Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lysosomal accumulation of gliadin p31–43 peptide induces oxidative stress and tissue transglutaminase-mediated PPARγ downregulation in intestinal epithelial cells and coeliac mucosa

Background An unresolved question in coeliac disease is to understand how some toxic gliadin peptides, in particular p31–43, can initiate an innate response and lead to tissue transglutaminase (TG2) upregulation in coeliac intestine and gliadin sensitive epithelial cell lines. Aim We addressed whether the epithelial uptake of p31–43 induces an intracellular pro-oxidative envoronment favouring TG2 activation and leading to the innate immune response. Methods The time course of intracellular delivery to lysosomes of p31–43, pα-2 or pα-9 gliadin peptides was analysed in T84 and Caco-2 epithelial cells. The effects of peptide challenge on oxidative stress, TG2 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ ubiquitination and p42/44–mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase or tyrosine phosphorylation were investigated in cell lines and cultured coeliac disease biopsies with/without anti-oxidant treatment or TG2 gene silencing by immunoprecipitation, western blot, confocal microscopy and Fluorenscence Transfer Resonance Energy (FRET) analysis. Results After 24 h of challenge p31–43, but not pα-2 or pα-9, is still retained within LAMP1-positive perinuclear vesicles and leads to increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that inhibit TG2 ubiquitination and lead to increases of TG2 protein levels and activation. TG2 induces cross-linking, ubiquitination and proteasome degradation of PPARγ. Treatment with the antioxidant EUK-134 as well as TG2 gene silencing restored PPARγ levels and reversed all monitored signs of innate activation, as indicated by the dramatic reduction of tyrosine and p42/p44 phosphorylation. Conclusion p31–43 accumulation in lysosomes leads to epithelial activation via the ROS–TG2 axis. TG2 works as a rheostat of ubiquitination and proteasome degradation and drives inflammation via PPARγ downregulation.
Software Reusability Classification and Predication Using Self-Organizing Map (SOM)

Due to rapid development in software industry, it was necessary to reduce time and efforts in the software development process. Software Reusability is an important measure that can be applied to improve software development and software quality. Reusability reduces time, effort, errors, and hence the overall cost of the development process. Reusability prediction models are established in the early stage of the system development cycle to support an early reusability assessment. In Object-Oriented systems, Reusability of software components (classes) can be obtained by investigating its metrics values. Analyzing software metric values can help to avoid developing components from scratch. In this paper, we use Chidamber and Kemerer (CK) metrics suite in order to identify the reuse level of object-oriented classes. Self-Organizing Map (SOM) was used to cluster datasets of CK metrics values that were extracted from three different java-based systems. The goal was to find the relationship between CK metrics values and the reusability level of the class. The reusability level of the class was classified into three main categorizes (High Reusable, Medium Reusable and Low Reusable). The clustering was based on metrics threshold values that were used to achieve the experiments. The proposed methodology succeeds in classifying classes to their reusability level (High Reusable, Medium Reusable and Low Reusable). The experiments show how SOM can be applied on software CK metrics with different sizes of SOM grids to provide different levels of metrics details. The results show that Depth of Inheritance Tree (DIT) and Number of Children (NOC) metrics dominated the clustering process, so these two metrics were discarded from the experiments to achieve a successful clustering. The most efficient SOM topology [2 × 2] grid size is used to predict the reusability of classes.
Second-person pronouns and their relation with nominal forms of address in Late Middle English and Early Modern English personal letters

Synchronic variability in the area of phonetics, phonology, vocabulary, morphology and syntax is a natural feature of any language, including English. The existence of competing variants is in itself a fascinating phenomenon, but it is also a prerequisite for diachronic changes. This volume is a collection of studies which investigate variability from a contemporary and historical perspective, in both native and non-native varieties of English. The topics include Middle English spelling variation, lexical differences between Middle English dialects, Late Middle and Early Modern English forms of address, Middle English negation patterns, the English used by Polish immigrants living in London, lexical fixedness in native and non-native English used by Polish learners, and the phenomenon of phonetic imitation in Polish learners of English. The book should be of interest to anyone interested in English linguistics, especially English phonetics and phonology as well as history of English, historical dialectology and pragmatics.
Adaptive User Communities Assessment in Personal Networking Applications

In this paper, we provide the theoretical evaluation of Icebreaker, a social networking service designed in the scope of IST project Magnet Beyond. We built on previous results of our work that indicate spectral clustering's applicability in regard to the service requirements imposed by the specific application; we extend our approach by provisioning for an online adaptive algorithm that places users into social groups that have previously been assessed through the application of spectral clustering. Experimental results indicate that our approach is able to adhere to the service requirements as new users join the system, without the need of iterative spectral clustering application that is computationally demanding.
Presence of Copper- and Zinc-Containing Superoxide Dismutase in Commensal Haemophilus haemolyticus Isolates Can Be Used as a Marker To Discriminate Them from Nontypeable H. influenzae Isolates

ABSTRACT Respiratory isolates of Haemophilus haemolyticus are regularly misclassified as nontypeable (NT) Haemophilus influenzae due to an aberrant hemolytic reaction on blood agar, with implications for treatment. The presence of sodC or its cognate protein, copper-zinc superoxide dismutase, can distinguish respiratory isolates of H. haemolyticus from NT H. influenzae with 100% accuracy.
Dexippus and the Gothic Invasions: Interpreting the New Vienna Fragment (Codex Vindobonensis Hist. gr. 73, ff. 192v–193r)*

ABSTRACT This article presents an English translation and analysis of a new historical fragment, probably from Dexippus’ Scythica, published by Gunther Martin and Jana Grusková in 2014. The fragment, preserved in a palimpsest in the Austrian National Library, describes a Gothic attack on Thessalonica and the subsequent preparations of the Greeks to repel the barbarian force as it moved south into Achaia. The new text provides several important details of historical, prosopographical and historiographical significance, which challenge both our existing understanding of the events in Greece during the reign of Gallienus and the reading of the main literary sources for this period. In this article we look to secure the Dexippan authorship of the fragment, identify the individuals named in the text, and date the events described in the text to the early 260s a.d.
Predisposing factors in delayed sleep phase syndrome

We classified 64 patients with chronic delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) into the primary (n = 53) and secondary (n = 11) group according to presence or absence of such signs as difficulty in waking up which appeared much earlier than the onset of DSPS. The age at the onset of the early signs concentrated in adolescence. The familial occurrence of DSPS was noted in 11 patients of the primary group. In human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing, the incidence of DR1 positivity alone was significantly higher in DSPS patients than in healthy subjects. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory revealed high scores on depression, psychoasthenia and hypochondriasis. We suggest that a predisposition to DSPS includes biological, genetic, social and psychological factors, various combinations of which may lead to DSPS.
Using cooperative learning to enhance critical reflection

Over the past two decades, one of the key changes in Engineering curricula has been in the emphasis placed on the development of personal transferable skills. Employers also profess to seek these competencies when making recruiting decisions. Such skills include the ability to learn through collaboration and through meaningful critical reflection on one's own performance, both as an individual and in a group setting. However, there is still much debate on the most effective mechanisms for acquiring such skills. Engineering students can be extremely resistant to the notion of individual or collective reflection and often find it difficult to function successfully in a group setting. This paper reports on how cooperative learning has been integrated into a large-scale, practical freshman Engineering laboratory module, and explores the student experiences of being encouraged to engage in meaningful reflection. In particular, it details the presentation modalities and phenomena that influence the engineering students attitudes toward cooperative learning and reflection.
Flamenco Deep Song

Style and ideology deep song sociology - an overview traumatic ethnogenesis in Spain missing links in the evolution of flamenco the flamenco attitude wealth, ideology, and the magic other romantique Espagne deep song as psychodrama flamenco's Golden Age how flamenco became art a capricious world culture in the blood beyond ethnicity - the future of the flamenco idiom.
Online Learning for Changing Environments using Coin Betting

A key challenge in online learning is that classical algorithms can be slow to adapt to changing environments. Recent studies have proposed "meta" algorithms that convert any online learning algorithm to one that is adaptive to changing environments, where the adaptivity is analyzed in a quantity called the strongly-adaptive regret. This paper describes a new meta algorithm that has a strongly-adaptive regret bound that is a factor of $\sqrt{\log(T)}$ better than other algorithms with the same time complexity, where $T$ is the time horizon. We also extend our algorithm to achieve a first-order (i.e., dependent on the observed losses) strongly-adaptive regret bound for the first time, to our knowledge. At its heart is a new parameter-free algorithm for the learning with expert advice (LEA) problem in which experts sometimes do not output advice for consecutive time steps (i.e., \emph{sleeping} experts). This algorithm is derived by a reduction from optimal algorithms for the so-called coin betting problem. Empirical results show that our algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods in both learning with expert advice and metric learning scenarios.
Maternal, placental and fetal exposure to bisphenol A in women with and without preeclampsia

Objectives: We aimed to investigate potential association between the exposure of bisphenol A (BPA) and preeclampsia. Methods: Concentrations of BPA were assessed in 58 pregnancies including 35 normotensive and 23 preeclamptic women, using a highly sensitive gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. Results: BPA was detected in maternal blood, fetal blood and placental tissue; and actual concentrations of BPA were determined. Interestingly, significant accumulation of BPA in the placentas of women with preeclampsia compared to normotensive women has been shown. Conclusions: This is the first study to highlight a significant correlation between preeclampsia and a high accumulation of BPA in the placenta.
SCVMJ, XVII (1) 2012 57 Some heavy metal pollutants in fish farms and Effect of garlic on their bioaccumulation in Oreochromas niloticus

The present study was carried out to monitor and determine levels of some heavy metals {Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn)} in some tilapia raising fish farms and to investigate the effect of experimentally added garlic (Allium sativum) on growth performance of Nile tilapia (Orechromas niloticus) subjected to the highest levels of these metals found in the survey (Cd 0.053 mg/L, Pb 0.092 mg/L, Cu 0.730 mg/L, and Zn 10.45 mg/L ). Fish were divided into three groups; Group one served as non treated control while the second group served as treated groups exposed to heavy metals polluted water. The third group served as treated group with heavy metals plus garlic at a concentration of 250 gm/Ton. Results revealed that experimental exposure of fish to heavy metals led to drastic effect on their performance as there was a significant reduction in growth parameters (body weight, body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio) as compared to non-treated controls. Addition of garlic powder supplementation helped to eliminate heavy metal from the fish body, which in turn improved the growth and some immune parameters as compared to non supplemented treated group.
Comparative Study of Percutaneous Vertebral Body Perforation and Vertebroplasty for the Treatment of Painful Vertebral Compression Fractures

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Percutaneous vertebral body perforation is a new technique for treating painful VCFs. Herein, we compare the therapeutic effect of vertebral perforation and conventional vertebroplasty for treating VCFs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred eight patients with single painful VCFs were assigned to undergo vertebral perforation (perforation group) or vertebroplasty (PVP group). Clinical outcomes were assessed by using the VAS. The associations of analgesic effect and clinical factors were also analyzed by multivariate regression. Plain radiographs were used to quantify the progression of vertebral body compression after surgery and to evaluate cement leakage and new vertebral fractures. The median follow-up time was 10 months. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were similar in the 2 groups. No factors correlated with analgesic effects in the PVP group. The analgesic effect of vertebral perforation was, however, related to the preoperative severity of vertebral compression and was low in patients with severe deformity (P < .05). Among patients with preoperative vertebral percentage of compression below 30%, there were no significant differences between the 2 groups in analgesic effect at any postoperative intervals. Progression of vertebral compression after surgery occurred in 22.2% and 16.0% of treated vertebrae in the perforation and PVP groups, respectively (P = .38). Respectively, 3.7% and 20.0% of the perforation and PVP groups had new postoperative fractures during follow-up (P < .05). There were no other complications. CONCLUSIONS: Vertebral perforation was safe and effective for painful VCFs with slight compression. However, vertebroplasty should be considered for patients with marked vertebral body compression.
Minimum viewing angle for visually guided ground speed control in bumblebees

SUMMARY To control flight, flying insects extract information from the pattern of visual motion generated during flight, known as optic flow. To regulate their ground speed, insects such as honeybees and Drosophila hold the rate of optic flow in the axial direction (front-to-back) constant. A consequence of this strategy is that its performance varies with the minimum viewing angle (the deviation from the frontal direction of the longitudinal axis of the insect) at which changes in axial optic flow are detected. The greater this angle, the later changes in the rate of optic flow, caused by changes in the density of the environment, will be detected. The aim of the present study is to examine the mechanisms of ground speed control in bumblebees and to identify the extent of the visual range over which optic flow for ground speed control is measured. Bumblebees were trained to fly through an experimental tunnel consisting of parallel vertical walls. Flights were recorded when (1) the distance between the tunnel walls was either 15 or 30 cm, (2) the visual texture on the tunnel walls provided either strong or weak optic flow cues and (3) the distance between the walls changed abruptly halfway along the tunnel's length. The results reveal that bumblebees regulate ground speed using optic flow cues and that changes in the rate of optic flow are detected at a minimum viewing angle of 23–30 deg. , with a visual field that extends to approximately 155 deg. By measuring optic flow over a visual field that has a low minimum viewing angle, bumblebees are able to detect and respond to changes in the proximity of the environment well before they are encountered.
Health-related claims on food labels in Australia: understanding environmental health officers’ roles and implications for policy

Abstract Objective Health and related claims on food labels can support consumer education initiatives that encourage purchase of healthier foods. A new food Standard on Nutrition, Health and Related Claims became law in January 2013. Implementation will need careful monitoring and enforcement to ensure that claims are truthful and have meaning. The current study explored factors that may impact on environmental health officers’ food labelling policy enforcement practices. Design The study used a mixed-methods approach, using two previously validated quantitative questionnaire instruments that provided measures of the level of control that the officers exercised over their work, as well as qualitative, semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Setting Local government; Australia. Subjects Thirty-seven officers in three Australian states participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews, as well as completing the quantitative questionnaires. Senior and junior officers, including field officers, participated in the study. Results The officers reported a high level of autonomy and control of their work, but also a heavy workload, dominated by concerns for public health and food safety, with limited time for monitoring food labels. Compliance of labels with proposed health claims regulations was not considered a priority. Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucracy was used to enhance understanding of officers’ work practices. Conclusions Competing priorities affect environmental health officers’ monitoring and enforcement of regulations. Understanding officers’ work practices and their perceptions of enforcement is important to increase effectiveness of policy implementation and hence its capacity to augment education initiatives to optimize health benefits.
Dorsal Column Mapping for Intramedullary Spinal Cord Tumor Resection Decreases Dorsal Column Dysfunction

Study Design Retrospective cohort study and technical report. Objective To demonstrate, through our institutional series of intramedullary spinal tumor resection, the potential avoidance of dorsal column dysfunction after using dorsal column mapping. Summary of Background Data Surgical resection of intramedullary spinal cord tumors carries significant associated postoperative morbidity. Much of this morbidity is because of dorsal column dysfunction from the dorsal myelotomy. The inconsistency and distortion of anatomic landmarks for a midline myelotomy has posed a significant challenge for spine surgeons. Dorsal column mapping is a relative new technique that may decrease the morbidity associated with operative resection of intramedullary masses. Methods A cohort of patients operated upon at our institution for intramedullary lesions were retrospectively reviewed. Neurologic examination changes were assessed through clinic notes and chart review. A total of 91 intramedullary tumors were assessed, with 80 patients without dorsal column mapping and 11 patients with dorsal column mapping. Results In our cohort of 91 patients with intramedullary tumors undergoing resection over the past decade, postoperative dorsal column dysfunction was observed in 45%. Dorsal column mapping decreased the frequency of new postoperative posterior column dysfunction. Patients with dorsal column mapping had a statistically significant decrease rate of new postoperative posterior column dysfunction of 9% compared with 50% for without mapping (P=0.01). Tumor histology was not found to correlate with worsening posterior column dysfunction in patients undergoing tumor resection. Conclusions With our surgical cohort as an internal control, we found a decreased rate of postoperative posterior column dysfunction when using intraoperative dorsal column mapping. Our findings show the ability of this evolving technology to provide useful intraoperative information to localize the physiological midline and decrease the rate of posterior column dysfunction after intramedullary spinal cord tumor resection.
The surgical cure of primary varicose veins

A prime requisite of successful varicose vein surgery is a detailed clinical examination. This reveals a new test for short saphenous incompetence and shows that 14 per cent of varices stem from a saphenopopliteal reflux. The intimate details of juxtafemoral and juxtapopliteal ligation are emphasized and the common causes of failure pointed out. The technique of “scarless” varicose vein surgery is described. A 6‐10‐year follow‐up of some 2000 patients reveals an overall recurrence rate of 7 per cent.
Synthetic Population Dynamics: A Model of Household Demography

Computer-simulated synthetic populations are used by researchers and policy makers to help understand and predict the aggregate behaviour of large numbers of individuals. Research aims include explaining the structural and dynamic characteristics of populations, and the implications of these characteristics for dynamic processes such as the spread of disease, opinions and social norms. Policy makers planning for the future economic, healthcare or infrastructure needs of a population want to be able to evaluate the possible effects of their policies. In both cases, it is desirable that the structure and dynamic behaviour of synthetic populations be statistically congruent to that of real populations. Here, we present a parsimonious individual-based model for generating synthetic population dynamics that focuses on the effects that demographic change have on the structure and composition of households.
Multi‐Receptor Binding Profile of Clozapine and Olanzapine: A Structural Study Based on the New β2 Adrenergic Receptor Template

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disorder that has a large impact on the quality of life for those who are afflicted and is very costly for families and society. [1] Although the etiology of schizophrenia is still unknown and no cure has yet been found, it is treatable, and pharmacological therapy often produces satisfactory results. Among the various antipsychotic drugs in use, clozapine is widely recognized as one ofthe most clinically effective agents, even if it elicits significant side effects such as metabolic disorders and agranulocytosis. Clozapine and the closely related compound olanzapine are good examples ofdrug s with a complex multi-receptor profile ;[2] they have affinities toward serotonin, dopamine, a adrenergic, muscarinic, and histamine receptors, among others.