bone mass through an inhibitory action on osteoclast differentiation and function. To determine its potential roles of OPG in pathological changes in bone metabolism caused by estrogen deficiency, we investigated effects of estrogen on OPG expression by a mouse stromal cell line, ST-2, in vitro. Treatment of ST-2 cells with 17β-E2 resulted in up-regulation of OPG expression at both the messenger RNA and protein levels. The effect was time and dose dependent and steroid specific. The stimulatory action of 17β-E2 on OPG expression appeared to be mediated by the estrogen receptor-α (ERα) subtype because stable overexpression of ERα, but not of ERβ, enhanced the OPG induction by 17β-E2. Moreover, estrogen withdrawal after 5-day pretreatment, mimicking the event occurring in vivo at menopause, dramatically diminished the expression of OPG. These findings suggest that down-regulation of O.
Light weight GNSS-based passive radar for remote sensing UAV applications

Nowadays, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) platform are widely employed in a broad range of applications: from environmental monitoring and precise agriculture to humanitarian localization and rescue and prevention of events such as floods, fires, landslides. On the other hand, Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) is an emerging technique which allows to monitor Earths surface parameters. Recently, this technique has been applied to soil moisture monitoring. In this paper, a prototype of a GNSS-based passive radar, able to exploit GNSS reflected signals from ground for soil moisture monitoring applications is presented. The prototype is able to handle signals coming from three antennas: one up-looking Right-Hand (RH) Circular Polarized antenna, for the direct signal from satellite, and two down-looking antennas, one RH and the other Left-Hand (LH) Circular Polarized, to measure the signals coming after reflection from ground. It is made of low-cost hardware and it is small and lightweight in order to be mounted on board an aircraft or a UAV. It basically serves as data grabber: the collected data are stored to memory for off-line processing. The design and development of the prototype is illustrated and early results of an in-field test campaign are also presented.
Functional yet Balanced Reactivity to Candida albicans Requires TRIF, MyD88, and IDO-Dependent Inhibition of Rorc1

The ability of regulatory T (Treg) cells to inhibit aspects of innate and adaptive immunity is central to their protective function in fungal infections. In murine candidiasis, CD4+CD25+ Treg cells prevent excessive inflammation but enable fungal persistence in the gastrointestinal tract, which underlies the onset of durable antifungal protection. In this study, we show that fungal growth, inflammatory immunity, and tolerance to the fungus were all controlled by the coordinate activation of naturally occurring Treg cells, which limited early inflammation at the sites of infection, and pathogen-induced Treg cells (that regulated the expression of adaptive Th immunity in secondary lymphoid organs). Naturally occurring Treg cells required the TRIF pathway for migration to inflamed sites, where the MyD88 pathway would then restrain their suppressive function. Subsequent inflammatory Th1-type immunity was modulated by induced Treg cells, which required the TRIF pathway as well, and acted through activation of IDO in dendritic cells and Th17 cell antagonism. In vitro, using naive CD4+ cells from TRIF-deficient mice, tryptophan metabolites were capable of inducing the Foxp3-encoding gene transcriptionally and suppressing the gene encoding RORγt, Th17 lineage specification factor. This is the first study to show that the same tryptophan catabolites can foster dendritic cell-supported generation of Foxp3+ cells and mediate, at the same time, inhibition of RORγt-expressing T cells.
An improved method for hourly reliability ranking of distribution network zones

In recent years by increasing the sensitivity of loads to electricity power quality as well as power industry liberalization and reconstruction, distribution system reliability evaluation has been become more important. On the other hand with technology progression, time-varying tariffs of consumption electricity and increasing the diversity of loads in distribution network, inattention to the issue of load variation and its effects on distribution system reliability at different times and zonal conditions, does not have any justification. Considering load variation effects on reliability indices of the different zones of a distribution network, this paper applies a method for calculation of the expected interruption duration to rank the zones at each hour of a typical day that can be used in distribution network management, operation and expansion planning. With the aim of this method, taking into account the costumers' class, the loads are modeled and by means of a concept so called "Reliability Zones" in power systems, zonal reliability of the distribution network is assessed hourly along a day and the reliability zones are ranked based on their expected interruption duration.
Isolation and Characterization of EPD1, an Essential Gene for Pseudohyphal Growth of a Dimorphic Yeast,Candida maltosa

ABSTRACT Additional copies of the centromeric DNA (CEN) region induce pseudohyphal growth in a dimorphic yeast, Candida maltosa(T. Nakazawa, T. Motoyama, H. Horiuchi, A. Ohta, and M. Takagi, J. Bacteriol. 179:5030–5036, 1997). To understand the mechanism of this transition, we screened the gene library of C. maltosa for sequences which could suppress this morphological change. As a result, we isolated the 5′ end of a new gene, EPD1 (for essential for pseudohyphal development), and then cloned the entire gene. The predicted amino acid sequence of Epd1p was highly homologous to those of Ggp1/Gas1/Cwh52p, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae, and Phr1p and Phr2p ofCandida albicans. The expression of EPD1 was moderately regulated by environmental pH. A homozygous EPD1null mutant showed some morphological defects and reduction in growth rate and reduced levels of both alkali-soluble and alkali-insoluble β-glucans. Moreover, the mutant could not undergo the transition from yeast form to pseudohyphal form induced by additional copies of the CEN sequence at pH 4 or by n-hexadecane at pH 4 or pH 7, suggesting that EPD1 is not essential for yeast form growth but is essential for transition to the pseudohyphal form. Overexpression of the amino-terminal part of Epd1p under the control of the GAL promoter suppressed the pseudohyphal development induced by additional copies of the CEN sequence, whereas overexpression of the full-length EPD1 did not. This result and the initial isolation of the 5′ end of EPD1 as a suppressor of the pseudohyphal growth induced by the CEN sequence suggest that the amino-terminal part of Epd1p may have a dominant-negative effect on the functions of Epd1p in the pseudohyphal growth induced by the CEN sequence.