Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unique features of the basal cells of human prostate epithelium

The prostate gland is globally composed of epithelium and stroma. The epithelium plays an important role in the development of both benign and malignant disorders while the stroma is involved in benign prostatic hyperplasia. While the prostatic epithelium of the majority of laboratory animals is well recognized as a pseudostratified columnar, the classification of the human prostatic epithelium is controversial. Moreover, the role of the basal cells of the human prostatic epithelium is still uncertain. These cells have been described as undifferentiated cells, precursors of luminal cells, reserve and myoepithelial cells. The objective of the present study was to assess the similarities and/or differences between the epithelium of the human prostate and that of other laboratory animals and thus derive information about the potential functions of basal cells in the human prostate. In the human, basal cells form a continuous layer of cells resting on the basement membrane and upon which rests a layer of luminal cells. This results in a stratified columnar epithelium of two layers of cells, unlike the sporadic appearance of basal cells observed in other species where it results in a pseudostratified epithelium. In addition, the ratio of basal to luminal cells in the human is about 1:1, while the average ratio in the other animal species examined is about 1:7. Furthermore, the gap junctional proteins connexin 26 and 43, are present between basal and luminal cells in the human, thus suggesting that these cells communicate directly with each other. In addition, the ultrastructure of the human basal cells shows morphological evidence of differentiated but not of undifferentiated cells. Moreover, the presence of junction‐like structures between adjacent basal cells suggests that these cells form a blood‐prostate barrier. In this way, basal cells could prevent substances derived from the blood from directly coming in contact with the luminal cells. Human basal cells could thus regulate functions of the luminal cells by being part of a two‐cell mechanism somewhat analogous to thecal and granulosa cells in the ovary. Microsc. Res. Tech. 51:436–446, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Estimating Skill in Private Equity Performance Using Market Data

Are private equity fund managers that earn persistently higher returns truly skilled, or are they just lucky? Using a novel approach that overcomes concerns about the integrity of both the data and the empirical methods that have been commonly used in prior studies of private equity persistence and skill, I find evidence of skill for Buyout and Mezzanine fund managers, however the evidence is mixed for Venture and Funds-of Funds. I then show that preferred transaction type is a channel through which skilled private equity fund managers differentiate themselves from unskilled ones.
Lack of selective developmental neurotoxicity in rat pups from dams treated by gavage with chlorpyrifos.

Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were given chlorpyrifos (O:, O-diethyl-O:-[3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinyl] phosphorothioate; CPF) in corn oil by gavage from gestation day 6 (GD 6) through lactation day 10 (LD 10) at dosages of 0, 0.3, 1, or 5 mg/kg/day in a developmental neurotoxicity study that conformed to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1991 guidelines. GD 0 was the day when evidence of mating was observed and postnatal day 0 (PND 0) was the day of birth. Toxicity was limited to the highest dosage level (5 mg/kg/day) and, in the dams, consisted of muscle fasciculation, hyperpnea, and hyperreactivity. A nonsignificant overall trend toward weight gain and feed consumption was also observed in the high-dosage dams, with a statistically significant Group x Time interaction for reduced weight gain in the 5-mg/kg/day group near the end of gestation. Although many developmental indices were normal, pups from high-dosage dams had increased mortality soon after birth, gained weight more slowly than controls, and had several indications of slightly delayed maturation. The early deaths and delayed maturation were attributed to maternal toxicity, though a possible contributing role of direct pup toxicity in delayed development cannot be eliminated. In spite of the apparent delay in physical development, high-dosage pups tested just after weaning had normal learning and memory as tested on a T-maze spatial delayed-alternation task. Habituation, a primitive form of learning, was tested in 2 tasks (motor activity and auditory startle) and was not affected. No overt effects were noted in either dams or pups at 1 or 0.3 mg/kg/day. Based on these data, chlorpyrifos produced maternal and developmental toxicity in the 5-mg/kg/day-dosage group. There was no evidence of selective developmental neurotoxicity following exposure to chlorpyrifos.
Dispelling the myth that 50 percent of U.S. schoolchildren have never had a cavity.

The erroneous claim that 50 percent of U.S. schoolchildren have never had a cavity has taken on the virtues of truth through frequent and widespread restatement. The 50-percent caries-free statement is an excessively optimistic misrepresentation by the media of the 1986-87 survey of oral health among schoolchildren by the National Institute of Dental Research because it only tells part of the story--it ignores dental disease in the primary dentition. This article documents that numerous public policy papers reflect failure to consider primary tooth caries data. Consequently, a significant disease burden has been overlooked. The article reviews the persistent underreporting of children's caries experience in policy documents and the dental literature, and reviews additional epidemiologic studies of caries reported in U.S. dental literature since 1985. Dental caries remains the single most common disease of childhood that is not self-limiting or amenable to a course of antibiotics. The popular statement that half of U.S. schoolchildren have never experienced tooth decay fails profoundly to reflect the extremity and severity of this still highly prevalent condition of childhood. At a time of extreme pressure on the Medicaid Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment budget this uncritically held belief is leading to inappropriate policy and funding decisions that can put the health of children at risk.
Kinetics and Phenotype of Vaccine-Induced CD8+ T-Cell Responses to Toxoplasma gondii

ABSTRACT Multiple studies have established that the ability of CD8+ T cells to act as cytolytic effectors and produce gamma interferon is important in mediating resistance to the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii. To better understand the generation of the antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell responses induced by T. gondii, mice were immunized with replication-deficient parasites that express the model antigen ovalbumin (OVA). Class I tetramers specific for SIINFEKL were used to track the OVA-specific endogenous CD8+ T cells. The peak CD8+ T-cell response was found at day 10 postimmunization, after which the frequency and numbers of antigen-specific cells declined. Unexpectedly, replication-deficient parasites were found to induce antigen-specific cells with faster kinetics than replicating parasites. The generation of optimal numbers of antigen-specific CD8+ effector T cells was found to require CD4+ T-cell help. At 7 days following immunization, antigen-specific cells were found to be CD62Llow, KLRG1+, and CD127low, and they maintained this phenotype for more than 70 days. Antigen-specific CD8+ effector T cells in immunized mice exhibited potent perforin-dependent OVA-specific cytolytic activity in vivo. Perforin-dependent cytolysis appeared to be the major cytolytic mechanism; however, a perforin-independent pathway that was not mediated via Fas-FasL was also detected. This study provides further insight into vaccine-induced cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses that correlate with protective immunity to T. gondii and identifies a critical role for CD4+ T cells in the generation of protective CD8+ T-cell responses.
Profitability Gap Analysis of Sweetpotato Production in Ghana: Evidence from Sweetpotato Farmers and Traders

This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Authors NEA and KA designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors BNF and PPA managed the analyses of the study. Authors RS, JOA and AAA managed the literature searches. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. ABSTRACT Aims: To assess the profitability gap between farmers and traders in sweetpotato production. Study Design: Purposive employed in the determination of profitability and formed the bases for the profitability gap discussion. Results: With a total production cost per hectare of 2,452 Ghana cedis ($580.36), labour accounted for about 39% of the operational cost for farmer’s and farmer’s net returns on investment stood at 1,647 Ghana cedis ($389.82). The trader’s total cost was 4,429 Ghana cedis ($1,048.29) and with a net return of 4,841 Ghana cedis ($1145.80). Farmers had a “net return per cedi” of 1.67 Ghana cedis ($0.40) whereas the trader had 2.09 Ghana cedis ($0.49). Conclusion: Sweetpotato production and trade is profitable. A significant gap exist between traders profit and that of the farmers in favour of the traders. It is recommended farmers form cooperatives and be functional on Innovation Platforms to have bargaining power for better prices and access to inputs at affordable cost; be trained on standardizing produce and processing to add value; extension information access should be modernized using modern telecommunication tools and tailored to the local and unique needs of the smallholder farmer. output, debt asset relation, and variable and fixed of
Trust, Salience and Deterrence: Evidence from an Antitrust Experiment

We present results from a laboratory experiment identifying the main channels through which different law enforcement strategies deter organized economic crime. The absolute level of a fine has a strong deterrence effect, even when the exogenous probability of apprehension is zero. This effect appears to be driven by distrust or fear of betrayal, as it increases significantly when the incentives to betray partners are strengthened by policies offering amnesty to “turncoat whistleblowers”. We also document a strong deterrence effect of the sum of fines paid in the past, which suggests a significant role for salience or availability heuristic in law enforcement.
A decision feedback recurrent neural equalizer as an infinite impulse response filter

An adaptive decision feedback recurrent neural equalizer (DFRNE), which models a kind of an IIR structure, is proposed. Its performance is compared with the traditional linear and nonlinear equalizers with FIR structures for various communication channels. The small size and high performance of the DFRNE makes it suitable for high-speed channel equalization.
Flow perfusion maintains ex vivo bone viability: a novel model for bone biology research

Encased in lacunae, osteocytes receive nutrition and biomechanical signals through the lacunocanalicular system. We have developed a novel flow‐perfusion bioreactor designed to support lacunocanalicular fluid flow. We hypothesize that ex vivo fluid flow can maintain endochondral bone viability and, ultimately, serve as a novel model to study bone biology in vitro. Sprague–Dawley rat femurs were harvested, stripped of soft tissue, loaded into a custom‐designed bioreactor and perfused with osteogenic culture medium. After 14 days of flow‐perfusion or static culture, the bones were harvested, fixed, decalcified, embedded, sectioned and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. Fresh long bone samples were similarly processed for comparison. Osteocyte viability and function were also evaluated, using thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT), fluorospectrophotometric DNA quantification, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) colorimetric assay and fluorochrome labelling of mineralizing surfaces. All samples remained free of infection throughout the study period. After 14 days of flow perfusion, histological analysis showed normal‐appearing bony architecture, with 72% of lacunae being osteocyte‐filled compared with 93% in freshly harvested samples and only 36% in static samples. MTT staining and assay confirmed osteocyte viability in the flow‐perfusion samples as well as in fresh samples. DNA quantification demonstrated DNA to be preserved in flow‐perfused samples when compared with freshly harvested samples. ALP activity in flow‐perfusion explants was upregulated compared with fresh and static samples. Fluorochrome‐labelled mineralizing surfaces were seen throughout the explanted flow‐perfused samples. This is the first demonstration that flow perfusion provides adequate chemotransportation to explanted murine endochondal bones. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Postoperative extradural infusions in children: preliminary data from a comparison of bupivacaine/diamorphine with plain ropivacaine

To try to decrease the incidence of side‐effects associated with postoperative extradural infusions of local anaesthetics in combination with opioids, we have used plain ropivacaine solutions in 200 children. The first 72 children received an infusion of bupivacaine 0.125%+ diamorphine 20 μg·ml−1, then 200 children received plain ropivacaine solutions. The children who received ropivacaine were found to have lower incidences of nausea, pruritus, urinary retention, and were less sedated, despite comparable analgesia. The management of plain ropivacaine for extradural analgesia is discussed.
Glyphosate-Resistant Rigid Ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) Populations in the Western Australian Grain Belt

Abstract Glyphosate-resistance evolution in weeds is evident globally, especially in areas where transgenic glyphosate-resistant crops dominate. Resistance to glyphosate is currently known in 16 weed species, including rigid ryegrass in Australia. Following the first report of glyphosate resistance in 1998, there are now 78 documented glyphosate-resistant populations of rigid ryegrass in grain-growing regions of southern Australia. In some regions where glyphosate-resistance evolution has already occurred in rigid ryegrass, transgenic glyphosate-resistant canola was introduced in 2008, further highlighting the need to monitor glyphosate-resistance evolution in weeds. A rigid ryegrass population (WALR70) was collected in 2005 from a crop field in Esperance, Western Australia, after it had survived applications of glyphosate. Dose–response experiments confirmed resistance in the population, with the glyphosate rate resulting in 50% mortality (LD50) for WALR70 being 11 times greater than that for a susceptible biotype. The WALR70 population also had low levels of resistance to some acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase)- and acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides (diclofop, fluazifop, clodinafop, tralkoxydim, chlorsulfuron, and imazethapyr), but was susceptible to other herbicide modes of action, such as atrazine, trifluralin, and paraquat. Two other rigid ryegrass populations assessed in this study were also confirmed to be resistant to glyphosate. The increasing number of glyphosate-resistant rigid ryegrass populations in Australia is of concern to growers because of the importance of glyphosate in intensive cropping systems and the introduction of glyphosate-resistant canola to this region. Nomenclature: Glyphosate; rigid ryegrass, Lolium rigidum Gaudin
Diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma with concordant bone marrow involvement has peculiar genomic profile and poor clinical outcome

Bone marrow (BM) involvement in diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) can be morphologically discordant from the primary tumor. Concordant BM infiltration has been shown associated with a poorer outcome in patients treated with CHOP. In order to evaluate tumor‐related factors leading to BM involvement in DLBCL, we performed an integrated analysis of i) genomic profiles obtained with a high‐density genome wide SNP‐based arrays ii) immunomorphological and iii) clinical data from 133 patients uniformly treated with R‐CHOP. BM infiltration was found in 27 of 133 (20%) cases; and it was concordant in 18/27 (67%) cases. Concordant infiltration, but not discordant, influenced negatively OS, PFS and DFS and was associated with higher serum LDH, lower CR and higher PD rates. No association with cell of origin was found between BM+ and BM‐ DLBCL. As compared with BM‐ cases, BM+ DLBCL showed absence of 7q gain. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Magnetic Domain Structure in Coupled Rectangular Nanostructures

The coupling of rectangular magnetic 2000×1000×20 nm3 structures with flux-closure domain configurations is studied using micromagnetic simulations with periodic boundary conditions. In order to understand the origin of the interaction, the magnetic structure of a single element is analyzed in detail to calculate its magnetostatic fringe field. Both, our simulations as well as earlier experimental data reveal an interesting phenomenon: instead of four domains forming the well-known Landau state there are six domains. A consistent magnitude of the effect can be obtained, when the highly susceptible paramagnetic “coating layer” used in the experiment is included in the simulation. The coupling behavior of both, horizontally and vertically aligned arrays of rectangles is explained by the magnetostatic field of the single element. We show that for arrays of elements that have a coating layer inter-element coupling depends strongly on properties of this coating layer.
A Modular Software Framework for Eye–Hand Coordination in Humanoid Robots

We describe our software system enabling a tight integration between vision and control modules on complex, high-DOF humanoid robots. This is demonstrated with the iCub humanoid robot performing visual object detection, reaching and grasping actions. A key capability of this system is reactive avoidance of obstacle objects detected from the video stream while carrying out reach-and-grasp tasks. The subsystems of our architecture can independently be improved and updated, for example, we show that by using machine learning techniques we can improve visual perception by collecting images during the robot’s interaction with the environment. We describe the task and software design constraints that led to the layered modular system architecture.
The adequacy of oxygenation in COPD patients undergoing long-term oxygen therapy assessed by pulse oximetry at home.

It is probable that some daily activities may cause marked falls in arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) in patients undergoing long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT), despite good oxygenation at rest. We estimated the adequacy of LTOT in 34 randomly selected chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients at home by monitoring SaO2 continuously over 24 h. The subjects were also asked to complete a questionnaire listing frequent daily activities. Despite almost normal mean SaO2 (94%) at the beginning of recording (O2 2 l.min-1, at rest) the subjects studied spent 6.9 h below an SaO2 of 90%, with minimum SaO2 of 61%. On average we observed 10 episodes of desaturation in each patient over 24 h, both while breathing air and oxygen. The comparison of SaO2 recordings and questionnaires revealed the highest number of desaturations during sleep, followed by naps, watching the television, eating, washing and talking. The oxygen flow rate prescribed, based on blood gas measurements at rest, did not protect 85% of the patients studied from deep falls in SaO2 during daily life. An increase oxygen flow during some activities and during sleep is suggested.
Twister2: Design of a big data toolkit

Data‐driven applications are essential to handle the ever‐increasing volume, velocity, and veracity of data generated by sources such as the Web and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Simultaneously, an event‐driven computational paradigm is emerging as the core of modern systems designed for database queries, data analytics, and on‐demand applications. Modern big data processing runtimes and asynchronous many task (AMT) systems from high performance computing (HPC) community have adopted dataflow event‐driven model. The services are increasingly moving to an event‐driven model in the form of Function as a Service (FaaS) to compose services. An event‐driven runtime designed for data processing consists of well‐understood components such as communication, scheduling, and fault tolerance. Different design choices adopted by these components determine the type of applications a system can support efficiently. We find that modern systems are limited to specific sets of applications because they have been designed with fixed choices that cannot be changed easily. In this paper, we present a loosely coupled component‐based design of a big data toolkit where each component can have different implementations to support various applications. Such a polymorphic design would allow services and data analytics to be integrated seamlessly and expand from edge to cloud to HPC environments.
Market and professional decision-making under risk and uncertainty

ii Acknowledgments.v Vita.vi List of Tables . viii List of Figures . ix Chapter 1.1 1.1 Abstract . 1 1.2 Introduction. 2 1.3 Data. 6 1.4 2004 Hurricane Losses. 9 1.5. 2004 Stock Returns. 14 1.6 Individual Insurer Returns . 24 1.7 Conclusions. 28 1.8 Caveats & Future Research. 30 References. 33 Chapter 2.41 2.1 Abstract . 41 2.2 Introduction. 42 2.3 Optimization in Poker . 47 2.4 Empirics . 61 2.5 Outcomes . 77 2.6 Conclusion . 88 References. 90 Appendix A: Poker Description/ Game Tree.101 Appendix B: Poisson Trial.103 List of References . 104
Characterization of the murine gene encoding Aop2 (antioxidant protein 2) and identification of two highly related genes.

The mouse Aop2 (antioxidant protein 2) cDNA recently cloned from liver and kidney is a member of the thiol-specific antioxidant gene family. We have isolated the mouse gene encoding Aop2 and have shown that it comprises five exons and four introns. Analysis of the sequence upstream of the translation start site revealed several potential Sp1-binding sites and two putative transcription initiation sites. Primer extension studies were used to determine the 5' end of the Aop2 transcript. This upstream region also contains consensus recognition sequences for the transcription factors USF, SREBP, and ADR1, all of which have been shown to regulate genes involved in lipid metabolism, and multiple consensus binding sites for HSF, whose activity is modulated by oxidative stress. Since Aop2 has recently been proposed as a candidate gene for atherosclerosis susceptibility differences in mice, the presence of these binding sites may have biological significance. We also isolated two highly related intronless genes and determined their chromosomal locations. Further characterization of this highly conserved gene family and its regulation will help to elucidate their biological functions.