Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autogenous intrasynovial and extrasynovial tendon grafts: An experimental study of pro α1(I) collagen mRNA expression in dogs

On the basis of recent evidence that the healing processes of tendon grafts are donor‐tissue specific, in situ hybridization, using a 372 bp cDNA fragment complementary to a portion of pro α1(I) collagen mRNA, was utilized to compare the cellular responses to transplantation exhibited by autogenous intrasynovial and extrasynovial flexor tendon grafts. Intrasynovial and extrasynovial tendons from the hindpaw were transferred to synovial sheaths in the forepaw of 12 mongrel dogs (24 tendons) and treated with immediate controlled passive motion. The tendon grafts were harvested at 2, 4, and 6 weeks, and each was divided into a proximal, central (8 mm), and distal portion. Sections from the central portion were embedded in paraffin and subjected to in situ hybridization, autoradiography, and staining; levels of procollagen mRNA then were assessed by microscopic examination. The two types of tendon grafts exhibited different levels of pro α1(I) collagen mRNA expression at all three time points. Intrasynovial tendon grafts displayed no areas of increased type‐I procollagen mRNA at 2, 4, and 6 weeks. The extrasynovial tendon grafts displayed increased surface levels of type‐I procollagen mRNA at 2 and 4 weeks; the levels decreased to background levels by 6 weeks. The high levels of procollagen mRNA exhibited by the extrasynovial grafts suggest increased collagen synthetic activity, indicative of a cellular response to injury, whereas the preservation of low levels of expression in the intrasynovial grafts may signify a less inflammatory cellular response.
Expression of Noncovalent Hepatitis C Virus Envelope E1-E2 Complexes Is Not Required for the Induction of Antibodies with Neutralizing Properties following DNA Immunization

ABSTRACT Interactive glycoproteins present on the surface of viral particles represent the main target of neutralizing antibodies. The ability of DNA vaccination to induce antibodies directed at such structures was investigated by using eight different expression plasmids engineered either to favor or to prevent interaction between the hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope glycoproteins E1 and E2. Independently of the injection route (intramuscular or intraepidermal), plasmids expressing antigens capable of forming heterodimers presumed to be the prebudding form of the HCV envelope protein complex failed to induce any significant, stable antibodies following injection in mice. In sharp contrast, high titers of antibodies directed at both conformational and linear determinants were induced by using plasmids expressing severely truncated antigens that have lost the ability to form native complexes. In addition, only a truncated form of E2 induced antibodies reacting against the hypervariable region 1 of E2 (specifically with the C-terminal part of it) known to contain a neutralization site. When injected intraepidermally into small primates, the truncated E2-encoding plasmid induced antibodies able to neutralize in vitro the binding of a purified E2 protein onto susceptible cells. Because such antibodies have been associated with viral clearance in both humans and chimpanzees, these findings may have important implications for the development of protective immunity against HCV.
Punish the Perpetrator or Compensate the Victim? Gain vs. Loss Context Modulate Third-Party Altruistic Behaviors

Third-party punishment and third-party compensation are primary responses to observed norms violations. Previous studies mostly investigated these behaviors in gain rather than loss context, and few study made direct comparison between these two behaviors. We conducted three experiments to investigate third-party punishment and third-party compensation in the gain and loss context. Participants observed two persons playing Dictator Game to share an amount of gain or loss, and the proposer would propose unfair distribution sometimes. In Study 1A, participants should decide whether they wanted to punish proposer. In Study 1B, participants decided to compensate the recipient or to do nothing. This two experiments explored how gain and loss contexts might affect the willingness to altruistically punish a perpetrator, or to compensate a victim of unfairness. Results suggested that both third-party punishment and compensation were stronger in the loss context. Study 2 directly compare third-party punishment and third-party compensation in the both contexts, by allowing participants choosing between punishment, compensation and keeping. Participants chose compensation more often than punishment in the loss context, and chose more punishments in the gain context. Empathic concern partly explained between-context differences of altruistic compensation and punishment. Our findings provide insights on modulating effect of context on third-party altruistic decisions.
Forms of agricultural support and the “culture of dependency and entitlement”

ABSTRACT The paper is based on a study that sought to understand the nature of the interaction between small-scale farmers and government in the Eastern Cape from a variety of different perspectives. The study involved a sample survey of farmers, and in-depth interviews with farmers, extension officers and other government staff, and leaders of farmer associations. This particular paper explores two themes that emerged in the course of the larger study: first, what is popularly known in South Africa and elsewhere as the “culture of dependency and entitlement”, and second, the forms of support that government chooses to offer to small-scale farmers. The paper argues that government is stuck in a vicious cycle whereby it seeks to placate expectant small-scale farmers with material support, which it can most effectively do via problematic group projects; although generally ineffective, the practice has the effect of maintaining widespread demand for such support, even to the point that small-scale farmers form group projects for the sole purpose of attracting it. In seeking to compensate for the weaknesses of this approach, government has sought to introduce compensatory measures such as “strategic partnerships”, sometimes with the ironic consequence that small-scale farmers no longer play a role in farming in “their” agricultural projects. The paper concludes that the government in the Eastern Cape needs to return to the basics of effective extension support aimed at supporting individual farmers; to the extent material support is still needed, it should no longer be given away for free.
Utility of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool version (BRIEF-P) in young children with epilepsy

ABSTRACT Executive functioning deficits are prominent in children with epilepsy. Although instruments, such as the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), are useful in detecting executive dysfunction in school-age children with epilepsy, little data are available for younger children. The present study evaluates the ability of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version (BRIEF-P) to detect executive dysfunction in preschool-age children with epilepsy. Parents of 51 clinically referred children with epilepsy (age: M = 1.99 years, SD = 1.29 years, range = 2–5 years) completed the BRIEF-P. Using a cutoff t score of ≥65 as the threshold for impairment, the BRIEF-P’s ability to detect executive dysfunction within this clinical population was established. Additionally, correlational analyses were used to assess the relations between epilepsy severity factors and BRIEF-P indices. Epilepsy severity variables that were significantly related to BRIEF-P indices were entered into a linear regression model to explore their predictive ability. Emergent metacognition (emergent metacognition index [EMI]; 59%) and the global executive composite (43%) were the most frequently elevated indices. The most commonly elevated subscales were working memory (65%), inhibition (37%), and planning/organization (35%). Age of seizure onset, seizure frequency, and number of antiepileptic drugs were not significantly correlated with BRIEF-P indices. However, children with lower intellectual ability were rated as having greater executive dysfunction, specifically with EMI (r = −.30). Still, intellectual functioning only accounted for a small percentage (9%) of the variance in EMI scores. The current pilot study demonstrates that the BRIEF-P shows promise in identifying executive dysfunction in preschool-age children with epilepsy.
Conformational selection and dynamic adaptation upon linker histone binding to the nucleosome

Linker histones are essential for DNA compaction in chromatin. They bind to nucleosomes in a 1:1 ratio forming chromatosomes. Alternative configurations have been proposed in which the globular domain of the linker histone H5 (gH5) is positioned either on- or off-dyad between the nucleosomal and linker DNAs. However, the dynamic pathways of chromatosome assembly remain elusive. Here, we studied the conformational plasticity of gH5 in unbound and off-dyad nucleosome-bound forms with classical and accelerated molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the unbound gH5 converts between open and closed conformations, preferring the closed form. However, the open gH5 contributes to a more rigid chromatosome and restricts the motion of the nearby linker DNA through hydrophobic interactions with thymidines. Moreover, the closed gH5 opens and reorients in accelerated simulations of the chromatosome. Brownian dynamics simulations of chromatosome assembly, accounting for a range of amplitudes of nucleosome opening and different nucleosome DNA sequences, support the existence of both on- and off-dyad binding modes of gH5 and reveal alternative, sequence and conformation-dependent chromatosome configurations. Taken together, these findings suggest that the conformational dynamics of linker histones and nucleosomes facilitate alternative chromatosome configurations through an interplay between induced fit and conformational selection.
Linear Precoder Design with Imperfect CSI in Underlay Device-to-Device Communication for a Vehicular Platooning Scenario

This paper proposes a novel design for linear precoder in underlay Device-to-Device (D2D) communication using cellular network, speciﬁcally for a use case with vehicle-to-vehicle communication and platooning. To increase the communication reliability, we develop an optimization algorithm for precoder that takes into account the outage probability when channel state information (CSI) is only partially available at devices and transmission could be in outage. The algorithm aims at maximizing the sum throughput over each transmission link received at one device, while constraining the interference caused by the transmit power from each device to the cellular network. Due to the intractable form of outage probability, an extended Markov Inequality is used to transform the problem into an upper-bound expression. A two-step alternating algorithm is then adapted to solve the multi- variable optimization. The proposed algorithm is compared with other state-of-the-art technologies in the ﬁeld of vehicular communication for achieving high throughput. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm outperforms the current techniques and achieves higher average throughput with extremely low outage probability, thus enables reliable vehicle- to-vehicle communication for platooning in a D2D underlay setting.
Is Bangladesh’s Economy Approaching the Lewis Turning Point?

During the last decade, Bangladesh economy grew consistently over 6 per cent annually; however, growth rate in the agriculture sector declined. Labour away from agriculture is evident; it is also evident real wages in the agriculture sector are rising. This could be an indication that Bangladesh is moving to a different stage of economic development. This article investigates whether Bangladesh is approaching a stage of economic development where marginal productivity of labour equals its price, called the Lewis turning point (LTP). We find that the reallocation of labour away from agriculture has had a positive but insignificant impact on economic growth in Bangladesh. We also find that the surplus agricultural labour has not fully been absorbed by the economy. Therefore, we conclude Bangladesh has yet to reach the LTP and suggest initiating policies (e.g., job creation in the service sector) that might speed up the country’s movement to the LTP. JEL: O11, O17, O41, O53
Nonvascular Thoracic Magnetic Resonance Imaging: The Current State of Training, Utilization, and Perceived Value Survey of the Society of Thoracic Radiology Membership

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the current state of training, utilization, and perceived value of nonvascular thoracic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods: The URL link for this anonymous, IRB-approved survey was e-mailed to all Society of Thoracic Radiology members with available e-mail addresses (733), of whom 693 were qualified to respond as per the survey’s instructions. Survey questions focused on MRI training, interpretation volume, perceived value of thoracic MRI, and barriers to its utilization. Study data were collected and managed using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) electronic data capture tools and analyzed with &khgr;2 tests. Results: The survey response rate was 27% (190/693). Thirty-seven percent (67/180) of respondents reported that they interpreted and reported zero thoracic MRIs and 64% (116/182) interpreted or reported <10 MRIs over the prior year. The perceived value of thoracic MRI was highest for chest wall and neurovascular involvement and evaluation of the mediastinum, particularly thymus, next highest for assessment of pleural or diaphragmatic lesions, and lowest for assessment of lung function with hyperpolarized gases. Seventy-three percent (121/166) of respondents felt it would be of value to increase utilization of thoracic MRI. Perceived obstacles to increasing thoracic MRI utilization included lack of: awareness of referring health care providers as to the value of thoracic MRI (59%, 98/166), radiologist proficiency or comfort with thoracic MRI (46%, 77/166), standardized protocols (38%, 64/166), technologist experience (38%, 63/166), and sufficient training during residency and/or fellowship (32%, 54/166). Twenty-five percent (41/166) of respondents reported insufficient thoracic MRI literature and limited CME courses and lectures in this field as an additional impediment. Conclusions: The majority of survey respondents reported limited experience in thoracic MRI interpretation, a recognition of thoracic MRI’s value, and an interest in increasing its utilization. Improved education of radiologists, technologists, and referring clinicians would ameliorate the current state.
Ultrasonographical diagnosis of fatty liver: significance of the liver-kidney contrast.

In order to investigate the reliability of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of fatty liver, retrospective evaluation was made of abdominal echograms in 45 patients with various diffuse liver diseases who underwent liver biopsy within 2 weeks after the ultrasound study. Instead of the well-recognized but subjective diagnostic criterion, i.e. the bright liver pattern, liver-kidney contrast is proposed as a new criterion. The liver-kidney contrast is based on the brightness of the liver in comparison to the renal parenchyma where fatty change seldom occurs. Combination of this liver-kidney contrast with two other well-known ultrasonographical findings of fatty liver, vascular blurring and deep attenuation, enables us to grade fatty change semiquantitatively. When fatty change of over 30% in the hepatic lobule was adopted as the definition of fatty liver, the satisfaction of both liver-kidney contrast and vascular blurring presented an ultrasound diagnostic criterion for fatty liver, with sensitivity of 83%, specificity of 100%, and an accuracy of 96%.
New insights concerning the role of carnitine in the regulation of fuel metabolism in skeletal muscle

In skeletal muscle, carnitine plays an essential role in the translocation of long‐chain fatty‐acids into the mitochondrial matrix for subsequent β‐oxidation, and in the regulation of the mitochondrial acetyl‐CoA/CoASH ratio. Interest in these vital metabolic roles of carnitine in skeletal muscle appears to have waned over the past 25 years. However, recent research has shed new light on the importance of carnitine as a regulator of muscle fuel selection. It has been established that muscle free carnitine availability may be limiting to fat oxidation during high intensity submaximal exercise. Furthermore, increasing muscle total carnitine content in resting healthy humans (via insulin‐mediated stimulation of muscle carnitine transport) reduces muscle glycolysis, increases glycogen storage and is accompanied by an apparent increase in fat oxidation. By increasing muscle pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) activity and acetylcarnitine content at rest, it has also been established that PDC flux and acetyl group availability limits aerobic ATP re‐synthesis at the onset of exercise (the acetyl group deficit). Thus, carnitine plays a vital role in the regulation of muscle fuel metabolism. The demonstration that its availability can be readily manipulated in humans, and impacts on physiological function, will result in renewed business and scientific interest in this compound.
Creativity and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour in the Nigerian Hospitality Industry

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between opportunity for creativity and organizational citizenship behaviour. The cross sectional survey was conducted with a sample size of 1450 workers drawn from a population of 3768 workers. The scales used were within the acceptable Cronbach Alpha values of 0.7, which was interpreted to be reliable. A total of 1,093 copies of completed and usable questionnaire were used for data analysis. Furthermore, descriptive statistics were computed at the primary level of analysis, while the Spearman Rank Order Coefficient was used at the secondary level of analysis. The results reveal that opportunity for creativity is strongly related to altruism, conscientiousness, civic virtue, courtesy and sportsmanship The findings suggest that organizations conducive for creativity tends to promote extra discretionary employee behaviour
The FengYun-3 Microwave Radiation Imager On-Orbit Verification

The Microwave Radiation Imager (MWRI) on board the FengYun-3A/B satellites observes the Earth atmosphere at 10.65, 18.7, 23.8, 36.5, and 89.0 GHz with each having dual polarization. Its calibration system is uniquely designed with a main reflector viewing both cold and hot calibration targets. Two quasi-optical reflectors are used to reflect the radiation from the hot load and cold space to the main reflector. In the MWRI calibration process, a radiation loss in the beam transmission path must be taken into account. The loss factor in the hot load transmission path is derived using the antenna pattern data measured on ground and satellite data observing over the Amazon forest where the scene temperature is steady and close to the hot load. The instrument nonlinearity factors at different channels are also evaluated over a wide range of brightness temperatures and compared with the results from the ground vacuum test. After a cross-calibration with Windsat data, atmospheric products are derived from MWRI brightness temperatures with the accuracy similar to those from the legacy sensors (e.g., the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager).
Exploiting tumor metabolism for non-invasive imaging of the therapeutic activity of molecularly targeted anticancer agents

Rational drug discovery and development requires biomarkers to inform on target modulation and treatment efficacy. Many aspects of metabolism are altered in cancer, compared to normal tissues, and are often regulated by oncogene activation. Non-invasive imaging of spatio-temporal effects of molecularly targeted anticancer agents on tumor metabolism has considerable potential in the development and use of personalized molecular medicine approaches to cancer treatment. Here we describe how non-invasive monitoring of metabolism, using primarily magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), can be used to follow treatment with novel molecularly targeted anticancer agents. We discuss how the regulation of metabolic pathways by oncogenic signaling can affect MRS-detectable metabolic signals together with the physiological factors that can influence the measured changes. Finally, the translation of these metabolic measurements from pre-clinical models to patients will be discussed.
Living With a Total Artificial Heart: Patients’ Perspectives

Background:Advances in mechanical circulatory support have reduced morbidity and mortality in end-stage heart failure. To date, there have been no published studies examining the psychosocial impact on patients who are supported with a total artificial heart (TAH-t). Purpose:The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience of patients currently supported by the TAH-t awaiting transplant. Methods:A qualitative method using Giorgi’s modification of phenomenologic inquiry guided the investigation, which was conducted at a transplant center located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. A purposive sample was selected to reflect participants currently supported by the TAH-t. All participants (9 men, 1 woman; mean age, 48.2 years; nonischemic etiology, 80%) were in-patients on the progressive care unit at the time of the interview and had been supported for at least 30 days. The mean length of device therapy was 84.7 days (range, 33–245 days). Findings:Hope for the future was the overarching theme. Subthemes included reflections, for better or for worse, the secret club, and coping and adaptation. The patients reflected on severity of illness, progress, and expressed optimism. For better or for worse described how symptoms improved but were offset by restrictions imposed by the technology. The secret club described the support provided to help deal with their life situation. Coping and adaptation suggested that the patients came to terms with and accepted their circumstances. Conclusions:The findings will help clinicians understand patients experiencing a life-changing situation and implications for psychosocial interventions.
Expression of insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding protein 3 in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck.

BACKGROUND Insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding protein 3 (IMP3) was found overexpressed in various cancer types suggesting its possible role in carcinogenesis. Analysis of IMP3 expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) is rare so that we evaluated it using tissue microarray method. METHOD Immunohistochemical analysis of IMP3 was performed on samples from over 400 patients. The expression was measured semiquantitative, subsequently divided into four categories (negative, weak, medium, or strong) and correlated with several available clinicopathologic parameters. RESULTS For HNSCC, positive IMP3 expression was observed in patients with all tumor stages (pT1-4) and nodal stages (pN0-3), showing also significant statistical correlation (P=0.023 and P=0.0013, respectively). No further correlations were found. Separate analysis according to tumor localization (oral cavity, oropharyngeal, and laryngeal) showed a significant correlation of positive IMP3 expression and overall survival (P=0.038) only in patients with tumors of the oral cavity. Multivariate analysis showed IMP3 as an independent predictive marker for oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). CONCLUSION Insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding protein 3 (IMP3) expression might be used as an independent prognostic factor in the subgroup of OSCC.