Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhanced regenerative axon growth of multiple fibre populations in traumatic spinal cord injury following scar‐suppressing treatment

We analysed the effect of scar‐suppressing treatment (anti‐scarring treatment; AST) on augmenting axonal regeneration of various neuronal populations following spinal cord injury (SCI) in adult rat. AST included local iron chelator (2,2′‐dipyridine‐5,5′‐dicarboxylic acid) injection and 8‐bromo‐cyclic adenosine monophosphate application to the lesion core. In previous studies, this treatment promoted long‐distance regeneration of cut corticospinal tract axons, neuroprotection of projecting cortical neurons and functional improvement of treated rats [N. Klapka et al. (2005)Eur. J. Neurosci. , 22, 3047–3058]. Treatment yielded significantly enhanced regrowth of descending serotonergic (5‐HT), catecholaminergic (tyrosine hydroxylase; TH), corticospinal and rubrospinal axons into the lesion zone, as assessed by anterograde tracing and immunohistochemistry followed by quantification of axon profiles at 5 and 12 weeks post‐injury. In addition, the determination of axons crossing the proximal borderline from uninjured tissue into fibrous scar area revealed a significant AST‐promoted increase of intersecting fibres for 5‐HT, TH and calcitonin gene‐related peptide containing ascending sensory fibres. For a prolonged time period after lesion, the delayed (secondary) scar developing in treated rats is significantly more permeable for all analysed axon tracts than the initial (primary) scar forming in injured control animals lacking treatment. Furthermore, enhanced outgrowth of descending axons from fibrous scar into distal healthy spinal tissue was achieved in treated animals, and is in line with previous functional studies [S. Hermanns et al. (2001) Restor. Neurol. Neurosci. , 19,139–148; N. Klapka et al. (2005)Eur. J. Neurosci. , 22, 3047–3058]. Our findings indicate that AST exerts a prolonged beneficial effect on fibrous scarring allowing enhanced axonal regrowth of different fibre tracts in SCI regardless of their distinct regenerative demands.
Systematic review and meta‐analysis of currently available clinical evidence on migraine and patent foramen ovale percutaneous closure: Much ado about nothing?

Objectives: To investigate the role of transcatheter closure of patent foramen ovale on the occurrence of migraine. Background: In recent years, a potential relationship between, migraine, stroke, and patent foramen ovale (PFO) has emerged. Methods: BioMedCentral, Google Scholar, and PubMed from January 2000 to December 2008 were systematically searched for pertinent clinical studies. Secondary sources were also used. Secondary prevention studies of transcatheter closure for patent foramen ovale were required to include at least more than 10 patients followed for more than 6 months. The primary end‐point was the rate of cured or significantly improved migraine after percutaneous PFO closure. Results: After excluding 637 citations, we finally included a total of 11 studies for a total of 1,306 patients. Forty percent of the subjects included suffered from migraine, while most had a previous history of transient ischemic attack/stroke and were investigated retrospectively. Quantitative synthesis showed that complete cure of migraine in 46% (95% C.I.25–67%), while resolution or significant improvement of migraine occurred in 83% (95% C.I. 78–88%) of cases. Conclusions: Notwithstanding the limitations inherent in the primary studies, this systematic review suggests that a significant group of subjects with migraine, in particular if treated after a neurological event, may benefit from percutaneous closure of their patent foramen ovale. However, many questions remain unsolved. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Collagen XXIV (Col24a1) Gene Expression is a Specific Marker of Osteoblast Differentiation and Bone Formation

Collagen XXIV is an ill-characterized fibrillar collagen that is predominantly expressed in the forming skeleton of the mouse embryo. Here we report that the Col24al gene is constitutively transcribed in the trabecular bone and periosteum of the newborn mouse as well. The bone specificity of Col24al was further documented using three well-characterized cell culture models of osteoblast differentiation. These in vitro analyses indicated that Col24al transcription is activated at about the same time as that of the osteocalcin gene, and gradually increases to eventually plateau as osteoblasts begin to deposit a mineralizing matrix. These findings lend further support to the hypothesis that collagen XXIV may be implicated in the formation of a mineralization-competent bone matrix.
Phosphorylation of threonine 154 in p40phox is an important physiological signal for activation of the neutrophil NADPH oxidase

The neutrophil nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-oxidase is a multisubunit enzyme (comprising gp91phox, p22phox, p67phox, p40phox, p47phox, and Rac) that plays a vital role in microbial killing. The recent discovery of a chronic granulomatous disease patient who expresses a mutant p40phox subunit, together with the development of mouse models of p40phox function, indicate phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate binding to the PX domain of p40phox is an important signal for oxidase activation. However, the presence of other conserved residues and domains in p40phox suggest further regulatory roles for this protein. To test this, we introduced wild-type and mutated versions of p40phox into fully differentiated mouse neutrophils by retroviral transduction of p40phox−/− bone marrow progenitors and repopulation of the bone marrow compartment in radiation chimaeras. Phosphorylation of p40phox on threonine 154, but not serine 315, was required for full oxidase activation in response to formylated bacterial peptide fMLP, serum-opsonized S aureus, and immunoglobulin-opsonized sheep red blood cells. A functional SH3 domain was not required for oxidase activation, and deletion of the entire domain resulted in enhanced oxidase responses. Phosphorylation of threonine 154 in response to S aureus was mediated by protein kinase Cδ and was required for full translocation of p47phox to phagosomes. These results define an important new element in the physiological activation of the oxidase.
The policy process for health promotion

Aims: The paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the policy process in health promotion by addressing the following questions: What are the characteristics of the policy process in health promotion? How do policy entrepreneurs influence project implementation? Methods: This is a qualitative study with an explorative case study design that uses three different data sources: qualitative interviews, written documents and observations. Results: The paper examines several factors (determinants) that influence the policy process and that, to a lesser extent, are addressed by current models in health policy research. Legitimacy, financial capacity, available structure and political timing are all important determinants that influence the policy process. Policy entrepreneurs, with established networks and knowledge of the environment and its procedures, create legitimacy and provide opportunities for action; however, indistinct organizational boundaries among roles and poorly defined individual responsibilities create policy process uncertainty. As a result, there are lengthy discussions and few decisions, both of which delay the progress of a project. Conclusions: This paper’s theoretical contribution is its analysis of the relationship of policy-making to linear models, via a discussion of policy entrepreneurs, and their importance in the policy process. The paper concludes that we need to consider the influence of policy entrepreneurs, whom build legitimacy and seize action opportunities by coupling the three streams in the policy process, as they help bring projects to fruition. Furthermore, the study points to the importance of policy entrepreneurs throughout the policy process. The paper has practical implications for practitioners whom work with the implementation of community policies.
Full-wave analysis of Layered aperture arrays

The rigorous numerical-analytical approach has been developed and used for study of the periodic aperture arrays containing multiple dissimilar apertures of complex shapes in stratified medium. The analysis method is based on the solution of the system of integro-differential equations by Galerkin method with the entire domain basis functions explicitly accounting for the field singularities at the edges of the whole aperture except corners. An analytical treatment of the Green's function convolutions with the basis and test functions provides an efficient regularization and rapid uniform convergence of the solutions. Thickness of conducting screen has been taken into account with the aid of the approximation for effective aperture dimensions. The characteristics of the quasioptical slot arrays simulated by the developed method are in excellent agreement with the results of measurements and alternative simulations. An extensive parametric study of several aperture array configurations has been performed to explore properties of the single layer array arrangements with multiple apertures of complex shapes in a unit cell and stacked layered arrays. Effect of the aperture shape on the array performance and the physical mechanisms underlying the transverse magnetic wave resonances and Luebbers' anomaly in the two-layer arrays are discussed in detail.
Gender Segregation in Occupations: The Role of Tipping and Social Interactions

This paper documents that the dynamics of occupational segregation are highly nonlinear and exhibit tipping patterns. Occupations experience discontinuous declines in net male employment growth at tipping points ranging from 25% to 45% (from 13% to 30%) female in white-collar (blue-collar) occupations from 1940 to 1990. These patterns appear consistent with a Schelling (1971) social interaction model where tipping results from male preferences toward the fraction female in their occupation. Supporting the model’s predictions, evidence from the General Social Survey indicates that tipping points are lower in regions where males hold more sexist attitudes toward the appropriate role of women.
Essential Oils of Daucus carota subsp. carota of Tunisia Obtained by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction

The essential oils and supercritical CO2 extracts of wild Daucus carota L. subsp. carota from two different sites in Tunisia were investigated. The main components of the essential oil of the flowering and mature umbels with seeds from Sejnane were eudesm-7(11)-en-4-ol (8.2 – 8.5%), carotol (3.5 - 5.2%), sabinene (12.0 −14.5%), α-selinene (7.4 - 8.6) and 11-α-(H)-himachal-4-en-1-β-ol (12.7 – 17.4%), whereas the oils from Tunis were predominantly composed of elemicin (31.5 – 35.3%) and carotol (48.0 – 55.7%). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils were assayed by using the broth dilution method on Escherichia coli ATCC 35218 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 43300, and clinical strains of Candida albicans and C. tropicalis 1011 RM. The MIC values obtained were all > 2.5% (v/v).
Relative effect of genetic and environmental factors on body height: differences across birth cohorts among Finnish men and women.

OBJECTIVES This study examined the change in heritability of adult body height across birth cohorts in Finland. METHODS In 1981, cross-sectional questionnaires were completed by 10,968 twin pairs born before 1958. The effect of genetic factors was estimated via genetic modeling. RESULTS Heritability increased from the cohort born before 1929 (0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.65, 0.88 in men; 0.66, 95% CI = 0.55, 0.77 in women) to that born in 1947 through 1957 (0.81, 95% CI = 0.73, 0.87 in men; 0.82, 95% CI = 0.75, 0.89 in women). CONCLUSIONS Heritability of height increased across Finnish birth cohorts born in the first half of this century and leveled off after World War II. Environmental factors, compared with genetic factors, appear to be more important among women than men.
Glial cell reactivity in a porcine model of retinal detachment.

PURPOSE Detachment of the neural retina from the pigment epithelium causes, in addition to photoreceptor deconstruction and neuronal cell remodeling, an activation of glial cells. It has been suggested that gliosis contributes to the impaired recovery of vision after reattachment surgery that may involve both formerly detached and nondetached retinal areas. Müller and microglial cell reactivity was monitored in a porcine model of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, to determine whether gliosis is present in detached and nondetached retinal areas. METHODS Local detachment was created in the eyes of adult pigs by subretinal application of hyaluronate. Retinal slices were immunostained against glial intermediate filaments and K+ and water channel proteins (aquaporin-4, Kir4.1, Kir2.1), and P2Y receptor proteins. In retinal wholemounts, adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP)-induced intracellular Ca2+ responses of Müller cells were recorded, and microglial and immune cells were labeled with Griffonia simplicifolia agglutinin isolectin I-B4. K+ currents were recorded from isolated Müller cells. RESULTS At 3 and 7 days after surgery, Müller cells in detached retinas showed a pronounced gliosis, as revealed by the increased expression of the intermediate filaments glial fibrillary acidic protein and vimentin, by the decrease of Kir4.1 immunoreactivity and of the whole-cell K+ currents, and by the increased incidence of cells that showed Ca2+ responses on stimulation of purinergic (P)2 receptors by ATP. By contrast, the immunohistochemical expression of Kir2.1 and aquaporin-4 were not altered after detachment. The increase in the expression of intermediate filaments, the decrease of the whole-cell K+ currents and of the Kir4.1 immunolabeling, and the increase in the Ca2+ responsiveness of Müller cells were also observed in attached retinal areas surrounding the focal detachment. The density of microglial-immune cells at the inner surface of the retinas increased in both detached and nondetached retinal areas. The immunoreactivities for P2Y1 and P2Y2 receptor proteins apparently increased only in detached areas. CONCLUSIONS Reactive responses of Müller and microglial cells are not restricted to detached retinal areas but are also observed in nondetached regions of the porcine retina. The gliosis in the nondetached retina may reflect, or may contribute to, neuronal degeneration that may explain the impaired recovery of vision observed in human subjects after retinal reattachment surgery.
Negotiating Risk: How Women Working in Massage Parlours Preserve Their Sexual and Psychological Health

Abstract This small exploratory study was conducted in a heavily populated urban area in the Midlands region of England. Through semistructured interviews with women working in massage parlours, we investigated the health risks inherent in the work and the strategies adopted by the women to overcome these, as well as examining circumstances where these strategies could be compromised. The effects of working in the sex industry on women's relationships and lives outside also emerged as the research progressed. We found that, in addition to preserving their sexual health, women's main concern was with the separation of home and work.
Reforms, Expansion, and Equality of Opportunity

Between the 1950s and early 1980s, Italian education expanded rapidly. During the 1960s the educational system was reformed in two important respects. First, in 1963, the unified middle school was established and compulsory schooling was extended to the age of 14. Second, in 1961 and 1969 access to universities was progressively liberalized, enabling students in all upper-secondary tracks, including the vocational colleges (istituti professionali) attended primarily by the working classes, to sit for the matriculation (maturita) examinations and to continue to university. The reform was expected to reduce class inequality in university attendance by raising the chances of working-class students participating in this level of education. Previous research however found little change in class inequalities in educational attainment. Using their data, the authors re-evaluate A. Cobalti and A. Schizzerotto's conclusions, and find declining effects of father's education on the odds of completing the lower levels of the educational hierarchy. The declining effects carried-over slightly to the (unconditional) odds of obtaining the maturit diploma but did not contribute to equalization of the odds of university attendance. They consider the extent to which the reforms affected these changes and also study changes in gender and regional inequality of educational opportunity
Cigarette smoking induces only marginal changes in sperm DNA methylation levels of patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment

DNA methylation plays important roles in genome stability and regulation of gene expression. This study was designed to determine the influence of cigarette smoking on sperm DNA methylation. From a genome‐wide survey on sperm samples, differentially methylated target CpGs should be selected and subjected to local deep bisulphite sequencing. Obtained methylation data are compared to sperm parameters and (ICSI) outcome. Similar to pilot study, samples were subjected to Infinium 450K BeadChip arrays to identify alterations in sperm DNA methylation between smokers and nonsmokers males. Routine testing on a significantly altered CpG site was performed on more samples using local deep bisulphite sequencing. Of approximately 485,000 CpG sites analysed, only seven CpGs were found to show a significant DNA methylation difference of >20% with the top six CpGs overlapping common SNP sites. The remaining CpG site (cg19455396) is located in intron 12 of the TAP2 gene. The results of deep bisulphite sequencing showed only a tendency towards hypomethylation in the smoking group. This study could not detect biologically relevant CpG positions that are altered in sperm DNA methylation on the influence of cigarette smoking beyond individual‐specific effects that may be caused by other environmental factors.
BAG1L Enhances Trans-activation Function of the Vitamin D Receptor*

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a member of the steroid/retinoid receptor superfamily of nuclear receptors that has potential tumor-suppressive functions. We show here that VDR interacts with and is regulated by BAG1L, a nuclear protein that binds heat shock 70-kDa (Hsp70) family molecular chaperones. Endogenous BAG1L can be co-immunoprecipitated with VDR from prostate cancer cells (ALVA31; LNCaP) in a ligand-dependent manner. BAG1L, but not shorter non-nuclear isoforms of this protein (BAG1; BAG1M/Rap46), markedly enhanced, in a ligand-dependent manner, the ability of VDR to trans-activate reporter gene plasmids containing a vitamin D response element in transient transfection assays. Mutant BAG1L lacking the C-terminal Hsc70-binding domain suppressed (in a concentration-dependent fashion) VDR-mediated trans-activation of vitamin D response element-containing reporter gene plasmids, without altering levels of VDR or endogenous BAG1L protein, suggesting that it operates as a trans-dominant inhibitor of BAG1L. Gene transfer-mediated elevations in BAG1L protein levels in a prostate cancer cell line (PC3), which is moderately responsive to VDR ligands, increased the ability of natural (1α,25(OH)2 vitamin D3) and synthetic (1α,25-dihydroxy-19-nor-22(E)-vitamin D3) VDR ligands to induce expression of the VDR target gene, p21Waf1, and suppress DNA synthesis. Thus, BAG1L is a direct regulator of VDR, which enhances its trans-activation function and improves tumor cell responses to growth-suppressive VDR ligands.
Determination of the Factors that Influence Consumers' Trust in Business-to-Consumers Electronic Commerce: An Empirical Approach

Trust in the context of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) electronic commerce (EC) is complex and a multidimensional construct. It is affected by many internal and external factors. These factors might change overtime. Therefore trust value becomes dynamic and creates a big challenge. Although, many researchers studied the effect of different factors on consumers’ trust, the trust literature lacks clear differentiation among the factors contributing to trust and fails to capture its multidimensional nature. Thus, this research presents a holistic approach that study trust empirically in the context of B2C EC and attempts to determine the major factors that affect consumers’ trust. The research provides a valuable feedback for e-commerce web site designers and for e-vendors as well.
A 1.7nW 24 Hz Variable Gain Elliptic Low Pass Filter in 90-nm CMOS for Biosignal Detection

This paper presents a fourth-order elliptic low pass filter for the detection of biopotential signals. The filter has a bandwidth of 24 Hz to be used for the acquisition of Electroencephalogram (EEG) and Electrocardiogram (ECG). An embedded variable gain amplifier provides the filter with variable gain ranging from 0.39 dB to 18 dB. A single notch is positioned at frequency 50 Hz to eliminate the power-line interference signal, with an attenuation of 51 dB achieved. The proposed OTA-C filter structure is simulated in LTspice using 90 nm CMOS model BSIM4 (level 54) under ± 0.6 V voltage supply. The proposed filter has an input referred noise spectral density of 19.6 pV/Hz½ at 10 Hz at DC gain 18 dB. The total harmonic distortion (THD) is 2.45% for a sinusoidal input of 10 mV, 5Hz at DC gain of 6.6 dB. The standby power consumption of the filter ranges between 1.5n nW at a gain of 0.39 dB and 1.7 nW at gain of 18 dB.
Toxicology and Characteristics of Fatal Oxycodone Toxicity Cases in New South Wales, Australia 1999–2008 *

Abstract: All cases of fatal oxycodone toxicity presenting to the New South Wales Department of Forensic Medicine over the period January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2008, were retrieved. A total of 70 cases were identified. The mean age was 48.9 years, 58.6% were men, 21.4% were suicides, and in 30% oxycodone had not been prescribed to the decedent. Injecting drug users constituted 27.1% of cases, and oxycodone tablets were injected immediately prior to death by 21.4%. The mean blood oxycodone concentration was 0.40 mg/L (range 0.06–53.00 mg/L). In all cases, psychoactive substances other than oxycodone were also detected, most frequently hypnosedatives (68.6%), other opioids (54.3%), antidepressants (41.4%), and alcohol (32.9%). Preexisting systemic disease was common: cardiovascular (64.2%), pulmonary (49.3%), hepatic (66.7%), and renal (43.9%).