Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy Density Driven Galactic Formation and Evolution

© La Fortune This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and redistribution in any medium, provided that the original author and source are credited. This letter is inspired by the findings of M. Rabinowitz in his recent publication, “Why Observable Space Is Solely Three Dimensional” (Rabinowitz 2014). His paper provides coherent reasoning why our physical universe can only have one time and three spatial dimensions. He also states that “flux,” i.e., electrostatics and by analogy, gravitation, must remain consistent with threedimensional space with forces obeying the inverse-square law.
Impact of imagery rescripting on adverse self-defining memories and post-recall working selves in a non-clinical sample: a pilot study

Abstract Imagery rescripting (ImRS) effectively targets intrusive images and symptoms in a number of disorders, but the mechanisms of change behind it are not yet clear. This study investigated the impact of ImRS on the characteristics of adverse self-defining memories and post-recall working selves in a non-clinical sample. In the first session, participants recalled an adverse memory and completed state self and affect measures. Then they attended an ImRS session and a follow-up session one week later. Participants rated their memory as less negative, less distressing and less important for their sense of self at follow-up compared to the first session. They also reported higher state self-esteem and positive affect, as well as reduced negative affect and anxiety after recalling the memory. Results suggest that, by modifying the meaning of adverse memories, ImRS may facilitate their integration with individuals’ sense of self and reduce the negative impact that they have on individuals’ online representation of the self when retrieved. An implication of these findings is that cognitive-behavioural therapy may need to conceptualise the self in broader terms, moving beyond core beliefs. To complement this, research could focus on changes in patients’ sense of self in order to understand the mechanisms through which interventions like ImRS work.
Distribution and organization of cholinergic neurons in the rat forebrain demonstrated by computer‐aided data acquisition and three‐dimensional reconstruction

An understanding of the organization of cholinergic neurons in the central nervous system has been an important objective for many years. By developing and applying a new electronic method for mapping tissue sections, we have generated original graphic and quantitative findings on forebrain cholinergic neurons that provide new insight into their distribution and organization. Satoh, Armstrong, and Fibiger (Brain Res. Bull. 11:693–720, 1983) have proposed that in the basal forebrain cholinergic neurons with long axons form a continuum rather than being arranged as a series of discrete nuclear groups. It has been difficult, however, by conventional methods of data analysis and display, to test this hypothesis. By using a digital microscopy system, the position of every cholinergic neuron was marked with 1‐μm resolution in tissue sections taken at 90‐μm or 180‐μm intervals through the entire distribution of these neurons in the forebrain. The three‐dimensional reconstruction of these neurons in context shows them to be distributed as a continuous cell column. The column twists and changes position as it is deformed by adjacent neuronal structures, such that its shape and continuity would not be apparent without reconstruction into a computer graphics model. Complementary analyses of the distribution of cholinergic interneurons in dopamine‐rich regions of the forebrain indicated that there are regional differences between striatal and olfactory tubercle neurons. Cellular morphometry analyses show the population of cholinergic neurons in the rat to be surprisingly homogenous in size, but not in shape. Graphic and quantitative analyses indicated that there is a striking relationship between the distributions of projection and interneuronal cell groups.
History and development of the Schmidt–Hunter meta‐analysis methods

In this article, I provide answers to the questions posed by Will Shadish about the history and development of the Schmidt–Hunter methods of meta‐analysis. In the 1970s, I headed a research program on personnel selection at the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM). After our research showed that validity studies have low statistical power, OPM felt a need for a better way to demonstrate test validity, especially in light of court cases challenging selection methods. In response, we created our method of meta‐analysis (initially called validity generalization). Results showed that most of the variability of validity estimates from study to study was because of sampling error and other research artifacts such as variations in range restriction and measurement error. Corrections for these artifacts in our research and in replications by others showed that the predictive validity of most tests was high and generalizable. This conclusion challenged long‐standing beliefs and so provoked resistance, which over time was overcome. The 1982 book that we published extending these methods to research areas beyond personnel selection was positively received and was followed by expanded books in 1990, 2004, and 2014. Today, these methods are being applied in a wide variety of areas. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Electrophysiological characteristics of cardiomyocyte‐like cells from rat bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells by four inductors

Background Bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMdMSCs) can differentiate into cardiomyocyte‐like cells induced by different inductors individually or collectively. In this study, by inducing BMdMSCs with p53 inhibitor (p‐fifty three inhibitor‐alpha, PFT‐&agr;), 5‐azacytidine (5‐AZA), angiotensin‐II (Ang‐II) and bone morphogenic protein‐2 (BMP‐2) we compared the influences of four inductors on the differentiation of rat BMdMSCs into caridomyocyte like‐cells. Methods BMdMSCs were collected from the bone marrow of Sprague Dawley rats and after the fourth generation, the purified cells were divided into five groups: 5‐AZA (10 &mgr;mol/L), Ang‐II (0.1 &mgr;mol/L), PFT‐&agr; (20 &mgr;mol/L), BMP‐2 (10 &mgr;g/L) and control. The purity of the BMdMSCs and the cardiac differentiation rates were obtained by flow cytometry. The expressions of cTnT in the BMdMSCs after four weeks of induction were detected by immunofluorescence and the expressions of cTnI and Cx43 detected by Western blotting. The green fluorescent levels reflecting intracellular calcium transient function were determined by laser scanning confocal microscopy. The total potassium current levels of cells were measured on patch clamp. Results All inductors affected to a different degree the differentiation of BMdMSCs into cardiomyocyte‐like cells and the expressions of cTnT, cTnI and Cx43 suggesting that the combination of inductors could be an improved method for cardiac regenerative medicine. In addition, the total potassium current level and calcium transient in PFT‐&agr; cardiomyocyte‐like cells were higher than other groups. Conclusions The cardiac differentiation of BMdMSCs induced by PFT‐&agr;, 5‐AZA, Ang‐II and BMP‐2 has been improved at different levels. PFT‐&agr; has an advantage of differentiation rate and electrophysiological function over other inductors.
Langerhans Cells Derived from Genetically Modified Human CD34+ Hemopoietic Progenitors Are More Potent Than Peptide-Pulsed Langerhans Cells for Inducing Antigen-Specific CD8+ Cytolytic T Lymphocyte Responses1

Sustained Ag expression by human dendritic cells (DCs) is an attractive means of optimizing Ag presentation for stimulating durable cellular immunity. To establish proof of principle, we used Langerhans cell (LC) progeny of retrovirally transduced CD34+ hemopoietic progenitor cells to stimulate responses against the HLA-A*0201-restricted influenza matrix peptide (fluMP). Retroviral transduction of CD34+ hemopoietic progenitor cells, during pre-expansion by thrombopoietin, c-kit ligand, and FLT-3 ligand, on recombinant fibronectin, but in the absence of FCS, resulted in gene expression by 20–30% of the LCs. Expression persisted at least 28 days, with little decline (<30%) over that time. Retroviral transduction did not alter the phenotype or potent immunogenicity of normal mature DCs. FluMP-transduced LCs stimulated a 130-fold expansion of T cells reactive with HLA-A*0201-fluMP tetramers, even at LC:T cell ratios of 1:100–150 and lower, whereas fluMP-pulsed LCs stimulated only a 30-fold expansion. FluMP-transduced LCs also stimulated higher IFN-γ secretion (100–123 spot-forming cells/105 CD8+ T cells) than did fluMP-pulsed LCs (10–91 spot-forming cells/105 CD8+ T cells). CD8+ T cells stimulated by transduced LCs did not react preferentially with retrovirally transduced targets, indicating that the responses targeted only the immunizing influenza and not the retroviral vector Ags, even though these could have provided nonspecific helper epitopes presented by the transduced LCs. These data demonstrate that gene-transduced LCs maintain the activated phenotype as well potent immunogenicity typical of mature DCs. LCs genetically modified to express fluMP are also more potent stimulators of Ag-specific CD8+ T cell responses than are peptide-pulsed LCs.
Holocene Treeline History and Climate Change Across Northern Eurasia

Abstract Radiocarbon-dated macrofossils are used to document Holocene treeline history across northern Russia (including Siberia). Boreal forest development in this region commenced by 10,000 yr B.P. Over most of Russia, forest advanced to or near the current arctic coastline between 9000 and 7000 yr B.P. and retreated to its present position by between 4000 and 3000 yr B.P. Forest establishment and retreat was roughly synchronous across most of northern Russia. Treeline advance on the Kola Peninsula, however, appears to have occurred later than in other regions. During the period of maximum forest extension, the mean July temperatures along the northern coastline of Russia may have been 2.5° to 7.0°C warmer than modern. The development of forest and expansion of treeline likely reflects a number of complimentary environmental conditions, including heightened summer insolation, the demise of Eurasian ice sheets, reduced sea-ice cover, greater continentality with eustatically lower sea level, and extreme Arctic penetration of warm North Atlantic waters. The late Holocene retreat of Eurasian treeline coincides with declining summer insolation, cooling arctic waters, and neoglaciation.
Primary synovial sarcoma of the prostate

Department of Functional and Applied Anatomy and Department of Legal Medicine, Medical School of Hannover, and Department of Thoracic Surgery, Heidehaus, Klinikum Hannover, Hannover, Germany 1. Tschernig T, Debertin AS, Paulsen F et al. Dendritic cells in the mucosa of the human trachea are not regularly found in the first year of life. Thorax 2001; 56; 427–431. 2. Delsol G, Chittal S, Brousset P et al. Immunohistochemical demonstration of leukocyte differentiation antigens on paraffin sections using a modified Amex (Modamex) method. Histopathology 1989; 15; 461–471. 3. Archimandritis A, Sougioultzis S, Foukas PG et al. Expression of HLA-DR, costimulatory molecules B7-1, B7-2, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and Fas ligand (FasL) on gastric epithelial cells in Helicobacter pylori gastritis; influence of H. pylori eradication. Clin. Exp. Immunol. 2000; 119; 464–471. 4. Komar DA. Decay rates in a cold climate region: a review of cases involving advanced decomposition from the Medical Examiner’s office in Edmonton, Alberta. J. Forensic Sci. 1998; 43; 57–61. 5. Turcotte H, Laviolette M, Boutet M et al. Variability of inflammatory cell counts on bronchial biopsies of normal subjects. Lung 2003; 181; 9–21. 6. Jahnsen FL, Moloney ED, Hogan T et al. Rapid dendritic cell recruitment to the bronchial mucosa of patients with atopic asthma in response to local allergen challenge. Thorax 2001; 56; 823–826.
Draft Strength and jumping in young athletes 1 Isometric and dynamic strength and neuromuscular attributes as predictors of vertical jump performance in 11 ‒ 13 year-old male athletes

In explosive contractions, neural activation is a major factor in determining the rate of torque development, while the latter is an important determinant of jump performance. However, the contribution of neuromuscular activation and rate of torque development to jump performance in children and youth is unclear. PURPOSE: To examine the relationships between the rate of neuromuscular activation, peak torque, rate of torque development, and jump performance in young male athletes. METHODS: Forty-one 12.5±0.5-year-old male soccer players completed explosive, unilateral isometric and dynamic (240o/s) knee extensions (Biodex System III), as well as counter-movement-, squat-, and drop-jumps. Peak torque (pT), peak rate of torque development (pRTD) and rate of vastus lateralis activation (Q30) during the isometric and dynamic contractions were examined in relation to attained jump heights. RESULTS: Isometric pT and pRTD were strongly correlated (r=0.71) but not related to jump performance. Dynamic pT and pRTD, normalized to body mass, were significantly related to jump height in all three jumps (r=0.38‒0.66, p<0.05). Dynamic normalized, but not absolute pRTD, was significantly related to Q30 (r=0.35, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: In young soccer players, neuromuscular activation and rate of torque development in dynamic contractions are related to jump performance, while isometric contractions are not. These findings have implications in the choice of training and assessment methods for young athletes.
Relationship between Escherichia coli growth rate and bacterial susceptibility to ciprofloxacin

The effect of Escherichia coli growth rate on its susceptibility to ciprofloxacin was investigated using bacteria grown on different carbon sources and harboring mutations in genes encoding tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes. A 1-h treatment of the wild type (wt) grown on glucose, succinate, malate, α-ketoglutarate or acetate with 0.3 μg ml-1 ciprofloxacin decreased the number of surviving cells (CFU ml-1), 560, 110, 74, 62 and 5 times, respectively. Among the mutants tested, sucB strain, which grew 1.75 times slower than wt, was 7.4-fold more tolerant to 0.3 μg ml-1 of ciprofloxacin than wt. Strong inverse correlations between log(CFU ml-1) after 1-h exposure to 0.3 and 3.0 μg ml-1 ciprofloxacin and the specific growth rate prior to antibiotic treatment (r = - 0.93 and -0.96, respectively) were observed. Data from the current and previous studies on the inhibitory effect of ciprofloxacin on cultures exhibiting a wide range of growth rates (0.01-1.3 h-1) were collated. Statistical analysis revealed a significant inverse correlation between log(CFU ml-1) after exposure to 3.0 μg ml-1 of ciprofloxacin and the specific bacterial growth rate prior to antibiotic exposure (r = -0.92). These data may be used in a design of antibiotic treatment protocols.
Data sharing and information retrieval in wide-area distributed systems

This dissertation addresses two problems related to the management of data and information in wide-area distributed systems: distributed shared state and peer-to-peer information retrieval. Distributed applications typically resort to ad-hoc protocols built on top of remote invocation (e.g., Sun RPC or Java RMI) to maintain the coherence and consistency of shared state—information needed at more than one site. We in stead propose to automate the management of shared state. As a complement rather than a replacement to remote invocation, our InterWeave system provides a unified programming environment that supports the use of shared-memory programming, remote invocation, relaxed coherence models, and transactions in a single application. InterWeave is the first system that automates the typesafe sharing of structured data in its internal form across heterogeneous platforms and multiple languages. Our evaluations show that InterWeave introduces minimal overhead while reducing bandwidth consumption and improving performance in important cases. Another problem we study in this dissertation is peer-to-peer information retrieval (P2P IR). P2P systems have gained tremendous interest in recent years, but full-text search of information stored in P2P systems still remains particularly challenging. We address this challenge by taking an interdisciplinary approach, making innovations in multiple fields—networks, systems, IR, and databases—when designing components of our systems. What underlie our solutions are document clustering (i.e., indices stored on a node share similar features) and complete local indexing (i.e., if a node is involved in hosting the index for a document, it always stores the complete index for the document). Document clustering helps limit a search to only nodes hosting relevant indices. Complete local indexing allows each node to rank documents in its indices without consulting others. We propose two independent systems, eSearch and pSearch, that display these properties and are built on top of distributed hash tables (DHTs). Our systems take advantage of the semantic information provided by modern IR algorithms. eSearch uses keywords to cluster documents while pSearch uses concepts derived from latent semantic indexing (LSI) for clustering. Both are efficient and achieve retrieval quality comparable to the centralized baselines.
The effects of heat stress on manual handling tasks.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which workers compensate for heat stress by reducing their work load. Sixteen male industrial workers performed lifting, pushing, and carrying tasks in a comfortable environment (WBGT 17.2°C) and in a heat-stressing environment (WBGT 27.0°C). A psychophystcal methodology was used whereby the workers controlled their own work load by adjusting the frequency of the task or the weight of the object being handled. The hot environment significantly reduced work load, and significantly increased heart rate and rectal temperature. Work load was reduced 20% for lifting, 16% for pushing, and 11% for carrying. Heart rate responded with a consistent 9- to 10-beat/ min rise for all three tasks, and rectal temperature rose from 0.2°C to 0.3°C. It was concluded that, when unacclimatized man manually handles materials at his own pace, he compensates for increases in heat stress by reducing his work load. Furthermore, the amount that man reduces his work load appea.
Determining median urinary iodine concentration that indicates adequate iodine intake at population level.

OBJECTIVE Urinary iodine concentration is the prime indicator of nutritional iodine status and is used to evaluate population-based iodine supplementation. In 1994, WHO, UNICEF and ICCIDD recommended median urinary iodine concentrations for populations of 100- 200 micro g/l, assuming the 100 micro g/l threshold would limit concentrations <50 micro g/l to </=20% of people. Some scientists felt this proportion was unacceptably high and wanted to increase the threshold above 100 micro g/l. The study was carried out to determine the frequency distribution of urinary iodine in iodine-replete populations (schoolchildren and adults) and the proportion of concentrations <50 micro g/l. METHOD A questionnaire on frequency distribution of urinary iodine in iodine-replete populations was circulated to 29 scientific groups. FINDINGS Nineteen groups reported data from 48 populations with median urinary iodine concentrations >100 micro g/l. The total population was 55 892, including 35 661 (64%) schoolchildren. Median urinary iodine concentrations were 111-540 (median 201) micro g/l for all populations, 100-199 micro g/l in 23 (48%) populations and >/=200 micro g/l in 25 (52%). The frequencies of values <50 micro g/l were 0-20.8 (mean 4.8%) overall and 7.2% and 2.5% in populations with medians of 100-199 micro g/l and >200 micro g/l, respectively. The frequency reached 20% only in two places where iodine had been supplemented for <2 years. CONCLUSION The frequency of urinary iodine concentrations <50 micro g/l in populations with median urinary iodine concentrations >/=100 micro g/l has been overestimated. The threshold of 100 micro g/l does not need to be increased. In populations, median urinary iodine concentrations of 100-200 micro g/l indicate adequate iodine intake and optimal iodine nutrition.
Identification and Comparison of Electrical Tapes Using Instrumental and Statistical Techniques: II. Organic Composition of the Tape Backing and Adhesive *

Abstract: The microtexture and elemental composition of the backing of electrical tapes have been shown to be highly discriminating. In this study, the organic composition of electrical tape was evaluated as a complementary means of distinguishing tape brands. The backing and adhesive of 72 rolls of electrical tape were analyzed via Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR FTIR) and discriminant analysis was used to classify all samples by brand. Generally, the accuracy for FTIR data (88–99%) was higher than that for elemental data (86–94%). FTIR spectra from the adhesive layer were the most discriminating. In separate studies, two fragments of blast‐damaged tape were correctly assigned to their brand of origin and discriminant analysis was used to quantitatively associate or exclude tape samples from two bombing cases.
Oncostatic Effect of Streptomyces Crude Extracts on Murine Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma

To investigate the anti cancer effect of actinomycetes crude extracts on murine Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC). Crude extracts of actinomycetes were prepared and investigated their cytotoxic effects and super oxide dismutase (SOD) like activity in vitro. Anti cancer activity was tested in vitro in animal model bearing EAC. The cytotoxicity of the three isolated strain were, 67% Streptomyces Fradiae, 64.2% for Streptomyces clavus and 75% for Streptomyces roseoflavus. The SOD-like activity for crudes extracted from Streptomyces fradiae, Streptomyces clavus and Streptomyces roseoflavus were 84.4 %, 87.3 % and 67.3 % respectively. In vitro studies revealed that, there was a significant increase of gluthation and SOD, and significant decrease of malonaldehyde content of mice bearing tumor and treated with the crude extract isolated from actinomycetes. Crude extracts of Streptomyces fradiae, Streptomyces clavus and Streptomyces roseoflavus reveals anti cancer activity against EAC.