Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of tumour necrosis factor-α receptor p75 in cigarette smoke-induced pulmonary inflammation and emphysema

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by a local pulmonary inflammatory response to respiratory pollutants and by systemic inflammation. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α has been implicated in systemic effects of COPD and operates by binding the p55 (R1) and p75 (R2) TNF-α receptors. To investigate the contribution of each TNF-α receptor in the pathogenesis of COPD, the present study examined the effects of chronic air or cigarette smoke (CS) exposure in TNF-α R1 knockout (KO) mice, TNF-α R2 KO mice and wild type (WT) mice. CS was found to significantly increase the protein levels of soluble TNF-α R1 (by four-fold) and TNF-α R2 (by 10-fold) in the bronchoalveolar lavage of WT mice. After 3 months, CS induced a prominent pulmonary inflammatory cell influx in WT and TNF-α R1 KO mice. In TNF-α R2 KO mice, CS-induced pulmonary inflammation was clearly attenuated. After 6 months, no emphysema was observed in CS-exposed TNF-α R2 KO mice in contrast to WT and TNF-α R1 KO mice. CS-exposed WT and TNF-α R1 KO mice failed to gain weight, whereas the body mass of TNF-α R2 KO mice was not affected. These current findings suggest that both tumour necrosis factor-α receptors contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but tumour necrosis factor-α receptor-2 is the most active receptor in the development of inflammation, emphysema and systemic weight loss in this murine model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Risk shocks close to the zero lower bound

Large risk shocks give rise to cost-push effects in the canonical New Keynesian model. At the same time, monetary policy becomes less effective. Therefore, stochastic volatility introduces occasional trade-offs for monetary policy between inflation and output gap stabilisation. The cost-push effects operate through expectational responses to the interaction between shock volatility and the zero lower bound (ZLB) on interest rates. Optimal monetary policy calls for potentially sharp reductions in the interest rate when risk is elevated, even if this risk never materialises. Close to the ZLB, small risk shocks become ‘large’ in this sense. If policy is initially constrained by the ZLB, lift-off is optimally delayed when risk increases.
Potential for differentiation of pseudoprogression from true tumor progression with dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging using ferumoxytol versus gadoteridol: A pilot study

Purpose— We evaluated dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI) using gadoteridol in comparison to the iron oxide nanoparticle blood pool agent, ferumoxytol in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) who received standard radiochemotherapy (RCT). Methods and Materials— Fourteen patients with GBM received standard RCT and underwent 19 MRI sessions that included DSC-MRI acquisitions with gadoteridol on day 1 and ferumoxytol on day 2. Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) values were calculated from DSC data obtained from each contrast agent. T1-weighted acquisition post-gadoteridol administration was used to identify enhancing regions. Results— In 7 MRI sessions of clinically presumptive active tumor, gadoteridol-DSC showed low rCBV in 3 and high rCBV in 4, while ferumoxytol-DSC showed high rCBV in all 7 sessions (p=0.002). After RCT, 7 MRI sessions showed increased gadoteridol gadoteridol for determining active tumor. These interesting pilot observations suggest that ferumoxytol may differentiate tumor progression from pseudoprogression, and warrant further investigation.
The Effect of Overlap between Monomers on the Determination of Fractal Cluster Morphology

Diffusion limited cluster aggregate (DLCA) morphology is studied as a function of monomeric particle overlap for finite sized clusters. The morphology is parameterized by both the fractal dimension D and the prefactor k0. For clusters created on a three-dimensional cubic lattice we find D = 1.80 ± 0.03 and k0 = 1.30 ± 0.07 when the spherical monomers are in point contact. Both these values increase as overlap increases. Also presented is an analysis of the two-dimensional projection of these clusters in order to facilitate electron micrograph images of real clusters. Quantitative relations between actual three-dimensional cluster parameters such as cluster radius of gyration, fractal dimension and number of monomers per aggregate, and measurable two-dimensional quantities such as longest lengths and projected area are given as a function of monomer overlap. Relationships between lengths can be explained only by use of the proper density correlation function and accounting for cluster anisotropy. Finally, we make an unsuccessful attempt to find the source of recent experimental discrepancies in the prefactor k0 in terms of a possible unknown degree of overlap. Copyright 1997Academic Press
Is the ladder sticky? Measuring semi-parametrically state dependence in earnings mobility

ABSTRACT Employing the U.S. data for the 1990’s, we disentangle state dependence from unobserved heterogeneity in earnings mobility. The fixed effects dynamic multinomial logit utilized to model earnings quintiles dynamics fits the data very well, much more so than the autocorrelated dynamic ordered probit. Unordered models should thus be preferred to study earnings mobility. State dependence is found to be significant. It has a protective (anti-fall) effect at the top of the distribution and a detrimental (anti-rise) effect at the bottom. Consequently, the difficulty of climbing the ladder is not exclusively a question of individual characteristics. Public policies could thus be implemented to improve information about individuals’ ability and job offers, and to design more efficient wage-setting institutions.
Comparison of mesiodistal crown dimension and arch width in subjects with and without hypodontia.

OBJECTIVE Tooth agenesis is one of the most common anomalies in the development of the human dentition and may have wider associations in the development of the dentition including tooth size. This study aimed to compare mesiodistal crown dimension and arch widths between subjects with hypodontia and subjects without hypodontia (control group). MATERIALS AND METHODS Dental casts were measured of 55 hypodontia patients and 55 patients with total permanent dentition (control group). Tooth agenesis was evaluated for hypodontia, excluding the third molars, from the panoramic radiograph. Mesiodistal crown dimensions were recorded by measuring all erupted teeth on study models with a digital Mitutoyo caliper (Mitutoyo U.K. Ltd, United Kingdom). RESULTS Patients with hypodontia had smaller mesiodistal tooth dimensions than the control group, and this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05) for all teeth in both genders. Upper lateral incisors, lower central incisors, and lower second molars showed the highest difference in tooth dimension. Also, the intercanine and intermolar arch widths in the hypodontia group were statistically significantly reduced (p < 0.05) compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate that the mesiodistal crown dimensions and arch widths are reduced in hypodontia patients. This should be taken into account when planning orthodontic treatment. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Congenital absence of permanent teeth has direct clinical implications. Early detection of the number of missing teeth and evaluation of the tooth size and arch width is of immense value in the planning and managing treatment with a multidisciplinary team approach to achieve an aesthetic and functional dentition and reduce the complications of hypodontia.
Understanding Women’s Labeling of Unwanted Sexual Experiences With Dating Partners

Qualitative data are used to examine the process by which women come to label their unwanted sexual experiences with dating partners as sexual abuse or assault, as well as the factors that impede such labeling. Issues of consent, causal attributions, and minimization were found to be central to understanding why women did or did not label. Labeling was generally a gradual process and was most often triggered by social support seeking. Women who did not label typically defined the incident as something less serious than sexual abuse or assault, although some provided definitions indicating that they had felt victimized.
v-Src Induces Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Focal Adhesion Kinase Independently of Tyrosine 397 and Formation of a Complex with Src*

The non-receptor tyrosine kinase FAK plays a key role at sites of cellular adhesion. It is subject to regulatory tyrosine phosphorylation in response to a variety of stimuli, including integrin engagement after attachment to extracellular matrix, oncogene activation, and growth factor stimulation. Here we use an antibody that specifically recognizes the phosphorylated form of the putative FAK autophosphorylation site, Tyr397. We demonstrate that FAK phosphorylation induced by integrins during focal adhesion assembly differs from that induced by activation of a temperature-sensitive v-Src, which is associated with focal adhesion turnover and transformation. Specifically, although v-Src induces tyrosine phosphorylation of FAK, there is no detectable phosphorylation of Tyr397. Moreover, activation of v-Src results in a net decrease in fibronectin-stimulated phosphorylation of Tyr397, suggesting possible antagonism between v-Src and integrin-induced phosphorylation. Our mutational analysis further indicates that the binding of v-Src to Tyr397 of FAK in its phosphorylated form, which is normally mediated, at least in part, by the SH2 domain of Src, is not essential for v-Src-induced cell transformation. We conclude that different stimuli can induce phosphorylation of FAK on distinct tyrosine residues, linking specific phosphorylation events to ensuing biological responses.
Labour Market Structure in Malaysia: Pre- and Post-Market Gender Comparison

Gender inequality in Malaysian labour market can be observed through labour force participation, unemployment, occupational distribution, top management employment involving decision making, and average monthly salary. Such an inequality generally works to the disadvantage of females, notwithstanding their outperformance of educational attainment over their males’ counterparts. Case study in the ICT services subsector points to the importance of imparting employability skills among females to have its bearing on wage determination. As such, future research is expected to analyse gender wage decomposition taking into considerations of different types of labour market discrimination, occupational preferences, and gender differences in employability skills.
Computing the variations in the self-similar properties of the various gait intervals in Parkinson disease patients

This study has investigated the stride, swing, stance and double support intervals of gait for Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with different levels of severity. Self-similar properties of the gait signal were analyzed to investigate the changes in the gait pattern of the healthy and PD patients. To understand the self-similar property, detrended fluctuation analysis was performed. The analysis shows that the PD patients have less defined gait when compared to healthy. The study also shows that among the stance and swing phase of stride interval, the self-similarity is less for swing interval when compared to the stance interval of gait and decreases with the severity of gait. Also, PD patients show decreased self-similar patterns in double support interval of gait. This suggest that there are less rhythmic gait intervals and a sense of urgency to remain in support phase of gait by the PD patients.
Mortality forecasting using a modified Continuous Mortality Investigation Mortality Projections Model for China I: methodology and country-level results

Abstract In this paper, we project future mortality rates for actuarial use with Chinese data using a modified Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) Mortality Projections Model. The model adopts a convergence structure from “initial” to “long-term” rates of mortality improvement as the process of projection. The initial rates of mortality improvement are derived using two-dimensional P-spline methodology. Given the short history of Chinese data, the long-term rates of mortality improvement are determined by borrowing information from international experience. K-means clustering with dynamic time warping distance is used to classify populations, which is novel in the actuarial mortality research field. The original CMI approach is deterministic, however, in this paper we make it stochastic using techniques outlined by Koller and described by Browne et al. Comparing our results with a pure extrapolative approach, we find that the CMI Mortality Projections Model is more suitable for long-term projections for China.
Risk of preterm birth in multiparous teenagers.

BACKGROUND Previous studies of teenage primiparas have found little or no association between young maternal age and preterm birth. However, the risk of preterm birth in teenage multiparas should not be overlooked because of the high rate of repeat teenage pregnancies. OBJECTIVE To compare the risk of preterm birth in teenage and adult multiparas. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis of US Natality Files, 1990 to 1996. METHODS We calculated the risk of very preterm birth (<33 weeks' gestation) for multiparas aged 10 to 20 years compared with 25-year-olds, stratified by age and race/ethnicity. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were estimated controlling for maternal education, marital status, prenatal care, and previous preterm births. Effects of smoking and interpregnancy interval were analyzed separately. RESULTS Throughout adolescence, multiparas face higher AORs for very preterm births. For white non-Hispanic multiparas compared with 25-year-old multiparas, 10- to 14-year-olds had an AOR of 4.22 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.26-7.88), 15- to 17-year-olds had an AOR of 2.19 (95% CI, 1.99-2.42), 18- and 19-year-olds had an AOR of 1.69 (95% CI, 1.58-1.80), and 20-year-olds had an AOR of 1.33 (95% CI, 1.24-1.41). A similar pattern of decreasing AOR with increasing maternal age was observed for black non-Hispanic and Hispanic mothers, although wide race/ethnicity disparities exist. Adjusting for maternal smoking and short interpregnancy interval did not change these results. CONCLUSIONS Risk of very preterm birth in teenage multiparas is associated with young age after controlling for other risk factors. Interventions to prevent repeat pregnancies and the associated risk of premature birth deserve high priority.
A new orphan member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily that interacts with a subset of retinoic acid response elements

We have identified and characterized a new orphan member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily, called MB67, which is predominantly expressed in liver. MB67 binds and transactivates the retinoic acid response elements that control expression of the retinoic acid receptor beta 2 and alcohol dehydrogenase 3 genes, both of which consist of a direct repeat hexamers related to the consensus AGGTCA, separated by 5 bp. MB67 binds these elements as a heterodimer with the 9-cis-retinoic acid receptor, RXR. However, MB67 does not bind or activate other retinoic acid response elements with alternative hexamer arrangements or any of several other wild-type and synthetic hormone response elements examined. The transactivation of retinoic acid response elements by MB67 is weaker than that conferred by the retinoic acid receptors but does not require the presence of all-trans retinoic acid, 9-cis-retinoic acid, or any exogenously added ligand. We propose that MB67 plays an important role in the complex network of proteins that govern response to retinoic acid and its metabolites.
A Review of J. L. Komaki's Leadership from an Operant Perspective

Abstract The book, Leadership from an Operant Perspective, by Judith L. Komaki is reviewed. The book describes a series of studies by Komaki and others that have contributed to an understanding of the dynamic, evolving performancerelated interactions between leaders and followers, which include behaviors such as performance monitoring by leaders. A useful resource for researchers, practitioners, and students of Organizational Behavior Management, the book describes an entire area of operant research, including original predictions, empirical findings, and implications for future research and practice. In addition, the book is instructive in terms of how a theory, research methodology, and research stream are developed over time. LEADERSHIP FROM AN OPERANT PERSPECTIVE. J. L. Komaki. 1998. London: Routledge, 277 pages, ISBN 0415098734, Price (amazon. com) $87.95. Reviewed by Sonia Goltz.
The Epidemiology of Deliberate Self-harm

In a 6-month prospective study of the three main general hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria, 39 cases of deliberate self-harm were reported out of a total 23, 859 subjects attending the sections of hospital studied. Thirty (76.9%) were under 30 years of age and 36 (86.3%) were under 34 years of age. The male to female ratio was 1.4. 1: more than half of the population (51.3%) were students and 25.6%, manual workers. The methods used were mainly ingestion of chemicals (24 patients) and psychotropic drugs (11 patients). Disturbed Interpersonal relationships, especially with parents, were mainly found to have motivated the acts. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Physiological and methodological aspects of rate of force development assessment in human skeletal muscle

Rate of force development (RFD) refers to the ability of the neuromuscular system to increase contractile force from a low or resting level when muscle activation is performed as quickly as possible, and it is considered an important muscle strength parameter, especially for athletes in sports requiring high‐speed actions. The assessment of RFD has been used for strength diagnosis, to monitor the effects of training interventions in both healthy populations and patients, discriminate high‐level athletes from those of lower levels, evaluate the impairment in mechanical muscle function after acute bouts of eccentric muscle actions and estimate the degree of fatigue and recovery after acute exhausting exercise. Notably, the evaluation of RFD in human skeletal muscle is a complex task as influenced by numerous distinct methodological factors including mode of contraction, type of instruction, method used to quantify RFD, devices used for force/torque recording and ambient temperature. Another important aspect is our limited understanding of the mechanisms underpinning rapid muscle force production. Therefore, this review is primarily focused on (i) describing the main mechanical characteristics of RFD; (ii) analysing various physiological factors that influence RFD; and (iii) presenting and discussing central biomechanical and methodological factors affecting the measurement of RFD. The intention of this review is to provide more methodological and analytical coherency on the RFD concept, which may aid to clarify the thinking of coaches and sports scientists in this area.
Do DSGE Models Have a Future

Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models have come to play a dominant role in macroeconomic research. Some see them as the sign that macroeconomics has become a mature science, organized around a microfounded common core. Others see them as a dangerous dead end. This Policy Brief argues that the current DSGE models are seriously flawed, but they are eminently improvable and central to the future of macroeconomics. To improve, however, they have to become less insular, by drawing on a much broader body of economic research. They also have to become less imperialistic and accept to share the scene with other types of general equilibrium models.
Metabolic Reprogramming Commits Differentiation of Human CD27+IgD+ B Cells to Plasmablasts or CD27−IgD− Cells

B cells play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, the relevance of the metabolic pathway in the differentiation of human B cell subsets remains unknown. In this article, we show that the combination of CpG/TLR9 and IFN-α markedly induced the differentiation of CD27+IgD+ unswitched memory B cells into CD27hiCD38hi plasmablasts. The response was accompanied by mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) activation and increased lactate production, indicating a shift to glycolysis. However, CpG alone induced the differentiation of unswitched memory B cells into CD27−IgD− memory B cells with high cytokine production, but such differentiation was suppressed by IFN-α. AMP-activated protein kinase activation enhanced the differentiation to CD27−IgD− B cells, but it attenuated mTORC1 activation and differentiation into plasmablasts. High mTORC1 activation was noted in CD19+ B cells of patients with SLE and correlated with plasmablast differentiation and disease activity. Taken together, differential metabolic reprogramming commits the differentiation of human unswitched memory B cells into plasmablasts (the combination of CpG and IFN-α amplifies mTORC1-glycolysis pathways) or CD27−IgD− memory B cells (CpG alone amplifies the AMP-activated protein kinase pathway). The former metabolic pathway may play a pivotal role in SLE.
Efficacy of propranolol for cutaneous hemangiomas in premature children.

BACKGROUND The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of propranolol for problematic infantile hemangiomas (IH), showing our experience on 24 children, with special focus on premature infants. METHODS A retrospective observational study considered 24 patients who were given oral propranolol for the treatment of "problematic" IH. A multidisciplinary team, composed of a dermatologist, a pediatrician, a pediatric cardiologist, and a neonatologist, took part in the indication for propranolol and follow-up on all the patients. Propranolol was administered orally at the starting dose of 0.5-1 mg/kg/die and was gradually increased to the target dose of 2 mg/kg/die. A clinical gravity score, based on color, major diameter, thickness and texture was calculated for each IH, giving a numeric score before (t0) and after (tf) propranolol therapy. Improvement rate was evaluated in terms of score percentage difference between t0 and tf. RESULTS All of the IH except one (96%), showed a variable grade of improvement, with a median score improvement of 69.1%. Median initial score in premature and term infants did not show any significant difference (P=0.38). Otherwise the two subgroups showed a significant difference in final scores: medium percentage improvement in premature and term infants, was respectively 80.9% and 49.6% (P<0.01). No significant side effects were reported during the treatment period. CONCLUSIONS As pointed out in our study, IH in premature children showed a significantly better response to propranolol treatment.